Wellingborough & Kettering News, April 30th, 1881, transcribed by Kay Collins

MR. GEORGE DENTON AND HIS EMPLOYEESOn Thursday afternoon, the 21st inst, the workmen and their wives in the employ of Mr. George Denton (those who work on the premises), to the number of 130, sat down to a capital tea in the Temperance Hall, and were most kindly entertained by Mr. Denton and his friends. After tea, Mr. Denton delivered a short and appropriate address. He said he did not think such gatherings should be allowed to pass without some words being said for the good of all, and perhaps it would not be amiss if he said a few words on thrift. If more attention were paid to the cultivation of thrift, there would not be so many failures in life; it was a subject that was engaging the attention of many great men, but he was afraid it was not considered so much as it should be by the working classes. If they were more thrifty, more of them would make their mark in the world. He called attention to the facilities offered by the Post Office for saving small sums of money, and advised his hearers to read the life of Benjamin Franklin, as an inducement to thrift, and to copy Franklin's example in the matter of total abstinence. He (Mr. Denton) did not wish to cram teetotalism down their throats, but he wished them to act upon Franklin's principle; he would not take the drink because it was dear, and he found he could do as well with a penny loaf as he could with a pint of beer, and then he saved 1½d. Mr. Denton gave some further useful advice to his servants, and concluded his address amid much applause.