The Columbian fountain., 1845-12-16

~~AN rs pot Il luNC III lioiid ociiAO pNoA.ASSD
which must be despatched precisely at II
O'Clock; and as the distance through which
l have yet TO walk is one mile, cannot
now stop" "But," replies the old COM
panlon, "you can just step in and take a
glass with me, it will not detain you over a
minute--come." "Well, yes, can spare
as much time," rejoins the man Of business,
and will just step in, take a glass with
you, and then hurry on.'' They enter the
tavern and call for the liquor; the man OF
business drinks his and then hurries to the
door, and just as he is about to cross the
threshold, the old companion taps him on
the shoulder and says, 80! B., have you
heard the news ~ "No, indeed, what is
it?" and then he listens for fifteen minutes
to some empty narration. He now asks his
old companion to take something with him.
They approach the bar and call for the
liquor; and whilst the landlord is preparing
it, they enter again into conversation, which
lasts for sometime. Presently, the man OF
business looks up at the clock and ex-
claims, "Good heaven! it wants only five
minutes to twelve;" and swallowing the
contents of his glass at gulp, he .rushes to
the door. The old companion follows him
thither, and accosts him thus The hour,
you say, B., is twelve, and the distance one
mile: it now wants only five minutes to
twelve: you cannot reach the place in time,
and, consequently, it is unnecessary to go.
However, do not let me detain you.'' The
man OF business thinks for moment, and
replies, g You are right, your reasoning is
correct: | cannot reach the place in time,
and therefore will remain: am sorry for
il, but it cannot now be helped'' He again
approaches the bar and calls for liquor, in
order to silence voice within him which
says, Y You could have reached the place
in time if you had not entered this tavern !;
if you had not drank that poison, which
destroyed your frmness of purpose, you
would have saved the honor of your friend.O
And thus is it always with the drunkard-
deluded being! 0 fool! fool! fool! that
man is to allow liquor to pollute and de-
sroy that in which the man only exists
the mind
"That God-lke spring of action,
The source whence learning, virtue, honor flow
Which lifts us to the stars, which carries us
Ger the swollen waters of the angry deep
As swallows skim the air; that fame's sole fountain
That doth transmit fair and spotless name
When the vile trunk is rotten"
If liquor only killed the body then we might
excuse it; but it kills the soul, O it kills
the soul 1t watts that immortal bark down
the stream of time till it reaches the ocean
of oblivion; and there it sinks to rise no
more. The effects of liquor on the mental
constitution are most deleterious and damn
ing.
| could extend my remarks upon the
effects of liquor on the moral constitution.
But as you are, ladies and gentlemen, to be
highly Intellectually entertained by those
who are to follow me, shall conclude my
remarks for the present by observing, that
if there be, within the sound of my voice,
any who are addicted to the dangerous use
OF intoxicating liquor, let me implore you,
by all that is most dear to you, to abandon
it at once. Let me prevail on you to come
down from the bleak and barren mountains
of intemperance, and enter the verdant fields
of Total Abstinence. You cannot beun-
acquainted with the fact that liquor is poi
son both to the body and to the soul; that
it has brought many innocent women and
children to starvation; that it has blighted
the prospects of thousands; that it has
filed our jails and our penitentiaries; that
it has planted the gallows time after time !;
and that it has given millions to the tomb
Liquor is curse; and O great God, launch
forth the thunders of thy wrath against it,
as thou didst against Sodom of yore, and
sweep it, with bosom of destruction, from
the earth