Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1833-03-07

cause, is from pen not ,naknotcn TO fame
, FROM THE TEMPERANCE RECORDER
THOUGHTS ON TEMPERANCE,
ADDRESSED TO FEMALES, BY LADY,
ave are yerily guilty concerning our
br0ther-Gen. AZ and Il.
When to expunge foul blot from
national character, the great, and wise,
and benevolent, are combining their
energies. it becomes not those Of hum
bier name or obscure station, to re-
main Indifferent. The weaker sex,
who depend on others for safety and
protection, have immense interest at
stake, in the morality and purity of
the community. The plea Of want Of
power, can scarcely be admitted in
their defence, since the politicians of
our own day have asserted that no vice
can obtain great predominance in So
ciety, without hepermission offemales.
The cause Of temperance, which has
already wrought such wonders, and
has still giants labor to perform, has
claims to their earnest co-operation.-
Surely they whose duties and felicities
are involved in conjugal and maternal
relation, should be peculiarly and pain
fully watchful against whatever desc
crates the domestic sanctuary.
We do not, of course, address those
females who have given their hand to
the destroyer; who, in the strong lam
guage of inspiration have ''made a CO.
venant with the grave, and with hell
an agreement" We are sensible that
scarcely an agent save the voice of
Him who raiseth the dead, is available
to break their bondage. But they, who
with regard to the insidious poison of
intemperance, literally obey the pre-
cept, touch not, taste not, handle not
and thus suppose themselves absolved
from all responsibility; are they there
fore a6Solredl
My sisters, if we assent to the pro-
position, that not to prevent evil when
IN our power 20 do so, is as bameable
as to have aided in its preparation,
are we justified in supineness while
such multitudes are going down to the
grave with this leprosy in their skirts,
and upon their souls! Do we, to the
teaching of example, add the whole
weight of that influence which the
courtesy Of an enlightened age, and
the condesccnsion of the religion of Je-
sus have in these latter days accorded
usl If we are conscious of remissness,
let the words of poet admonish us.
''Lo our not doing is set down
| Among our darkest deeds"
| Let the Book of God counsel us tc
avoid the anguish with which the errine
sons Of Jacob exclaimed, ''we are We
| rlly guilty concerning our brother.
| The spoiler is by the freside, at the
| household board, in the nursery-haut
ce nothing to do? We, whose atfec
tons have their roofing at that fire
slde-who preside at that household
board-to whom that nursery is the
| garner ofthe fondest hopes for time ant
! for eternity, shall we see amid these
hallowed haunts, the footstep of al
enemy, and slumber?
| Wife! who by solemn VOW before
men and angels, hast entered into al
union which only death can sever, has
| 1t been your fate to see the vice of in
temperance casting deadly shadow
over the heart, in which you respond
your highest earthly confidence? And
day by day, and hour after hour, as
you watched its fearful ravages, were
you vlgllant, not to upbraid, not to
argue reproachfully, but to repress
your own sorrows, to render home de.
slrable, to revivify those affections
which are the guardians Of purity and
peace! Above all, were your suppl.
cations unceasing to Him who turneth
the heart of man, as the rivers of wa
tiers are turned! If so, though the har.
vest of your tolls may have perished-
though the disruption of your hopes
nothing earthly can supply, still will
you have escaped the deeper torture Of
rejecting that you are every guilty
concerning" him Who was once your
more than brother, yotr nert TO God.
Mother! whose duties are laid deep
er than any vow of the lips, even in
the immutable strength of love that
cannot swerve, have you counselled
your offspring in this matter, rising up
early and late taking no rest' Among
those habits which modify character,
dld you mculcate the controul of the
animal appetltes, the superiority of
happiness derived from intellecta and viz
tue, to the fleeing pleasures of sense,
the noblcness of subjugating the flesh
to the spirit! Did you oppose with your
irown, with the force of your authori-
", the first aberration from thnse nrin-