The Mississippi Creole. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1841-1851, 1848-03-04

Hl5lSeL Pieio9hllFb VI your nature ii you ne
glect to become familiar with its truths, and
refuse obedience to its requirements. Human
knowledge may ex aust itself, his never will
it bears the stamp and seal Of Deity Himself
and in the language Of another | repeat that
" amid the thousand studded gems which
beautliy and give such splendor to the mora.
ornament, this IS the clear and bright %constel.
lation which is always above the horizon, and
pointing high towards the gates Of heaven"
And now, rs the representative Of the Ladies
ofCauton, | present you this book; receive it as
the lamp from Off the Everlasting Throne, may
it not be a sealed book to any one Of you, but
as a light to the shipwrecked and tempest toss
ed mariner, SO may it be to you, to cheer you
in your darkest hours.
Miss MARSHALL having concluded, Mr.. w.
R. DousLAss, in behalf Of the Sons of Tenn
petance, replied as follows:
LADIEs-In the middle ages, that period Of
the worlds history over which the spell Of Ro-
nance have SO p%rofusely been thrown; prowess
in arms was considered the highest object Of
human ambition, and a cIIivalrous devotion to
Woman was lncuIcated as the paramount duty
of every belted Knight. To gain the approx
ing smile Of some bright-eyed Lady, deeds Of
desperate valor were achieved. Death itself
was robb'd of its terrors and fearIessly met,
when the exaltation of his Lady love was in
yolved in the contest, and the countenance of
the expiring knight frightened when he re-
lected that his own. valiant actions and the
name of the fair being in whose behalf his
hearts blood was poured out, would be blen-
ded and live together in immortal song. In
those tremendous conflicts for the recovery of
the Holy Sepulchre on the burning plains of
Palestine, the arm of the steel clad warrior was
not more nerved by the blazing cross upon
their banners than by some simple token of
woman's appreciation that g%littered upon his
helmet.
Those glorious days have passed away, and
the institutions Of Chivalry have " gone, glim-
ering like a dream of things that were" But,
Ladies, one of it's cardinal principles, like
Hope in the bottom of Pandora's box, has sur
vived the changes of time-deuotion to Woman.
BE assured, Ladies, that this principle burns
brightly in the heart of every Son OF Temper
ance, of every laborer in that great Reform
which, by e~levatlng the standard of morals
throughout the land, adds to the happiness of
woman, and widens and e~nlarges the sphere Of
her influence. This feeling, if possible, burns
more brightly in our hearts to-day, on account
Of the peculiar occasion which has called us
We have come here to receive from
your hands the Book of God--the Book more
precious in lis wisdom than all earthly riches,
more beantifulin its simple and sublime moral
ity than aught that human genius can invent.
haili 1t as an evidence that your hearts are
with us in our war with black intemperance,
and never did Knight Of the olden time, feel
emotions Of gratitude, of thankfulness for
Woman's regard and encouragement, stronger
more profound than those that now throb in
all our hearts. Like the Heavenly Cross which
blazed before the march Of the Emperor Com
stantine, the presage Of victory, we regard your
Gift as an omen Of the full and complete tri-
umph Of the principles Of our Order.
This is the age Of progress, and no who're is
the fact SO strikingly manifested, as in our own
land, the Republic Of the +" Stars and Stripes,''
We are marching on with unexampied rapidly
in the development Of all the clements of ma
tional greatness. We have solved the problem
as TO the capacity Of mankind to govern them
selves. We have shown that the idea Of ra
tlonal liberty, a liberty restrained and regula-
ted BY Law, is no speculative hypothesis, but a
tact-an nndying omnipotent truth which is ev-
cry where operating to the advancement Of free
and enlarged principles Heaven born truth,
which, like the lovely Planet that gilds the
horizon at evening, will ere the morning come,
reach the meridian and cast its genial rays far
and wide, dispensing and destroying the foul
mists which envelope the despotlsms Of the
Old World. And the immortal Washington,
the Father Of his country, the memory Of
whose great services is rekindled on the altar
Of our hearts BY each succeeding anniversary
Of his birthday, if permitted to look down from
his serene repose IN Heaven, sees with complete
satisfaction the lofty height to which our coun-
lily has attained,