Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1882-05-06
Temperate in All Things.

EDrroR PnEss The vexed question of temper
aEce, now under consideration in the metropolis,
is one that has often been subjected to extraordi-
nary treatment granting that desperate remedies
are necessary i'll desperate cases. We must not
overlook the fact that where the employed
tend to either kill cure, the means are likely to
result in AS much killing curing.
Wisdom and tact, the cardinal virtues of
reformer, do not make themselves manifest ms
often as Is desirable. Not many who 90 about
the world correcting the evils which are universal
are masters of the situation; they do not steer
clear between the Scylla of license and the Charyb-
dis of fantacisn they do not apparently realize
that there rs little choice between the bowling of
harpies on each shore; that if one who has
for this kind of music were to be influenced ut all
by either, ten chances to he would lean
toward license, for license though c,sily abused is
an excellent thing when moderately INDUCED in,
while fanaticism has nothing to redeem it,
How many who preach temperance know what
it is III reality To be temperate in all things does
not permit one to be ntolerant in anything We
need not fall back upon the me-honored apollo
Gies of wine drinkers-"a little wine for the
stomachs sake"-the transformation of water
into wine at the marriage feast-the wine which
was distributed by the divine hand at the last
Passover, etc. we will refer only to the statistics
of wine-growing countries. Drunkenness is not
prevalent there; it il because liquors are not in
common use. One must go 10 the north of Europe
and to Great Britain to witness the demoralizing
effects of an over indulgence in alcoholic stmu-
larts. Compare the spectacle of Sunday in
London, where the public houses closed dur
ing divine SERVICE" with Sunday in the south of
Europe where the wine shops open ut all
hours of the day, and ON all days of the week.
Those who have seen the swarms of laboring peo.
pie improving their day of rest by blockading tho
London pavement in front of the public houses,
each with his or her pitcher or mug in hand, and
all impatiently awaiting the conclusion of the
church services so that they may rush in and
quench a thirst which has been aggravated by this
delay, can imagine what the result would be il
these public houses were permanently closed. A
similar spectacle, on very insignificant scale,
be witnessed in this little capital at 10 o'clock
every Saturday night Those who would not
drink because they would not care for it il
they knew it was always within reach, feel
called upon to take something home with them
which will last them over Sunday. bottle il tn q
most reasonable thing they can take for that W i'll
last. | am not advocating the all-night system
merely state that it il my conviction that
many bottle is passed over the counter before II
p. because most people do not retire at that
hour aud the law cannot compel them to forsweai
conviviality on the stroke Of the clock.
There is no law which can forbid gentleman 70
take glass Of wine at his own table, or to Offer
one to his friend; a law which shall prohibit the
introduction Of spirituous liquors into this King