WANTED FEMALE PREACHERS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3239, 30 June 1871, Page 3

WANTED FEMALE PREACHERS.

TyTHE EDITOR Ol ? TIIE INDEPENDENT. Sir, — Ifc must be gratifying to a largo portion of the community to obscrvo that the conductors of the leading print of the capital are fully alive to the evils wrought by intemperance, and being well aware that the pernicious habit of drinking to excess is greatly on the increase aruongsfc our population, are endeavoring, in a thoroughly earnest spirit, to find a satisfactory answer to the questionHow is the prevalent vice of drunkenness to be checked P Bearing in mind that the frequent use of stimulants is productive of both physical and moral evils, and that these evils are, to a certain extent, transmitted from one generation to another, it is no exaggeration to say the question before stated is of the utmost importance, and that the consideration thereof (having duo regarj to the future well-being of the colony) can no longer be delayed. Being fully persuaded that the unrestrained indulgence in intoxicating liquors, which now attains to such a frightful extent in our midst, is l'otardiug the onward march of this country, I maintain it is the duty of every man to give to the various plans suggested for the suppression of drunkenness his most serious attention. In proportion to the population, drunkenness has caused quite as much mischief in the colonies as it has eff. cted in the old country. Nearly every settlor whoso circle of acquaintances is tolerably wide, knows of instances where the peace of homes lias been destroyed — of cases in which men have sacrificed honor, respect, and love to drink. Some few years ago, I was present at the dosing scene of a tragedy in real life. 1 saw the curtain go down upon one of the saddest dramas it has ever been my lot. to witness, when I beheld one of the principal characters in that drama play out her part, when I became aware by the fixed look, that the heart, which for years had been surcharged with sorrow, had ut length been stilled ,- that tha care-worn, anxious mind no longer brooded over earthly griefs. I reverently closed the eyes of the dead, went down on my knees in that house, rendered desolate by the demon, drink, and prayed to Grod to make mo instrumental in turning some of my fellow-creatures from the downward path — in saving some from the drunkard's doom. On the bed" by which I then knelt, lay the form of a woman, whose latter years had been embittered — had been blighted by one whose duty it was to havo_ cheered and comforted her. With sorrow (ff3 intensity is only known to Him who made the heart !) had her grej Lairs been brought to the grave. Her son, the cause of all her grief, was my dearest friend. Possessed of rare intellectual powers — powers richly developed by a first-class education, that man might have won for himself an eminent position in his profession. He might have been, to use a terribly hackneyed phrase, an ornament to society. By his pen, ho might have instructed and entertained thousands. Alas ! his sun went down early. The fine intellect became clouded, Memory became so impaired that the treasures acquired by years of study could not be turned to account. The power of application was gradually weakened ; ultimately, it was completely lost. The debasing habit of intemperance grew upon this man, shattering his naind, destroying, too, his physical energic i, and rendering him a burden to himself, and a source of grief and shamo to others. Ehotoricians have depicted the horrors of war, and some of their word-pictures make the blood run cold ; but, terrible as aro thesceneß of the battle-field, they are not so terrible to my mind as the scenes which, may be witnessed in our towns and villages where, meroly to gratify a depraved appetite, men are found sacrificing " all that makes a man." It is far, Very far from my wish to employ sensational language in this letter, but observation makes me to say, let a love of liquor once gain an ascendancy over a man, let him acquire a taste for alcohol, and the chances arc that, neither the entreaties of friends, the earnest pleadings of human love, nor the voice of ®od speaking to him through his conscience, will win him back to virtue. Le!; the women of JSew Zealand take up the temperance question. Let them range thorn on the temperance side, for this too is the side of moarlity. As they value the peace and happiness of their homes let them preach temperance. It is not necessary — ifc is not desirable that they should become noisy preachers — that they should exhibit themBelves on platforms — that they should distribute tracts. Within the home circle let them in their gentle. and winning way utter words of warning and of entreaty to their husbands, their lovers or their children. They could not embrace a holier cause They could not, looking only to their own interests, advocate a more politic measure. The temperance question is emphatically a woman's question. Whether the drinking customs (the prevalence of which every thinking man deplores) are to be swept away by the gradual spread of education, by the influenco of the press, by the voice of the pulpit, by Permissive Bills, temperance societies, or, woman's pleading, I know not, but of this I feel Certain, whatever agency effects a reiorm ought to receive, and doubtless will receive the cordial support of every well-wisher of his race. — I am, &c, . G. S. M. Taratahi, June 25, 1871.