A SOCIAL PROBLEM.

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 170, 15 December 1883, Page 10

A SOCIAL PROBLEM.

I am a plain, unlettered elf, A fragrant of the common delf, Placed on the lowest social shelf ; And yet withal Hovering virtue more than pelf — Truth before all. . All things ambiguous I hate ; I run (in sporting parlance) straight ; But, IVo been much 23erplexed of late, As you will soo ; If I the subject here may state For your decree. We hear the clergy oft assail The stage— attack it tooth and nail, (Till Thespian neophytes turn pale, And shake with awe), Deeni actors all beyond the paleOf moral law. ■ The .play-house portals repi'esent Defiance of the Omnipotent ; Its votaries are headlong sent To Topliot's pit, . Midst torturos worse than Dante dreamt—* Just think of it. ' Its men and women (deeply raad, Yirtuqus, cultured, highly bred) . As trebly crust ; : , Although tho Nazai'ieno has said, Sans sins, throw first. Mark what a change 1 the sacred chimes Are quiet in debt ; a d'eai-th of dimes Prevails— in Israel's tent's hard times, So, men of God Stoop to the lovol of the Mimes. How \vondrous odd I And guileless boy, and tender maid, 'lir Satan's uniform. arrayed;. Their truly Christian zeal parade ' In Pinafore. Jehovah sniilcd because it paid Thus to adore. What was the Devil's ante-room, (Swept by the sacerdotal broftm), No longer saems a place of gloom, ' Where devil's lurk ; • .But fit as mansions 'you'd the tomb For God's own work. Of transubstantiation these Divines ai-e mortal enemies; . And yet the meanest judgment sees . A parallel— • , ■■ : , This transmutation, if you please. Of Heaven and Hell. ■ The miracle's of Holy Writ . Seem puerile, compared with it The Theatre, or HolPs own pit, ' Becomes a Church ; Satin, by evangelic wit, Loft in thelui'ch. Can Christian ministers invoke Almighty, favour with a j oke ; " Achieve at one dramatic stroke, An angel j>lumo ? While actors but his wrath provoke When they presume. Or is it but a trick of trade ? ,; A winning carcl adroitly played, In Christian channels', to persuade, . The coin they try ? At such a thought I stand dismayed,, 4 And wait roplyv _ ;

Facts.— Close confinement and careful attention to all factory work gives the operatives pallid faces, poor appetites, languid, miserable feelings, poor blood, inactive liver, kiduers, &0., and all the physicians and. medicine in the world cannot liVlp them unless they get out of doors or visa Hod Bitters. None need suffer if v they will use it freely. Sac. The fallowing tesiimonal in reference to the efficacy of Hitch ens' Mood .Restorer speaks for itself : — " Auckland, October 15th, 1883. — Dear Sir, — For twelve months I suffered sevorely from sciatica, and tried various! remedies without avail, and ns a last resource I was recommended to give your Blood.' Restorer a trial, which I did, and I have mncli pleasure in testifying tlint after taking it for three I ' completely recovered my health. T may say I had no faitli in it at first, bat the result was sucli a thorough, cure that I consider it my duty to acknowledge misolicited its curative powers.— l am, Sir, faithfully yours, W. FAnQiraAR, "Master Mariner, Ponspnby.— *i To H. A. H. Hitchens, Esq." , N „. J-; ;