The Standard AND PEOPLES ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.) WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1874.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 213, 14 October 1874, Page 2

The Standard AND PEOPLES ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.)

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1874.

“We shall sell to no man justice or right: We shall deny to no nian justice or right: We shall defer to no man justice or right.”

We append the following, which appeared in a recent number of the Temperance Advocate for the information of “ F.J.P.” (dubbed by that journal an “ enthusiastic son of the Muses ’’-—wonderful son, begotten of so many fathers and mothers !) whose “ original ” lines seem to have fallen in unpleasant places, and with some considerable weight on the editorial toes of the Good Templar editor. The editor of the Temperance Advocate does quite right in selecting every legitimate means at his command for the purpose of promoting and illustrating the principles of which he is the champion; and we have nothing whatever to say against the reasonableness of the moral he draws from the lines under review ; but he does wrong in connecting ourselves either with the writer of them, or the extract which happened to follow them in the same issue. The “ doleful letter ” of the Goverment clerk with £2OO a year was not written “ to the newspaper ” as representing the feelings of the “ poetic husband ” of the allegorical daughter of Eve alluded to and apostrophised by “F.J.P.neither is the editor in this case, asked for advice, consequently he had “ no response ” to give. Were we appealed to in this behalf on the side of distressed virtue, as a protection from the ill treatment of fallen humanity,— fallen through the means of “ dress and dissipation ” —we flatter ourselves that the fire which would be lighted up within us by the vastness of such a theme, would blaze around with a far more fervent heat, and be infinitely more exhili rating in its effect that the “rhubarb and petroleum champagne” argument of the editor of the Temperance Advocate. But we leave him to the tender mercies and consideration of “ F.J.P.,” whose caustic pen will, doubtless, frame a ready defence of “ Eve’s fair daughters.” This is the Advocate's opinion of “ F.J.P.’s” effusion :—-

In a Northern exchange we note a poetical effusion from an ardent admirer of ardent spirits, and a professedly devoted worshipper of the fair sex. Inspired, no doubt, by copious libations of the former, the enthusiastic son of the Muses rushes into print in the following manner, carefully heading his ode with the word “ Original “ Fill high, fill high, the sparkling bowl, That cheers the heart, that thrills the soul; With rich libations at their shrine, We pledge Eve’s daughters, fair, divine— While freely flow the vine’s bright tears, We wish them many happy years ; In goblets rippling to their brims Like liquid gems the nectar swims. MJiit yet our hearts are full as they—- ■ there the fair excel their sway—■levine’s rich sweets enraptured smile, _

Now we put this and that together. We have in the above poetic effusion an illustration of how a certain class of young men conduct their courtship. They “ fill high the sparkling bowl,” as they are pleased to call their hot rum-and-water, or, on great occasions, their rhubarb or pretroleum champagne ; they pour their “ rich libations ”of half-crown sherry, or colonial beer, at/ the shrine of the “ Eve’s daughter ” whom they are “ sweet upon their “ goblets,” which mean pewter pots or noggins, “ ripple to the brim,” that is, have a good head put on them by the “ multum ” which the publican mixes to make them froth - f and, finally, with “enraptured smile,” or half-drunken leer, the “ enraptured swain,” as the poet would call himself, •“ quaffs his fond toast the while.” Of course all this imbibing is not carried on in solitude. “ Our fond toast ” is no doubt present, and takes a sip from the flowing howl and rippling goblet, the dear girl, till color mounts to her cheek, and soon tines her lovely nose. After this our poet gets the license, and he and she are made one flesh by registrar or priest. But that sort of thing can’t go on very long. The young lady who has been moved over the wine cup, will have her own objects of delight, and when | she and the dear “ hobjeck of her affeckshuns ” have got mutually tired of their own silly society, she will either settle down into a domestic drudge, or take to dress and dissipation, most likely the latter. Then comes the Government clerk, her poetic husband, and writes his doleful letter to the newspaper, asking the sympathising editor, “ What shall 1 do ? Shall I leave her ?” The editor gives no response. We will do it for him. “ Don’t leave her,” is our advice. “ You are a coward to think of it. You have made the poor thing the fool she is by the way you have treated her before marriage, with your flowing bowl, and all the rest of it. Now try if you can’t make her amends. Win her back from her folly by kindness and good sense. You and she join the Templars ; give your aid in putting down the ‘ flowing bowl ’ nonsense, and the ‘ rippling goblet ’ iniquity. Give your wife something better to think about than dress and frivolity, and with your £2OO a year, paid monthly in Government vouchers, you may yet be a happy couple, and cease to trouble editors for advice as to your domestic life. Wash your dirty linen at home, and see that you do wash it, as a man of sense and feeling with £2OO a year ought.” This is our reply to the distressed Government clerk. If it does not correctly fit in with his case, it will fit in with the case of hundreds, whose silly courtship over the wine-cup has led to similar or worse results.