THE TEETOTAL MARTYR.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2373, 14 August 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE TEETOTAL MARTYR.

Mataura Ensign,

The Wellington Lieonsing Bench have recently become noted for the drastic method in which thoy have exercised • their powers under the act, ■ They have .rendered themselves, so ■obnoxious to ■'• those interested in the liquor'traffio' that each of them aro reported to have received anonyriiouß threatening letters. Conspicious among the high-handed tern-perance-.mbn.was Mr Levy, Secretary of ' the New'Zealaud-Temperance Alliance, and a Justice of Hor Majesty's Peace. . In the very midst of the row over elbnng sundry hotoh, and while thesnnoynmous threats were still being breathed out, Mr Levy suddonly vanished from human ken. • Speculatipn;w.a« rife at-first as to what sudden necessity of tho good cause had . hurried him: away. Was, he going to advise sorao faithful benoh in the country . or.,was ho lurking k honorable ..dißguiao to discover the iniquites and to confound , the t&otics of his adversary.? But.as days passed speculation gave place to alarm and alarm todatk suspicion.. Had some unexpected fato mystoriously olosed the career of .the devoted reformer t That he could not have staggered into tho harbor •. was certain. ; That he had not wandered into the bush under the influonce of D.T's ,• seemed also beyond doubt, Neither could any who loved his momory admit the theory that he. had drunk or gambled the fundi of the Alliance and then taken " Bough on Rats" in some undiscovered corner, or gone to fresh fields and pastures now in one of tho many steamers that visit the port. Still the fact remained that he was not 'to bo' found or heard of or traepd. He had vanished in.Jfact, and that mostsuspiciously] ■' Had he '• not amitteu the uncircumcisod hip and thigh, ■ and liad henot been threatened with the fate of righteous Abel? What could be more plain? Is there no way of getting into harbor but by staggering ? Or has a ' man never staggered from a sudden blow? Oris there, no poison but "Rough on Eats" and alcohol? Ah,' how'deep and wonderful aro the wayß of Providence, : making all things"work together for good I .The blood, of the martyr has been the "• seed of tho'Church; and what is needed to make Now Zealand the home of tornperance but the blood of a martyr I This shall cement all faction into one I • This shall abash the enemy, and show the fell traffio in its true relationship to crimo; This will raise up a thou, sand to fill his place and to carry the tattle to the gates of the enemy ! Being dead he shall speak, and "his virtues will plead like angels trumpet-tongued agaiust the deep damnation of his taking ' • off." But the story does not end in suspicion and poetry, It appears that Mr Levy-was seen on the Wellington wharf with a young lady whom he had known' at Norso'wood, and who it'wal supposed was going back to her friends at that place. He helped her to chango the address of her boxes to !' Sydney," and about a fortnight afterwards escaped observation by going to Sydnoy himself ' in the steerage; Whether.hoWasinthe habit of travelling in tho steerage we don't know. Nor do we know any reason for his travelling on this occasion in any way, But perhaps he has found that this young lady had done wrong in going to Sydney, and he has gono to bring hor back to a sense of her duty. We would like to have-finished the story bettor, but facts won't let us, and even now we bubpect that the finak will be a good deal more natural than tho one suspected by tho tomporancb' people, "