TEMPERANCE ITEMS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4767, 7 July 1894, Page 2

TEMPERANCE ITEMS.

k Fearful Drinking Record. « At the Li\ ei pool Coionei 'g Com t * jcsteidaj, nu inquuy was Leld tonehiug tho deatU of Thomas HejP*'' keth, a Inborn oi, 72 jcars of age, i Deceased's w ifo stated that her hus-* > band had been a heavy drinker neaily all his life He v> as taken ill about a-neck ago, but was not con- J*V ( .sideied bad onougk to lequirs i ' ' doctoi He died on Sunday night somewhat saddenly.'-She had known ;« lievliiisbatid "take 19' pints of-alev v ' and 21 glasses of spirits at a time, '■■r?* and Walk comfortably after it." Tke £ assistant house-surgeon at the East ' ! Dispensary who called immediately " '*■& after the 1 death of ;the ! deceased',' -T?' stated that tho body-was much, swollon by dropsy, caused by ,discase of the liver brought-! about' 1 by ■ '-.:'.-" excessive drinking—principally of ■ , spirits. This , was the death, 'Verdict.'. ;'aceordi{i|y!— English Drinking of.Long Ago; ; ■■•->;

■lt appears that, onco upon a time, ■:-■■■'% tho English were a. sober people. , ;i' Tho Ohronioler Oaindeh speaks of /« drunkenness as a raro vice among them in histime, and says:that tlie - '^i English were" of all tho' northern ,: M nations die mostcommendedfor their . &^- sobriety."--It was from the Dutch V audGermans that.they ; learnod .the- ':'.' ■.;.- brutal pleasure's of heavy 'driiiking,By Shakespeare's tiiiip-'drnnkennes's had become common'; and a;,writer - ■"? inthe,middle- of-the seventeenth .-' ■•■ • :* centiiry spbko ! of Eriglandvas the . .'•".■; "'dizzy island," and declared .that ' ■] % ":we dririkas ifwg-wero nothing but v■ J • sponeos,. or.-Lad. funpels. ,;.^ mouths..-' ; ' We'a're the grape-suckers *) of the'eartli," Early in tho tcenth century tho upper classes ra7~^^^ greatly' addicted to this vicepaiidV ■ ,';^ wo are surprised to find how many ■ . r';?S famous mon yielded. to tho •;, seduc- '■■"'•{'■ M tioiis of tlio' bottle, Addison, 'the ■*& foremost moralist of hig'time,.?was, r H not': free .[nran.V.it.'; ;6xfo'rd| wlib'sVl ? ; private character was in most .respects singularly high, issaid to have come, not uufrequeiitly, drunk into ■/ v'the presence of the Queen. Boling-., vS broke, whon iii bOice sat up yrhole' nights drinking; and in tho mom- : "'■ ing, having bound a ivetnapkinround his forehead and his eyes, to drive away the effects of his intemperance,. 'X ho hastened without.,sleep; to! official business, When Walpolo <■ was a young man' his father y-' was accustomed to pour -...into '.['■'■: his glass, a. double portion To'f'X^^i^Jl wine, saying: "Come, Robert, you ! " shall drink twice while I drink onco j for I will not permit tlio son'in his'; sober senses to bo witness of the hi--toxication of his father." The. popu- " ' lar beverago of the poor, early in . ' I the eighteenth contury, was ale or , •,( beer; but gin made its appearance-^, in the time of the first George, and """"Ni over five, million gallons of spirits were distilled every year in England .: h byl 735. Fifteen years later, the Lon- ( "' don doctors stated that in or near the ?-' ; ! town ■, there were more than 14,000, '"' v cases of illcss directly caused by the :■ consumption of gin. Fielding do- /-k.:'< clared tho_ noxt year, that" gin is ''*\y the principal- sustenako-'of more . V than-100,000 people in the metro-. \ polis," At this time vigorous efforts V - ) warn made by legislation to check" • : ) the evil, and tho restrictions imposed :■' by new laws had manifestily beneficial results. Thoro was a marked decrease, of druiikoness-andstlnr i-w-J-H diseases resulting from it, «V j

" 'Some of the colonists have rc*« , couly sent home for crickot, football; , and other requisites to enable them ! to indulge in English sports; 1 So [ runs an interesting report from . Buluwayp in a morning ..jiapor, ' What, wo wonder, is the precise— i. orderinwhichtho British colonist . . introduces the implements.' of civi-' ( lisation? Somewhat as follows, we . should fancy':—l,' ■; the missionary j ( 2, rum and palo ale ;3, the 'maxim;' ,4, the newspaper ;bats,balls,stiimps ) : N and footballs. For our own part wo V [prefer tho last stago to most of the ; others. We have omitted the'moral pocket-handkerchief' invented by a ' ; Glasgow firm of liquor dealers for , distribution among natives, though: a,.. that should properly count as a most '*•' important implement of civilisation , in certain places. The said handker- , chief is covered with amost alluring , and decorative design, showing air, , arrangement of rum and beer bottles ; in tho centre, with the favourite brands conspicuously marked, and in each corner a symmetrical pattern - ; ■ consisting of wine-glasses; These' let \ US hope, arc not in domain in tiki Matabelpland,"-So '.says the :JTetf. •" minister Qavtte, . ... _ .L-Lj ■. From millionaire to beggar is a common transition, but it has the fate of Bobcrt has just died in Chicago,' ber was once worth money, and had ■■ large interests in New York. Ho had handsome wife and a bright An appetite for drink, it is believed, led him to neglect hiswifo. business, until the fowner, it secured a divorce, and thewent to ruin, His downward was persistent and rapid,. He a. homeless and penniless took poison in the streets of and-died soon afterwards in the hospitals, to which ho taken. ''~^^-.-'-—''^^^^^^^^^^[