Alas, how fearfully has society strayed in the path of error, to have reached this point! That drunkenness should be thought happiness; and that scenes of this kind should have become so familiar and so little disgusting, as to be selected by the painter with a view to pleasure the world――is a fearful evidence of the strength and pervading nature of those bonds under which a dreadful vice has laid society. The truth, however, is beginning to manifest itself. That intoxicating liquors are poisonous; that drunkenness is an abomination; that temperance is the path to health and wealth, to happiness here and hereafter, are truths now beginning to be felt by every member of society. Who is there, among us, so dead to truth, so indifferent to human happiness, as not to join heart and hand in the glorious cause of temperance; that great cause which aims at the banishment of the most fruitful sources of human misery; and which aims at the elevation of man to that dignity, peace and happiness for which his Creator, when he formed him after his own image, designed him! Reader, there is an old-fashioned mode, adopted by the pilgrim fathers of New England, to determine what is right and what is wrong. Anything, said they, is wrong, for the success of which we cannot pray to God. Let us apply this in the present case. Can any one pray for the success of the grog-shop? Can any one pray for the success of the bar-room――the tippling room? Can any one pray for the success of the distillery? Can any one pray for the success of the wine cellar――the brandy trade――the rum voyage? What does the success of these things mean? Their success means the degradation of mankind; the destruction of soul and body; the gradual preparing of human beings to commit crimes――theft, burglary, robbery and murder; the preparation of human beings to become insane――to be the victims of disease――to be outcasts and paupers. The success of the rum trade――the wine trade――the cider trade――in all their forms, retail and wholesale, means all this. Who, then, can pray to God for the success of these trades? and who will venture to promote or follow a system which they know excites the frown of Heaven, and must finally bring the curse of mankind? * * * * * EXAMINATION AT BOW STREET.――A prisoner being brought up to London, the following dialogue passed between him and the sitting magistrate: “How do you live?”――“Pretty well, sir; generally a joint and pudding at dinner!”――“I mean, sir, how do you get your bread?”――“I beg your worship’s pardon; sometimes at the baker’s, and sometimes at the chandler’s shop.”――“You may be as witty as you please, sir; but I mean simply to ask you, how you do?” “Tolerably well, I thank your worship; I hope your worship is well.” * * * * *