Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1842-12-30
SOMETHING MUST BE DONE.

Men NAV say that such or such thing
ought TO be done, or that they wish il was
done, but il is only when they say il must be
done that we can properly say Labor con
quers all things"
A few years ago steamboat left the Amer
lean shore of Lake Erie, with passengers ioI
The Canadian side. An unexpected wind drove
them into the current of the Niagara river
| I'm their Crjpht they wheeled about to gain the
land, but the wind continued TO blow, aud the
water TO force its way, the steamer driltel
backwards down the stream. They had al
ready gone some miles, and though the steam
had been crowded and the engineers had used
their utmost skill, they were carried faster and
faster rs the strength of the water increased,
ill they approached the fall. The people from
the neighboring hills and fields had discerned
the misfortune, aud gathered along the shore.
They knew the steamboat, they saw the anx-
ious passengers, and they saw their approach
ing late. They saw that without speedy
remedy, the steamer, passengers and crew
would be all carried over the Falls of Niagara.
They stood on the shore concluding that moth
ing could be done, they burst not venture in
any thing for fear of adding their own number
To those destined to be- dashed in pieces.
There was a man more interested than the
rest he came running along, and out OF breath
with fatigue. In loud voice he asked them
what they were doing, and whether they were
going to let that steamboat 60 over the Falls.
They told him they could do nothing, but he
had a privilege of doing all he could. We'll
said he something must be done, for my wife
and children are among the passengers. Near
by on the same beach, an archar had been left
with its cable cooled by its side. lie hooked
the anchor into the branch of a tree, took the
cable into q boat, and away he went where
man had never dared to go before, TO the mid
die of that resstess tide, and waited the APP
proach of the steamer. She soon drew near
when rope was thrown which was made last
TO the cable, and he and the cable were imme-
diately drawn on board together. The steam
boat was fastened and drawn To the shore; and
by the sole energy of one man, whose interest
prompted him TO say that something must be
done, all on board were rescued from the very
verge of destruction.
Who said "someihing nrst be done" for
the poor drunkardi whose wife and children
were on board the drunkard's bark Just ready
to be launched over the precipice of the grave
that great abyss that swallows up the hui
man family? Al saw that something ought
to be done TO reform the world, but none had
the fortitude TO do the work.
Incorporate men had been unexpectedly
drawn INTO the channel OF drunkenness, and
the faster they went, the faster the current ur-
ged them on; and many a one alas had even
gone beyond the falls, and plunged into the
drunkard's grave.
The people standing round knew all their
dangers and wished that it might be otherwise;
they got up little temperance societies, and
there discussed whether brandy, rum, and gin
ought TO be used az common drink, and many
a one came TO the conclusion that nothing
could be done; till by and by six men ia Bal
timore became more interested than the rest
They had for many years been ofall men the
most miserable. They had spent their rep
utation, their health and strength-their all
was gone. And when they saw themselves
Staging, their families in the same channel
when they saw their wives and families waste
through their neglect, and about TO reach the
fall, and be hurled with them into the gull of
eternity, il was time for them TO any "some-
Thing must be done" They said Il, and at
the word they looked round and saw the an
chor-it was total abstinence. They fastened
upon the tree of faith, they saved themselves,
their families, and vast muliitudes Of others
who were fellow passengers on the same stream,
and subject TO the same perils in life and in
death.
Resolution is the spring Of action, Il is the
arbter ofpower. Mans utmost might is sell
dom used, though like the tame lion or the
young lion Of the forest he knows il not.
Wiseasset Family Reader.