HOW A FROLICSOME MAGDALENE EVADES PROHIBITION.

Observer, Volume 6, Issue 154, 25 August 1883, Page 3

HOW A FROLICSOME MAGDALENE EVADES PROHIBITION.

An ingeniuos Magdalene has been sadly compromising quite a number of the bald-headed brigade in New Plymouth ; in fact, the usual quiet of that Paradise of pumkins and little jobs has been as rudely disturbed, and society as severely shaken to its foundations, as if Taranaki had got another loan, or Te Whiti was again on the rampage with half-a-dozen breechless warriors, and there was another rim on the stores and grog-ahops. Public confidence has been rudely shaken, and even many a staid old paterfamilias, who has hitherto enjoyed the reputation of spotless virtue, has fallen under suspicion. *~

{ It happened in this way. There i 3 a fair but frail creature who has been a victim to the demon alcohol, and has fallen under the ban of the pro- « hibitory clauses of the Licensing Act. The other ' day she called on a leading wine merchant, who is noted for his gallantry to the sex, and she was immediately seized with a fainting fit. She gasped out a piteous appeal for " water," and, of course, something stronger was substituted. Equally, of course, repeated restoratives were necessary to bring her round. But Sergeant Pardy, with his usual lack of sentiment — however susceptible he may be to the appeals of beauty in distress — took out a summons against the sympathetic wine merchant, and in the course of the triaj it came out that this was not the only case in which the cunning Mary had done the police, and imposed Upon the good nature of unsuspecting Samaritans. She had accosted another gentleman, a total stranger, and with modest timidity persuaded him to procure her a bottle of brandy from a neighbouring hotel, for a poor sick husband at home.

This obliging stranger was subsequently nobbled by the vigilant Pardy for his mistaken gallantry, and he has made a solemn vow that he will in future turn a deaf ear to the appeals of bashful females. Meantime, the artful Mary glides around in search of other sympathetic strangers, while the tall form of Sergeant Pardy looms in her wake like the Spectre of the Broekcn, and vinegar- | i-.vod matrons keep strict surveillance over the ; m.y.ru:^ of their lords to prevent any mistaken ! .-.Usoiiiy ■'.•r ph^-Uiihropy. I