GOOD TEMPLARE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1167, 1 September 1882, Page 2

GOOD TEMPLARE.

i * TO THE EDITOR. Sib,—l hope you wi'l excuse me if I trespass on your spacu w tli a fsw words in solf defence. You have again brought the (Hood / Templars forward in your leader of to-day, . •and among Other-rfoMksYoTsay: " The position the Society takes'« to Snug forward serious chafes', W fir fear of trei.dino on tbe.toes of one or-twonindividiials, declining to push .them." I would justask, see the effeots Without being tible to point out where" was pro- ' cui-ed ? For instance, the individual who • disturbed and annoyed the congregation of a ohuroh not five minutes' wa'k from your own door could not be compelled to say from whom he had procured the wherewithal to make bun drunk, and yejUhVhVx was 'so could ibe proved {by , 4ftj my Good \ , Templars and others, buf ifeithefs| 6 Q oo i ''' Templars or the members of %t ohuroh had pioseputed Of t ne Masterton publicans, they would at, Pxrhaps you have that it is necessary to s»e the ddnla handed to the consumer, and also to prove that it is ' suoh diink aa is prohibited by law from being supplied. This, there? is no (jlfcod Templar in a position to do' unless he acts as a spy, and this I hope never to see a Good Templar stoop to, We cannot clobo our eyes to what ib going on about us, neither do we intend tt'db Bo'/buVwe are liound by all honorable' means to have the law piApeily cauied out, and who areso fit to carry it out aa those who are paid for the purpose. And if those paid offlomls either . .neglect their duty or are, as you say, snubbed in the discharge of it, then instead .of public prosecutioiiß.we. must euly apply , to the ; lawmakers and learn whether-it was intended that the provisions of the Act should be ignored, Again, you say a common error of temperance Booieties is to take direct credit for alHooial reforms. Not so; but we claim that temperance was the direct cause of'the social reform referred to, and ; further we olaim that, it .has an indireot in'fluehoe^dnvall social'/rttprms;';Does, not , temperance lead to a moie strict 'attention , to sanitary laws f --Lopk : -at the bom'Sof the ( man who spends his oarnings in drink and leaves his wife and obildren to wallow in filth' and misery and at, the same man •proughttohufiightr'mihdjand spending Mb i earnings ashe'ought to"ih'procuring the ''' i necessaries ol life, While he is enjoying i himself he oares not for the, education of ) his obildren, but once he. Bees the degradai tion he is dragging not'ooly .himself but all belonging to him, then will he rouse himsolf ' 'to action andjkavehis children educated. So I maintain tbat temperance assists materially in this education,\which v'du fallow, is ens of the agenoiea ■of soeial reforms. Another agency you refer to'is" ibe advance ofmedioalaoience. V: Weli, v "can you inform \. "lepf.pnLbranoLof.t'aalucienoe-whioh has I received so muoh attention lately.as,that '. ' whioh might be termed the alcoholic branoh, ' i and we may justly claim that the temper- , ance party roused ami urged on the enquiry }"■ iMitil, we may say, they have in £ maim* ; ieyolutioniaedmedioalpractice, Oldthqoriea , with'ieaard to the medicinal. I qualities of alcohol have been ignominjously i routed, and for it» uses an food»'they are nil. J)r Richardson, in one it his ' the, tempering qneation, flays:-" I am' recoiiiing a matter of hfeioty, i' of jperspnal; history, on this question when:l l say that I for one liud no thought of ajshol except as a food. 1 thouirh" it warmeiUs • ■■ Lthonght'if strength j I r thought it enabled us to endure mental and i bodily fatigue; 1 thought .it cleared the i heart and lifted up the mind into greater | activity.' /But it so" h'appeiied that I was ( asked to study the action of - alcohol along . witha whole series of phemioal bodies and 1 toinveatigutotlieir bearing to each other, ' >So I .took- alobh'ol from the shelf of, my L labaratory as I might any other drug and ' course, .pfanenmentsi" ex. / | tending nveralagthenetfp'eriOd} What iWhI ypudo ( f: Do you warm the animal body^ wnen'youare taken into it?' The replvU 'J t came WBtantly, 'I do not. except in a mew ; flush of exoitement.' Then I turn round to I it in another direction and ask, Do you give . musoular strength i ji testyit;by theXost , rigid analysis and experiment l I fori adopt, j !!