Democratic banner., 1848-05-22

that mere appetite never could have secur-
ed. The subtle tempter has seduced the
noble ard generous impulses of our better
nature to his service, so that the sacred feel
ing of friendship is made to minister to our
ruin.
Hence in youth when habits are hot con-
fined, and the generous sympathisse Of the
heart flow out with a freer gush titan in ri
per years, is there the greatest danger:An n
hence also the noblest natures "a oWT spe-
cies are in the most imminent peril. Let
none speak lightly of the drunken man.
Let none as he passes by the fallen victim
point down with a sheer and say, che is but
a ~drunkard." But a drunkard! And what
is a drunkard.? A wreck | grant of hu-
man nature, but a wreck of the noblest hui
man nature that was ever lodged in the
breast of man! His heart was a gushing
fountain. His sympathies were personal
realities, and his affe ctions possessions Of
his heart. He lived for those he loved
And per-chance there was one he loved "a
bove the rest-the object OF his day-dreamS
and of his night dreams; and whose pres
ence real or imagined, impaired refinement
and exquisite bliss to his feelings. And this
community of affection unsanctified by re-
ligioa led on step by step in the progress of
dissipation, until the friend, the man of lof-
ty soul and generous heart, was the daspi-
sed, forsakcn, forgotten drunken man upon
the street.
And is it wonderful that there is scarce
ly a trace of his former nature left? Dis
ease has followed in the Il ain ofdissipation,
and dependency and peevishness are the
results. He is now aroused to the fact that
he is a ruined man. His bright prospects
are blasted; his projects of business, of am
bition and of love are destroyed. He had
fancied a bright career in life, a blessed
memory in death. He now sees a degra-
ded, wretched life: a d~ishonorcd and a
dreaded grave. And will not the bitter
ness of the disappointment infuse itself in
to his temper? And worse than this. In
his degradation lie still had a heart for
Friendship, but all men had withdrawn their
trust and affection from him. Those who
in uther days had met him in friendly re-
cognition, brushed by him in the hurried
step Of business care and needed him not.
Those who had been benefited by his soci-
ETY., were ashamed to say that they had ev-
er known him. All men turned away from
him in carelcssness or disgust, and he was
alone in the midst of men. 4 feeling OF
desolatiOn came upon him. And from that
time he hated the world, for when he had
found it, it disowned him.
Say not that he has no feelings in com
mon with other men, or that he is a meanei
lcna If fho rano of r,orf,1, IL, a,
vishness is but the degcneracy of a mag
unanimous nature. His sympathies have de.
generated into antipatlies, his affections
into hatreds. Behold him, 1t is the wreck
of a noble man.
Nor can genius claim exemption from the
dreadful fate. Have not the mighticst fallen:
The warriors sword has been wrested from
his grasp, and the tongue of the eloquent
man has been paralized. There is a rest,
l~essness in genius, especially before it has
received any particular direction, that dc
sires excitement. The social dram, the
merry spree, or even the bar carou-
sal, is sought with avidity and INDUCED III
with delight.
And how often does disappointed ambi.
, ton seek to forget its chagrin IN the decep-
tive excitement Of the bowl. AcaSe ofthis
kind now occurs to my mind; a young mar
of Platte City who was a practitioner Of
law and a youth of extraordinary promise
J All who knew him predicted for him a bril-.
liant professional career. He had himself
cherished ambitious hopes, but they were
not at once realized. Instead of %toiline
patiently until he should win the wished fJl
%eminence, he brooded in disappointment O.
yer what the ardor of his wishes regarded
as a failure. He flew to the bowl and ere
, he knew it had acquired Incorporate hab'
its, Still he yielded to the fascination un'
til his habits were more and more confirmed
Possessing an unusually sensitive mind, hi
felt that his was the drunkard's disgrace
Too irresolute to shake off the habit ant
and retrieve his character, he yielded him.
) self up to its control and TO its ruin. 4
friend found him on the street one evening
in a state of partial intoxication and con
Quoted him to his room. After remaining
for some time in a very disconnected mooc
be exclaimed that she would no longer b,
an object of contempt for mankind" ant
approaching a shelf he took down a bottle
u ,rb;ob his fr;opd cunnocad "a oo,k,i, ,yh;o