WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 1881. THE MOTH AND THE CANDLE. THE Manawatu Times.

Manawatu Times, Volume X, Issue 135, 20 April 1881, Page 2

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 1881. THE MOTH AND THE CANDLE.

THE Manawatu Times.

M Words nr* tWitig«, and a drop of Ink falling like dew upon n thought, preduaw tk*i whiob ithlci thousands, p*rhapt milUoas thl»k."

Thtejie are certain specimens of "humanity—they can scarcely be called men — whose instincts are so base and grovelling, that they delight m wallowing irt low notoriety, ' and periodically court the dragging of their names through the mire. Of this' class the. " Journalist of Repute" stands m the foremost rank. With a private history as familar to the residents of . the West Coast acT household words, he, he, of all others has the audacity to enter the private circle, and defame . the fair riaine f of respectable ladies. He, he ot : all other peeks to refer to the faults and failings of his fellowtneu,. and indulge; in proh pudor. exclamations ! In a former issue we threatened to give th« : public the character of him who sets himself up as a censor, and were it not that we do not wish to wring the heart of the

lady who is tied to such a contemptible beinig, we should marshall the ghost of Morality before him, recount some of his ante-nuptial manliness ; and contrast his present assumed immaculateness with his former dastardly cowardice. How one who knew that his soul "was, Stained with a blot of infamy such as at one time merited the contempt of all honorable men ; how one who knew that that infamy had bee^ paraded | through the columnsof a paper, recalling to the minds of some the scandal-almost f orgottenj- and acting! as a nine days' wdndec iippn those* j&hoJiear.cLit~f or. the first time ; how,he, we say, well-knowing that we m common with every one on this Coast knew his past history, could jjourt another expose*, is beyond all j "comprehension, unless it is that he got- tired o£ vegetating m the mud, and wisnedonce again to be dragged i through his native element. He must -certainly reason by contrast, and imagine that we are as magnanimous and chivalrous as he is treacherous and-deceitf ul, or he certainly should not have thus pursued a course which to endure would strain human generosity to the utmost. He knows full well— as do hundreds of others m the district — that if we hitherto, had followed his contemptible example, and torn the screen from his family circle, we would have caused him to writhe again — that is, if one so wholly lost to all manly and honorable instincts could be actuated by a single feeling which .sways ordinary humanity. We have steadfastly refrained from doing so ; we knew every tittle of his past career, still we never once alluded to his former conduct; nay more when his able biographer, Mr. Henby Anderson, placed him on the roasting spit, and turned him round for the edification of the public, we acted on the- principle " He that is without sin, &c.," gave him our sympathy and support, and strove to stave off some of the kicks and cuffs which were hurled at him. A letter appeared m our last issue scarifying him and his beastly productions as " Squib," and with his characteristic meaness of soul, he attributed the production to us. It is an old saying some people measure other's corn by their own bushels," and the concoction of letters forming such a very large portion of his own literary labors, it is little wonder he should have jumped to such a conclusion. We can now assure him we neither wrote a line nor inspired an idea contained therein. It was the spontaneous verdict of one who at his advent gave him a hearty welcome, nay substantial support — only to find that he had encouraged an unprincipled slanderer whose only ambition was to pander to vitiated tastes by the invention of prurient and indecent paragraphs, endeavoring to blast the characters of wives and daughters, and sparing none m his cowardly attacks under an anonymity. Desperate cases require desperate remedies, and were it not for his persistent setting at defiance all journalistic etiquette, and his contemptible resort to personalties, we should not have broken through our hitherto-observed rule, and dealt with him merely m his editorial capacity. We deeply regret that we cannot apply the lash to his worthless back without inflicting pain upon the innocent. Were it not for that reason we would have drawn such a pen and ink photograph of him and his past career, as would make even him despise himself and seek to hide his shame m future obscurity. He boasted of his circulation m Feilding, but we are happy to say, for the honor of that town, that it is next to mythical, for if it were otherwise we would blush for it. That copies are bought there, there is no doubt, but they are purchased by the same class and for the same purpose that persons buy the filthy productions of J. G-. S. Gbant — to gratify a filthy prurient taste, and devour dirty scandal concocted at the expense of truth and the fair fame of defenceless females. Take away productions of the beastly " Squib" and the sheet becomes a couple of columns of badly printed, stale, eir tracted matter, sans locals, sans report's, sans, a grain of briginalty worth perusal or fit to put intb the hands of a- female. We have given this Malay running a-muck a friendly warning ;• if tbis be not sufficient curty he will have to thank himself if he sees his experiences m print. In conclusion we should advise this literary moth to be warned m time. He has fluttered round the flame until he has been slightly, signed; he should retreat before it is too late, or lie stands a very good chance of being cremated.