*? t _ m . ua( ' n !arf or m under.itsjnflnen«e in various forma and degrees, and itsiansVer ' "?, :M give no musoular Btrength,' Finally > I sum it all up, I findit to bean agent ' that gives no strength, that reduces the tone • of,the blood vessels /and heart, tbat reduces the nervous power, thatbujldß « p no tissues, i andean be of no. use to me or any other I animal a) a'substance for food. On that side of the question my mind is made up, 1 think, wallas I have come to the above conclusion, I will be experiment in myself. I gave upwhat 1 thoii K h VwanaiiJ midihelped me, and I am' certain, -.fler considering the whole power in which I have subjected my. : Self to the ordeal, 1 uow did more work, I now did more varied work with equal i .facility. With such a complete. Reuse of !, freedom from anxiety'and wrong as I have j done during the period that I haveabstained i altogether." .The temperance party I con. i■: tend haveawakened the attention of medical , men all over the world, therefore we olaim > that temperance has assisted H r advance j medicalßoieuce. I cannot.agreewilh- you , that Good Templars are the outgrowth, of social progress, I am inclined to think that the drmk traifio is a clog habg--1 ing on the wheel of progress, l and' temper--1 ance, by removing this clog,' allows'the i wheel to revolve the more swiftly, 'Sou Bay , you do not wish to follow me to America, , but suppose I planted one. of the,,Wellingi toniaGiganteain Masterton, and'.dwiug.to , the unfavorable poll, blimate, 'or Situation, i it failed to come up, to. your expectations. ,; from what you, had seen you at ( ouce .condemned one of- the noblest trees of j the jorest as a scrubby, useleaß, plant, would the nursery man not be justified in pointing ' out the.magnitice'nt growth it-attained jn , its;natWe:forest.. So here in Mastertonjthe soilis only being prepared, it is not yet '■ strong onoogh for very rapid growth, but the time is coming when temperance will not be of suoh'slow'-gro r wth'aa now.'' At present l those who ought to.be foremost in all good ' works, who ougbtto team us.bothby precept ■ and example, stand aloof, but we do,not i' complain.;' For even the Christiaiiity' whioh they -prbfesa to teach was introduced and ( pamedforwariby, light in the' ■, social bbale as those composing our Order i here. Wo are, as you B4y ? > composed of two , classes, and' without these'two clasßes there i never .would be'aTerii{ilarLod((e,iltiwould be a u |qUj( .time before a lot of men 'with, 'a constitutional .{ailing pitted themtelves together to-keep themselveg from drink, jßut those.whohave no const!- ! tutional failing for drink"are the ones who i btod.themselvfig together bo tbat by their ex. . ample. they ; raaybe is^trumehtai:iu, re-olalni. ing a few from their bonßtitntionaimnrmity, K.all who join themdo not 'stay, if,they '..return l -te their old hatoh theie can be no. 1 blaniealtabhed tb'the Gt.T.'b, thoy have done •■ itheir;duty, but the blaraeiwillthen'rest with )< ilhose who still allow the temptation to be • i, thrown, in thejr, way. Templars, dg not for i, ,ft momeiit think that,the obligation/isgoing i tore-generate any man', andl have no doubt i if,.,you ,wil}, kindly inf9rm,.,them what ~ .sjrouger eteps.they oaa.taty, witb.-adyant. , ajje fas HjeWis %Q oath 1 ih connection ! \m ■ ibe Order) they p W ■ • way yon refer to; mu't'oon" ' olpde my few hues, with » reference' to youi ■• 1 1 respect and sympathy from'thß^fl world at latgejt they fruflted to action more lJx and inofal suasion less?' Now Sir, this must «l i 'i^"'t6W'^brM'-^''Malster^ ,, '"»a'yon 1 -: : -\ ; have already stated you did not wish to/ •' travel to America, I am of opinion that , moral suasion is a more powerful instalment for is there any action we could take aVtre- •." - sent? We wish men to think and aoi" 6r .th'emselyba «s (repf HgeUtfc'and when T thW seetlr Wtin 'rjrtlvrto them M\ i? tfkj . their adva%)' cope. We ibnotoarry oh "oiir w'ork tikany peonniary advantage, 'but Wth'e good of our fellow men, and the best interests of tbec6zcmuriity, " ■'■'■[: '■'„ ->■ '"■": "" ,- • Iam,&o„ /"•