The Massachusetts spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1831-1858, 1832-04-04


INIT ian ounce Of prevention is worth n
pound ofcnie," and knowing, moreover. that
While but few confirmed drunkards can he
expected to he reclaimed, there are thou-
sands, that, by " temperate drinking are sin
the down-hlll road to drunkenness" who
hy Jut'clous measures, may be arrested in
their career to destruction. They. there
fore, associate themselves together. in op-
posing this custom which has taken such
strong hold on the community, and mutually
pledge themselves to each other, that they
will disregard it-that they will neither par
take Of the insirlious glass, themselves. nor
offer 1t to their friends or those in their en-
pIoyment. They have tried the experiment,
and find that, instead of making any sacri-
fee, they IRE better off without spirit than
with it, besides having the great satisf;uc
ton of knowing, that their names are no
longer on the list of candidates" from
which the drunkards' ranks are 10 be re-
cruited, when those of the present day shall
one by one have fallen into the drunkard's
grave. And they ask others TO come and
try the experiment which, to them, has been
so satisfactory. But, it is said they are in
consistent, and the Society is objected
hgainst, because, while they prescribe ar
dent spirits, they are silent on the subject
of certain other liquors, into the composition
of which, smaller portion of alcohol enters.
Ifsuch an objection is sound, the same
kind Of argument may he used against eve
~ reform, and every attempt at moral i'm
provement. Shall it be objected, against
the attempt to produce a certain, great, and
practicable good, that it does not also in
clude every other imaginable good? Shall
it be said, that men should not associate
themselves for the purpose of dsregarding
pernicious custom, which produces meal
culable evil, unless they, also, include in
their prescription, so many other things of
minor Importance, that few would ever be
found to join in effecting the objects Of the
association? Shall he told that am in
consistent in abstaining from the habitua
use Of laudanum, or in dashing from the
lips of my friend the draught which would
induce the sleep of death, because, forsooth,
| eat salad, and chemical analysis proves
that opium is contained in lettuce?
Though Temperance Societies would
gladly be the means of reclaiming the in
temperate, they have higher, more i'm
portant, and a more extensive object in view
than the mere reformation of the few intern
perate men, who could be operated upon, by
their precepts or example. 1t is no less
than interposing barrier between those
who are now temperate, who have not yet
become the slaves, the bondmen TO habit,
and the terrible destruction which lies be-
fore them III the path they have been trav-
cling. They would, especially, guard the
rising generation against ever setting foot
In that fatal pathway. This object, they be-
lieve, may best be effected by the means
they have chosen. Strike from existence
the liquors produced by distilation, and it
would be death-blow to drunkenness, for.
although those who are now Incorporate,
might continue to get intoxicated on fer
mented drinks, yet te,o, rery tsw would ever
acquire the habit from the use Of such
liquors alone. Who ever heard of mans
becoming drunkard by the use of cider,
or even wine, without the aid of rum or
brandy? No-the thirst, the almost uncon-
querable thirst, for stimulating and intoxi-
eating drinks is produced by the use of dis
TILED spirit, and, when the habit is once ac-
qured, fermented liquors answer as sub
stitute, for the want of something better. In
combining the pledge Of abstinence, then, to
distilled spirit alone, the objects of these So
cieties are attained, for their members, al
most as perfectly as if it included fermented
liquors, while the benefits are immensely ex-
tended, by including thousands in its num-
bers, who are willing to give up the former,
but do not yet see the necessity OF abandon
ing the use Of the latter. z. says that,
probably "most of those who have enrolled
their names as absta;ners from rum, brandy,
and gin, have done it without one faint de-
sire ior Indulgence In ID, out lnslnuates,
that, if ga pure cold water system" were
adopted, much smaller number would be
found to join in it. Let this be admitted
it still furnishes an argument in favor of the
course which has been adopted The soci.
cites aim at affecting the greatest possible
aggregate of good. If, then, one system
might effect the most, in some few, solitary,
individual cases, and yet failed entirely in |
ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, of those
which might be remedcd by the other mode,
merely because they cannot lie brought
within the scope of its operation, surely, the
mode which can be made of the most gen.
eral application is the best.
But, it is still said, members of TEMPER
ance Societies "aTe inconsistent" If then
are inconsistent, how much more so are
those who acknowledge the magnitude of
the evil they are contending against, who
profess to approve the objects for which
they are associated, who object to becom-
ing members only because they ado not
go far enough" and who yet stand by with
AI IL L