TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11506, 19 August 1899, Page 8

TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

SOMETHING IS AFTER YOU.

WHO WILL BENEFIT?

THE DEVIL'S RAILROAD.

[The matter for this column is supplied by a, representative of the local temperance bodiea v who alone is responsible for the opinions expressed in it.]

The drunkards will never die out— I'll lell you the reason why; The boys, the girls grow up As fast a3 old drunkards die.

MR JOHN MORLEY ON TEMPERANCE REFORM.

Once again Mr Morley has spoken out boldly on the temperance question. In the speech which he delivered last Thursday, at Lydney, in the constituency of Sir Charles Dilke, and which was generally reported at great length, Mr Morley said that the present system of regulating the particular trade of selling intoxicating liquors was .1 system which he did not believe that anybody would maintain satisfied the public opinion of this country. Philanthropists saw in that system a deep root of private misery, magistrates saw m it a source of social disorder, and he thought any statesman who looked an inch below the surface saw more. Whether he was a Conservative or a Liberal, whether a churchman or a dissenter, he saw in this system the greaest mischief to the healthy -working of iarliament and of party. He saw a deadly peril to the public life of this country in the growing power of a particular interest, counting those who were concerned in it by tens of thousands, or, for aught he knew, hundreds of thousands, counting their resources by ureds of millions, and boasting that whenever a temperance man puts down £1 for election purposes they would put down £100. He declared i that statesmen saw there was a deadly peril in. the growing power of this interest openly and avowedly using the swollen weight ot their influence in an appeal to the electors to give a majority to this side or that side, not in a great popular cause affecting the national wellbeingor the strength of the State, but directed entirely and solely to the demands, to the requirements, to the convenience, and to the dividends of one single special trade. Lord Salisbury had said they had worked out the principles which gave the Liberal party its triumphs. Now, here was a ease (Mr Morley said) where some of them— he was speaking for himself—thought it was by holding to that same principle which aniJu i ' in Parliamentary reform that they should aohieve reform in this particular social mischief, and that was the principle of self-government. They wanted to extend to localities in respect of the regulation of this particular trade that very same principle of self-government which' guided their Liberal ioreiatners in their particular reforms.

Fernald, in his "Economics of Prohibition, says: "The temperance battle of the future must bo fought on the commercial and economic ground. Our strongest thinkers and our ablest writers must'force the fighting on this issue, till we mako the people see ttiat it is worth while to push every other commercial question into the background long enough to stop this intolerable drain upon the national prosperity. We have all the. argument and can command the situation. It is for us to convince everybody who has anything to sell, north or south, east or west, that there is the most glorious advance in store for his business the moment we can stop the outlay for whisky and beer. Tell the lumbermen of Michigan how many thousands of drinking farmers will-shingle their nouses and barns, or build new ones, as soon .as they " quit their meanness," and how many thousands of houses will be built in all our suburbs for the working men when none of them drink away the money that might pay the rent or buy the cottage. Show tho shoe manufacturers of Massachusetts what it means to take all the bare feet of drunkards' children off the ground. Let the iron men of Pennsylvania know that new stoves will be j at once needed in a hundred thousand homes when the saloon keeper ceases to get the money.' Toll, the miners they will have work I all winter., through, getting coal enough to put,in the"! stoyes. Tell the cotton planters of the South' thKl there will be 10,000,000 new calico dresses and aprons wanted as soon as the 2,000,000 tipplers cease to tipple, and go home with some spare change. Let the ranchmen of Dakota and New Mexico, and Armour's men in Chicago, know that there's going t.o be beef on thousands of tables where now are a few cold potatoes, as soon as we can carry prohibition. Tell the wool-growers of Ohio that everybody in this country is going to be wrapped in woollen and sleep under blankets when the blizzards blow, and the thermometer ranges about zero, and-men no longer heat up with liquid fire in order to exterminate their families with . atmospheric cold. Tell the. grocer. he can sell for eas'i and say good-bye- to bad debts when lite dimes no longer go into, the saloon till. Tell the farmer there is going to be an unheard of demand for flour and meal and butter, and cheese and eggs as soon as the bloated bear holders cease fostering that industry, and begin filling out the hollow cheeks.of wives and children with .wholesome food. Show the high license man how much more it is worth to abolish the crime and pauperism; which the saloon produces than to share the profits with the criminal and pauper maker. Tell our colloges that the temptation of our young men will henceforth be education instead of intoxication. Tell tho author, editor, and publisher that good books and papers are going to be owned and road in a hundred homes, where now a single greasy copy of the Police Gazette is thumbed in one saloon., And tell the church that tens of thousands will crowd to her doors as soon as they can come olad so a3 not to ho.stared at, and as soon as, in deliverance from hunger and cold, blows and .nurses, from tho desolate days and night's of fexrful watching which the legalised diyim shop inflicts on the innocent, they shall be lifted out from despair, and grasp some tangible evidence that beneficent Providence, indeed, rules in the affairs of men, and that for them the Son of God is manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. "

