PRACTICE AND PREJUDICE.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 1004, 26 November 1881, Page 2

PRACTICE AND PREJUDICE.

Tn a recent memoir of the late John Diprose, the well-known author of the National Sony Book, How to Live in the World, &e.. we find the following tribute to the memory of a good man. In Mr. Diprose’s books an author never found himself in company with productions of an improper character. No one appreciated wit, humor, or rollicking fun more than Mr. Diprose, but he insisted on absolute purity, and though he published much that compelled men to laugh, he never published a line that could bring a blush to the cheeks of the most modest woman. He was unusually free from prejudice, and knew that true gaiety and true purity are not alien, but closely allied, and that the merriest mirth of men may be as innocent as the laughter of children. In contrast with the above, the Christian Statesman says : “ Parlor dancing is dangerous. It requires neither brains, good morals, nor religion to be a good dancer. It will drive its devotees away from church. It will not mix with religion any more than oil will mix with water. Tippling and parlor dancing sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. Put dancing in the crucible, apply the acids, weigh it, and the verdict of reason, morality, and religion is, ‘Weighed in the balance and found wanting.’ ” John Diprose for 40 years was the head and front of all that was true, noble, and benevolent in the North London District.