Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1850-08-30
APOLOGY FOR 1NTEMpERANcE-

There is no evil that affects the world. tba,
has fewer apologies for its continuance, than In
temperance. All that is wanting to consipu
this scourge Of humanity to a wakeless oblivion.
is that mankind should understand the true "a.
lationship they sustain to each other-that theN
see this hideous monster in all its frightful d.
formity, stripped Of the destinations which pub
lie opinion has thrown around it. There has al
ready, within a few years past been a mighty
change in public sentiment upon this matter, In
deed, the voice Of the countryside SURFACES of
society, are P%rOclaiming in thunder tones, its
condemnation. The enlightened and better DOR
ton Of men are not alone in branding il with an
eternal iniamy, but even the drunken inebriats
entirely entroPped in its meshes, and bound as
a captive in its clanking chains, heaps upon it
his curses and execrations. If all are thus ar
rayed against this fell destroyer-if mankind thus
re6rooates lntenPerance, why do they permit
this giant of ruin to walk the earth, crushing
to death the victims of his triumph, and breathing
a pestilential blight upon the hopes and prospects
OF the world2 The snswer to the question ia
plain. Nothing is considered by society, iniem-
perance, save beastly drunkenness. That sot
who staggers to every point Of the compass, who
is nothing but a mass of disease and ruin,
alone receives at their hands the dread name
OF an incorporate man. Is this not the error
that does all the mischief? After having plan
ted, cherished and patronized the first stages
Of the evil, how can you, with the least degree
of p~rOpriety and justice, heap odium, upon the
full and legitimate development of Your own
practices? What would you think of that Faith
er, who, having taught his son all the first steps
Of crime, both by precePt and example, if he
should, when the son had become an adept
in r~ascality, far outstripping the bounds set by
the brand him with the deepest damna-
tiOn7 Perhaps the sen might have been an hon.
est and upright man, had<nOt improper ~infuen-
ces beer brought to act upon his course. Thus
society by Patronizing and fawning upon the evil
In is inciPlent stages, by beslowing the f~iat,er-
ing titles Of innocence and harmlessness upon its
early dawn; rears a monster under its own foster-
ing and instruction., that brushes hundreds and
thousands Of its brightest 1.-THE SON
could blame his father, who had initiated him
into the career of crime and v-ssksdness which
had ruined him, then with fae sane degree Of
justice and PrOpriety, can that ruined inebriate
cast his curses upon society WHO offered the cup
to him in youth, and persuaded him TO drink the
Potation that has undone him. Every use of
ardent sPiritS as a beverage, is a dangerous 10.
temperance, Tie frozen adder which the hus-
bandman found in the snow, was, apparently
harmless and innocent, but when he had warmed
it into full life and vigor, regardless Of past "a
vOTs, 1t stung its benefactor to death so this
destroyer at first has but little power and it
consequently seems to be harmless and innocent,
bot ct last it binds men as captives at is chariot
wheels, never TO be unloOsed, but when it con-
signs them to lis ally death.