"There's not an honest nor a good cause in all our broad domain but will find immediate advance and prosperity in the wiping out of the liquor traffic."

A vice-president of the National Temperance Society sends to the Advocate the following schedule, which was prepared by a young man who is serving a life sentence in a Mississippi penitentiary for killing his companion while on a drunken, gambling spree. The young man was from a good family in good circumstances, .but as the parents were negligent as to their attendances upon religious observances, - the ycung man fell into evil company, and yielded to the wine cup. Since he entered prison he has been converted. It is hoped that the publication of this schedule will do good. It is prepared by one who has travelled over the road: — THE BLACK VALLEY RAILROAD. Standard Gauge, International Line. Chartered under the laws. of all the States. No stop-over checks. No return trains. STATIONS, ON THE MAIN LINK. Arrive Cigaretteville 7.50 a.m. Leave Cigaretteville ... ... 7.30 a.m. Arrive Mild Drink Station 7.45 a.m. Arrive Moderation Falls ... .. ... 8 a,m. Arrive Tipploreville 9 a.m. Arrive Topersvale ... 10 s.m. Arrive Drunkard's Curve 11 a.m. Arrive Rowdy's Wood 11 a.m. Arrive QuarreUbui'g noon. (Remains one hour to abuse wife and children.) Leave Quarrelsburg ■ 1 p.m. Arrivo Lusty Gulch 1.15 p.m. Arrive Bummer's Roost 1.30 p.m. Arrive Beggar's Town 2 p.m. Arrive Criminal's Rendezvous ... 3 p.m. Arrive Deliriumville i p.m. Arrive Rattlesnake Swamp ... 6 p.m. Arrive Prisonburg 3 p.m. Arrive Devil's Gap (brakes all oft') 10 p.m. Arrive Dark Valley. 10.30 p.m. (Passengers'may feel some discomfort inhaling sulphurous fumes, but never mind, there is no way to return.) Arrive Demon's Bend 11.30 p.m. (Don't.get frightened at the dying groans . you may hear.) Arrive Perdition ... ... - midnight. (Many passengers relievo themselves of all anxiety by committing suicide.) Tickets for sale by all barkeepers. ANXOAL STATEMENT. Our very popular line carries annually 400,000 paupers. Brings misery and woe to 2,000,000 persons. Dispatches into Eternity 60,000 unprepared souls. Carries 600.000 drunkards. Conveys 100,000 to prison. More immigrants pass annually over our line than any other. We positively refuse to be responsible for the poverty and wants of the widows and orphans of those who ride over our line. They may rido with us if they pay the fare. Our employees are paid promptly. See Romans, vi. 23. N.B.—The great License Law, tinder which we operate, relieves us from all responsibilities for accidouU and suffering along our line, or that is caused by our employees. We insist that all attempts by silly women and enthusiastic preacher* and church members to stop our business by invalidating our charters arc iii direct opposition to the great doctrine of "Personal Liberty." We hereby give notice, that any woman who dares to oppose our most lucrative business will be branded a " crank," and that any man who dares to oppose us will be denominated a "bolter," from some one of the great political parties, and he takes the risk of losing his political influence. D. E. Vil, xV. L. Coiiol, Agent. General Manager. A BEAUTIFUL COMPLEXION. Apnly Sulpholine Lotion. It drives away pimples, blotches, roughness, redness, and all disfigurements. Sulpholine develops a lovely ikin. Is bottles. Made in London.—Advt.

