THE PROHIBITION MEETING. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10443, 20 August 1895, Page 3

THE PROHIBITION MEETING. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir,—l seldom go fco the meetings of tho Prohibition party.. As a rule we all know the sort of monotonous stuff that is talked there and. it requires a man with some patience and fortitude fco be able to stand it. Nature hns pnl-, endowed me with the necessary attributes. She has nofc built me that way. A boy will eat and a boy will drink And a boy will play all day; But a boy won't work and a boy won't think, Because he ain't built that way. A girl will sing and a girl will dance, And a girl will work crochet; But she can't throw a stone and hit a church Bacause ahe ain't built tbat way. -I,suppose it is the same with'me I have always beeu what the Prohibition party, or Mr A. S. Ada ms, would call '" a bad little boy " Nevertheless I have sometimes glimmerings of propriety, and what some people would call tbe eternal fitness of things. The speech delivered toe other night at the prohibition meeting by L-C-* :Adams IS a v«7 fair sample of a prohibition oration. . No person endowed with any delicacy of feeling could do aught but oe.noui.ce the execrable taste displayed in it. The way in which he-a nractising lawyer— dragged in the name of Judge Williams and spoke of him is simply nauseating and disgustW?-" c _8 den«n«i*tioa' of the Premier was a rehet and was highly amusing, although he did not intend it to be so. I am not an ardent admirer of Mr Seddon and his party, but still it one had to chose under which rec/ime he would live—that-'or-.''the prohibition lot-I reckon ho^would uot hesitate long. Whatever Dick beddou may be, he is nofc a milksop. I could even imagine him when a boy playini. marbles^ on Sunday, robbing birds', nest*, or eyen_. throwing hot pennies to an organgrinder s_ monkey. No:one co>_ld imagine Mr Adams doing any of these thing*, or imagine him berog^at any time, anything but " a good little boy. I apologise' for even, contrasting the two men for a single moment. Mr Ad*ms also said he believed that if there was an immoral business ; urider the sun it was horse-dealing, which seemed to lead to rascality ;,aud if there was anything in New Zealand that led, to more rascality than horsedealing it was the liquor trade. Coming from a practising lawyer, 1 think this might fairly be called the height of impudence; When I read it first I began \to have some hopes thafc Mr Adams had afc least some humour in him, and thatis not usual in a good .little boy. Second thoughts,, however,; dispelled the illusion. I can imagine no finer spectacle than Mr Adams denouncing horse-dealers, and the liquor trade. In this connection it iB only fair to say tbat Mr Adams, with his usual good taste, places Judge Williams higher than any other man in tho community for probity, r He, for obvious reasons, does nob arrogate tbafc position to himself. . ■__~ ■.-,"' I snppbso it never dawned on Mr Adams that a great; many people have an opinion thafc the business, ijf. is, .lawyer'leads , fco rascality. He cannot, surely be! ignorant of the stock stories about the oyster and. the miloh cow. He may even have heard; Brougham's definition tbafc a lawyer is a gentleman who recedes your estate from; your enemies and keeps is for himself. Burns says, and when he said it hp was not a prohibitionist—•'■ " -'-,- When hei'bors anger at' a plea, '.- '*■ ■ And are just'as wud as wud cau be, H.owoasy can the barley bree .-"':■.-,' Cement the quarrel 1 It's aye the Che ,P£st lawyer's fee :J ; ;To taste tho. ban el. Bufc then Burns did .hob know Mr Adams. If he had he anight never have -written these memorable lioeaj .. may be. aa MrlAdams say?,, that horsadealing and the, liquor trade lead to rascality, but ne vert helefrs thsy seem to be fairly popular. There: are: now, arid always have been, in tbe Municipal Council iv Dunedin, persons connected with the liquor trade, arid thafc shows the esteem in which they are hold by their fellow ; citizens. On; the other, hand, I remember a lawyer named Adams trying tn get there, and he' suffered ,au egregious defeat. I d»r.sa.y some of your readers will know to whom I refer, and .will'be able to draw a moral for themselves. .The, humiliating part of. Ib was his ; conqueror: was noi; a prohibitionist, and might even have.been at one time "a bad little hoy." '.'.. 'Sy . •■■•■:'/J-'--.. '':';■'■ ,', . ; ' Some people—not knowing Mr Adams, of course—do 'not believe that there are such ' fchiDgs as " good little boys." ; Like Saiirey Gamp, they fay.: " I don't believe there are no such things."- The sentiment is embodied in the old rhyme :— I I nevtr have.met, ,-■'■-. Yet I cannot; forget,' Where'er I may wander, where'er I may be. The Minister's.joy— , That dear little boy, '.. My teacuers described as a pattern, for me. I've searched for hini oft, •Alow and aloft, ::■'•■': J. _ .In desert aud forest, and crinny and nook, But never have met,. y Yet I cannot forget ;,,- ---..;• j .The^ppd little boy. of the Sunday school book. lam, &B.V .'; :-'■'"■••'''".'-,"'■ '.-'-. August 17. ;; : : Black Jack.