The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1845-01-16

their enemy too2 Every man has h
circle, large or small, and exercises NOR
or less influence in it, and this will ote
spread and expand till we lose it in tn
multitude of society. It's like the expand
ing circles that the pebble produces in tn
still lake, which the eye can follow for
little while. and then they become los. ant
COMPOUNDED in the mass of waters.
tell you intemperance is crime strik
ing deeply into the heart Of the public
safely, one equally, or perhaps more inju
rious in its consequences, than many Il
which is affixed the severest penalties o
law. The evil is no more confined to the
individual, than eontagion 10 the sick
man--alI are endangered who come with
in It's sphere of action, and the health O.
society must suffer from it.
Incompetence is mol onI vice, but the
prolific parent of vices. 1t is the great
fountain of bitter waters from which flow
out many rilIs-the: beds at first shallow
and narrow, the stream runs bubbling and
pratting along down the landscape of life,
till at length with deeper and wider chan
mel its accumulated waters move silently
but powerfully along, carrying upon its
broad turJid bosom, its countless victims,
ill with one sulIen plunge it tumbles over
its Niagara fall into the dark deep lake Of
ruin, whose rising mist is tot pierced by
the sunbeams of hope, and made radiant
with the rainbow of promise.
fthele is one vice more than another,
that claims near affinity TO intemperance,
it is that Of gambling; they show striking
similarity in their first influence over
the mind--litle gambling is like little
drinking, one degree leads on 10 another.
They both wax stronger and stronger with
every indulgence, till moral principle has
no longer an abiding place in the heart.
The mania of the gambler is near akin
to the mania OF the drunken man--al The
higher powers of his nature are extinguish-
ed-and he's fiji for treason, murder, rob-
berry and crime.
AS these two vices have so close re-
scmbIance in their infant workings upon
the mind, and exhibit a still stronger re-
la,ionship in maturer years separate them
not in death, but bury them both in the
same grave. And bury them deep too
pile high the earth upon them, that their
noisome presence may never more cloud
the pure light OF virtue.
All great vices have little beginnings,
g. these little beginnings are what we are
most cautiously TO avoid. Actions are
ever performed with a facility proportions
ed to their frequency, virtue and vice are
progressive, and the greatest crimes have
small beginnings. 1t is in the occasional
sippiag at glass of cider, glass OF beer
or ale, that the seeds of intemperance are
first sown-step by step we enter the cir
Gle OF the great magician incompetence,
and soon we are powerless in his tolls.
We can only look back on the days of our
health, purity and innocence, like our first
parents on their lost paradise, whose rich
blessings they were never more 10 enjoy.
There is no middle ground to be taken
no halfway house of indulgence i'll the
road to intemperance, that is not thick sci
with pitfalls and danger-lhe only safety
is total abstinence now and forever-touch
not, taste not. handle not-See that the
vice has no beginning, no foolhold among
you-never forget how rapidly, what are
termed the trfling vices-the triflng ex-
cesses, lead Oh to greater, and 10 greater.
A little cloud on the border Of the horizon
may swell itself into the tempest, and the
smallest spark which even a drop of Wa
ter could quench, may kindle into deso>
lating fire.
Wasblngtonians of Ferrisburgh /! you
are engaged in glorious cause, you have
already done much-the spirit Of your no
bic enterprise has gone abroad over the
land like an angel Of deliverance, with
healing in his wings. The ministers Of
the Washingtonian Temperance Societies
have gone forth, and with the lamp OF
hope in one hand and the cup of consoia-
ton in the other, have visited the dark
af int