Far away, in the Jungle of Central India, a village lies asleep. Only a solitary human figure has been seen, following the winding jungle path in the moonlight. It is early night, and the native who comes has been delayed on his way home.

But what is that dark shadow that crosses the path behind him? Quite oblivious, the man marches on. He looks neither to right nor loft, nor behind him, where crouches that dark shadow. A few yards more and he will be out of the jungle. A few minutes more and he thinks he will be sleeping in the bosom of his family. But see, the Shadow moves! With two noiseless bounds like a giant cat the tigress is upon him. One despairing sdream and all is quiet. Bitten through the head, the victim is snatched up and carried by the grim man-eater to her lair in the hills. Meanwhile the village slumbers peacefully on. . Was it the man's fault? Yes, I think it wag. Had he not lingered, he would not have been caught. The tigress would not have attacked him in broad daylight. But he was ho worse, I think, than those in this country who are to-day doing the very same thing. Thousands and thousands of English men and women have 'a shadow in their path. It is after them. The time will come, if they do not take heed, when they will feel, like Mrs Lydia Golding, '" as if something had overtaken" them. Here is a letter from her in which she tells her experience: — " AH my life I had been a strong healthy woman, and up to the autumn of 1891 I never ailed anything. At this time I began to feel weak, weary, and tired, and as if souetuing had overtaken ME. I had a. foul taste in the mouth, my tongue being furred, and a sour fluid would rise into my moufl). I had no • appetite to speak of, and the little food 1 took gave me no strength. Afler eating I had a heavy weight and pain across my chest, and a gnawing feeling in my stomach. I belched up a deal of frothy fluid, and in the night 1 awoke with a suffocating feeling. Cold clammy sweats broke over me, and what with loss of appetite, and not being able to sleep at night, I soon got so weak that I found II HAIID WOItK TO GET ABOUT.

On December 23, 1882 (one Sunday morning), whilst preparing breakfast for my lmsband, I was suddenly seized with paralysis. which affected the whole of my right side. I had no use of my hand or leg on that side, and a numbness took me on both left and eight .sides. My husband got me to bed, ond fetched a doctor from Northfleet, who gave mo medicines. After this I lost my strength rapidly and what I suffered I could not tell. -

" I could not rest night or day, and I was in and out of bed every now and again. I got little sleep, only dozing off for a short time, and then, starting up. I was afraid to be left alone, and often in the night I have been so nervous and frightened I could scarcely bear it. I took medicines of all kinds, . but was little better for anything, until one day in August, 1893, 'my husband read in the paper, ' Weekly People,' of Mother Seigel's Curative Syrup, and got me a bottle from Perry and Son, chemists, High street, Gravesend. After taking it a short time, I began to gain strength, and got stronger and stronger until I was free from the effects of tho seizure. I .now keep in good health. You can publish this statement if you wish. —Yours truly (Signed) Mrs Ltdia Goiding, 12 Carter's road, Perry street, Gravesend, May 14-, 1896." What was this shadow that had crossed Mrs Golding's path? What was it that "overtook" her and laid her helpless? and suffering upon a bed of sickness? Surely you can recognise the monster that sprang upon her as. the dreaded disorder Dyspepsia, which attacks you when you are most defenceless and. weakest. Paralysis: yes, Mrs Golding had it, and could feel it, but what she could not feel was what it was that had so acted upon her' nerves and muscles as to pause them to become so helpless. Nor could she, I suppose, understand HOW Mother Seigel's^ Curative Syrup cured her bo quickly, though we know now that it was because the dyspepsia was got rid of. But, as the native, was never heard of more, so there are soiie who cannot get out of the clutches of Dyspepsia, even with such help as Mother Seigel's Curative Syrup, if the help comes too late. Hence the best way of' all, say I, is to keep out of the jungle after dark; and/if you must go, waik quioklt.