In the Days of No-License.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 27 October 1911, Page 2

In the Days of NoLicense.

RESCUED FROM MANY WATERS THE FLOOD STORY UP-TO-DATE ONCE there lived a great man who was greatly flavoured in tliat he lv;\d a foreword about a. big flood that was to come down and drown all the people that lived- in his valley. 2. On receiving this news, the man set about preparing for tlhe safety of his wife, his family, his ox, liis nssj and everything that was his". '.i. He told iiis neighbours that there was going to be a. flood and that if they did not, like Iliini, build boats for themselves, they would be all swept away. -J. Xow that generation had no fear of a flood, for they were waterdrinkers and wicked; and they poohpoohed the old man's idea of a flood, and laughed at his boat-build-ing. 5. Nevertheless, the old man went on 'building his-boat, a,ud when bo had put the last shingle on the roof be saw the rain clouds rising out of the north- darkening tho whole firmament. f>. He then told his wife and his children to get in with their hobble skirts and things, and he drove all tho stock, male and female, into the boat; and night coming on ho pulled 'up the gangway, took his "nightcap," and went to lied. 7. While he yet slept great rains descended, and" before morning the whole valley was a sea, covering the tops of the highest hills. 8. "Wlion he saw that all tho people had perished, 'he said : "J told them, the vipers, that there was to be a flood, and they would not take the straight tip, and so they are all drowned." D.-Happily his boat survived the stress and storm, and as the waters subsided, it drifted towards a pleasant part'of that country. 10. Now. this man had been used to drinking gc-:d wine eren before the flood, and, his supply of Tokay having given out, he bethought him to plant n vineyard, and indee him more from '.lie luscious fruit of the vine. 1.1. And when the summer was passed and the autumn fully come. the old ni.au rejoiced in the workof his hands, and was delighted with his field of grapes, for the crop was beautiful and abundant. 12. Thus be said to himself: "My soul longeth for the taste of good wine." so he made a drop of good drink after tho manner of Ibis fathers, partook thereof, and his heart was glad. 13. But the privations of a long voyage, some forty days and forty nights, bad de-pressed .his soul, and he drank too deeply of the generous' wine be hfld made, and was drunken. 11. Now, he it known to all men, especially women, that No-license prevailed throughout all this land, neither was there any hotel in that country, .so that his drunken state could not bo set over against any form of t/p- , licensing system or tf.e allurements of the open bar so to speak. I". 'Neither woro there any Prohibitionists in tihat country, for they and all their abominations bad boon swept away in the great flood. 10. Neither were there any police in those days to arrest men who indulged too freely: neither did ten o'clock dosing then curtail the plontitudo of their mighty libations. 17. Yorily, those were the days of Nn-lioonso. evorv man was free to brow his wvn beer, make his own wine, and get drunk when he choose, either abroad with his neighbours or in the bosom of his own family. 18. Generation followed generation, and in process of time the people in t'liis No-license country became riotous, unirodlv, wanton, and lewd; 'he land was altogether wicked. IS. Now there arose in this land some trulv righteous men who loved virtue and temperance; and seeing the sad condition of the land under No-license, they said we will advise the Kins to give the making purveying of wine and all such .liquids inio t'':e hands of respectable ner«ons. 20. So the dnvs of No-license, with all their wickedness, were nut i;i an end by the riahteous and ivitI'iotie men of that day. and the inhabitants of the Land became at once wiser and more virtuous, anil withal temperate, in all things. 21. Yoi there came cunning and :!c.sio;iiii(r Mi(iii and women to that land, who sought to overthrow the trood work of the righteous advisers of the King, who set up tho licensing system, and again tried to constitute No-license, with its accruing abomination", among llb:> people. 22. Much deceit was practised; to attain this iniquitous end, but these No-license people were- -babblers all. and their deceits were speedily exposed. 23. And the people, who remembered the fate of the man who came on I; of the boat, and all that generalion w'ho had lived under No-license at the time of the great flood, renounced machinations of No-licensers, and would have none of their nostrums. 21. And to this day it is said that those who would return to the days of No-liueiis: , , in whk'ih. men and women got spell-bound drunk, and wanton to their soul's content, are not the true friends of mankind. 2;">. And a free, people., loving liberty, but righteousness more, declare unto you that -all moral sense spoodilv abandons those who dwell in Nolicensu places. 2(1. Thus the annals of time, and particularly of this generation, testifietb tfliat the people returned not to tho wickedness of No-license, for on all occasions in the secrecy of the ballot-box they struck out the bottom lines in all voting papers. 27. Thus it is that the machinations of No-licensers and' otf'.er workers of abominations shall be utterly overthrown"