The Washingtonian., 1845-07-26
SELECTED D.
THE HIGH AND THE Low.

The most difficult class in the community
TO reach in all moral reforms are the extreme
" high and the extremely low. The former
deem themselves above the reach of influence
from below, while the latter are considered
as beneath the reach of influence from above.
The temperance reformation has, therefore
exerted the most benign effects among the
middle portion of society. From this vantage
ground il sends forth its champions to make
war, and conquer in fields more hopeless still !;
and after the struggle of many years, we begin
to see wavering in the camp Of the enemy.
To drop the figure, Of late years temperance
has made advances in both the classes referred
to. TO record its triumphs, however, is not
our purpose; for too much remains to be done
to permit time TO be spent in vain congratula-
tions. IT'S true, il is not now quite so COM
mon for gentlemen TO get drunk at weddings
and parties; but while it still remains ne very
strange occurrence for servants to bear an in
toxicated guest to his carriage at the close of
an evening entertainment, we have much rea-
son for sorrow, and more for effort. IT'S true
that the spectacle Of human being wallowing
in the gutter is much more rare than it once
was, but still they may be seen in the lanes
and in the by-ways, as british in appearance
as the dumb animals whose place they usurp.
A few evenings since, we had occasion to be
out late at night, and as we were slowly
walking down Hudson street about midnight,
we were surprised and shocked at the number
of drunken men we met. One man of genteel
appearance, was dimly navigating along, prob
ably quite unconscious of being the object of
unusual interest to those who watched his
devious way. We thought of the wife he
was perhaps to- meet waiting in sorrow for
the return of husband still loved, though
erring and almost lost. Soon our thoughts
were turned to wretched being whom the
watchmen were endeavoring to lift from the
ground and bear to the watch-house. "Poor
fellow" thought we, "through how many
grades hast thou descended; perhaps from the
genteel and moderate tippler--down, down,
even to the kennel of the lost and outcast sot.
The writer was in the Hospital of Black
wells Island last Sabbath, with one or two
friends. While there a female patient met
them, and recognizing in one Of the visitors
benevolent gentleman who had befriended her
in her poverty and ruin, she stopped him and
asked about her family. Z" Where is my hus-
band?" .He is Dead" was the reply, ''buried
"And my daughter Mary" said the stricken
woman. t.She is in the House Of Refuge.
Rum brought her father to the grave, and her
mother to the Island, and the city authorities
in kindness placed her in that asylum. !" 'sAnd
William, my little boy, what has become of
him?" He was playing near the railroad
last week, or the week before, was run over
by the cars and had both legs broken" Oh,
could those who speak in feeble tones of the
doings of the rumseller, have seen the look
Of agony and self-reproach which this wife,
widowed by rum, and this mother thus strick-
en- in her children, cast upon those who stood
near her, surely they would have no compass
sion for the monster. no pity for any who thus
deal in the death of fathers, and in the tears
of women and children. How much YET re-
mains to be done for this sad and wretched
class.-Crystal Fount " 49, aa1