Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1833-03-28
From the Temperance Recorder.
WHY DID THEY WEEP!

WHY DID THEY WEEPl
| Some few months since, two mer
went with their wives to neighborins
store, ''to trade" a little. Alter pur
chasing what calico, ribbons, tea, su
gar, &c. they wished, one of the mer
went to the wagon to bring in the gal
Ion bottle, that it might be replenished
| As il was near sshaying time" the &c.
commodating merchant suggested the
propriety of;heir taking a barrel. They
would want it, and il would come chea-
per than by the gallon. After some
little hesitation and casting about as to
time and pay, the barrel was rolled in.
to the wagon. While these things were
doing, the women retired to one corner
OF the store, and sat them down and
wept.--Why did they weep? Yes whyl
In that barrel of liquor they saw tears
and anguish, and poverty, and ruin,
and blighted hopes. They were young.
They had come away from friends in
to the wilderness, and after few years
of toll and privation, just as they were
about to call their farms their own
just as their children were coming to
require constant and undivided atten-
tion-just as in anticipation their log hut
was to give place to a house more CON-
Portable and more substantial--and just
as they were thinking to pass the even
ing of life in responsibility and comfort,
behold the destroyer comes. That bar
rel of whiskey is probably to deprive
them of their farm; is to bring poverty |
and rags, and suffering upon them; is,
in one word, to make them the wives, |
and their children the children ofdrunlx-
ards. Reader, do you wonder that
they weptl Had they not occasion for
weepingl-The merchant gained per-
haps five dollars--but it was literally !
the price of tears--it was probably the |
price of shame and degradation--may
be it was the price ollie. They wept-
if they were the first they were not the
last tears they shed. Ono. The days
of their anguish had only just commen-
ced. Bitter, very bitter things were
written against them.
-
Great Batt7e.-The Citadel ofIntom-
perance has for many ages sent out its
pestiierous and ruinous streams OF vice,
into every community and nation under
Various methods and ex-
periments have been attempted By men
and power TO suppress these
streams and exhaust and dry up their
bitter waters, but as yet, all has proved
unavailing. After much deliberaton
among the friends Of humanity, it was
determined new effort should be made
by an organized assault ON this strong
hold on both sides the Atlantic stimuli.
taneously. Last Tuesday was the day
selected, as the suspicious time for
favorable attack, and as far as the re-
turns have been received, we infer it
was an impetuous, almost irresistible
onc, and unless this Citadel is wholly
to human strength and
power, it must ultimately capitulate--
total abstinence being the only terms of
accommodation the victors will sub
scribe to or dictate. The assault be-
gan early on Tuesday morning, and Il
was continued with little intermission
the country until late in the |
evening OF that day. 1t is the opinion
0f those versed in these matters, that
the structure is essentially weakened,
and that it soon will be PROSTATE with
the ground. All kinds of effective wea-
pons were used, from the ponderous in
tellectual mortar in the great Atlantic
cities down to the small-arms vigorous
ly used in numerous villages. As was
the various kinds of heavy
ordnance employed in the assault, pro-
duced numerous devastating breaches
in the walls, and the wretchedness and
and ignomy and crime laid o.
pen to the eye of the besiegers, was to
them utterly astounding. The Citadel
is said to contain in this country alone,
upwards Of 800, 900 defenders, squalid,
loathsome wretches, exclusive of the
untold number of furnishing, broken
hearted dependents in the form Of wo.
men and children. The besiegers, it is
thought, exceed 2,000,00O,--healthy, |
vigorous and amply equipped with suit
able weapons for this warfare, and be-
fore such an organized, efficient body, |
this Citadel Of rottenness, corruption
and crime, must inevitably yield up its
victims and surrender.
[Northamp. Cour.
Mount Vesurius. the twenty