SELLING A. TOPER,

Temuka Leader, Issue 1567, 12 April 1887, Page 3

SELLING A. TOPER,

The Lyttelton Times tells the following story The perils of •* “prohibit” are very great to be sure. Betore he comes a “ prohibit ” he has already become uncommonly fond of drink and will usually ao a lontr way out ot the beaten track of his daily life to secure one. An unfortunate man in a Canterbury township had allowed his po vers of absorption and his desire to absorb to so| master his sense of propriety and to oveicome his better nature, that bis friends, to save him from a descent to very lowest depths of alcoholism, stopped his grog by order of R.M.,andso, in every pub. in the district, a foolscsp form, bearing the name of the “ lushington,” ornamented the back wall of the bar. This, of course, stopped the legal supply, but the drunken man always managed to get a little. By a trick he managed to induce a youth to procure a bottle of beer. The transaction ended in the youth being fined £5, while the man who swilled the beer got off scot-free. A few weeks afterwards, however, the tables were turned upon the prohibit. Me was in the village bakery, along with others. The village baker was in the bunk, pretending to be very much asleep, while his bottle lay near by. The prohibit took large and greedy eyefuls of the tempting vessel ; but those present told him it was the baker's whiskey and must not be touched. Of course he would not think of such a thing, but they knew that was the thought uppermost in bis mind. One by one they left, until the last to exit slammed the door decisively behind him, and left the thirsty prohibit along with the snoring baker. Before they had all gone, however, the baker had sleepily rolled out of bed, put the bottle to his lips, and apparently swigged with emphasis, then betook himself to bunk and oblivion again. The snoring baker, the tempting bottle, and ihe opportunity were too much for the thirsty prohibit. He crept to the bottle, nad the practice that makes proficient standing him in good stead, he gulped at a single draught about half a pint of—butcher’s brine I Tableau.