The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1852-02-26
ADDRESS OF DIR. AMES,

OF St. Anthony, at st. Paul, ON Mon.
day, Feb. I6, 1862.
published by request Of the friends Of TEN
perance.)
Twas night The rused curtain disclosed t.
view a stormy and discordant world. Darl
clouds, betokened 10 the sick-the chid-and the
matron. terror, fear, and distress.
Passion, the Iyrant of the realm was armet
with his sceptre, death, distress and destruction
beckonng onward; destroying hope and Joy. Or
either hand, | behold the whitening flowers of in.
nocence, the storm brooding or every hill, ani
the cataract ravaging every vale; Deaths spec.
trail chariot was performing his most rapid cycles
Error caused opposite and discordant principle.
to war, making jargon that was waited on strong
winds on the ear Of Heaven,--while the periphe.
ry lay like faint line on the sea Of mind-the
/ widows weeping and the orphans wailing, came
low on the ear Of night, echons-
go where is the heart that once loved so dearn
Think not my friends that this is morbid hal
luclnation, a frantic optical Ilusion--but learr
a moral lesson.
If thine eye is not dim, behold the moral and
physical destruction made on The haman race
That happy family, whose hearts were as buoy
ant as the morning breeze, and as happy as the
bird that fits thereon-a change is wrought, theiI
souls are now chafed and deraHged.
Around that subunary heaven where once gent.
ly waited the soft and spicy breezes of true love
and friendship, the atmosphere is now gstenine
with chilly dews betokening the approach Of win
ter. No sunny face or sparkling eyes greet yeu
u mighty gloom is deeply spread-children are
there taught the broad way to sin--their reputa.
ton tarnished-shipwreck made Of joy and hope
and their substance scattered-mOored with want
distress, and misery. II their ear is not heavy
where once was heard the prayer Of praise j:
new cursing-where once the notes Of Joy were
sung and the harp notes sealing-is mourning
sobbing and crymg-Where once the trowel o.
devotion spread literally the cement of love and
harmony, now angry and discordaut passions reign
as the Tyrant Of the realm-scatlering confu.
sion, disease, misery and death-shpwreck i.
made of virtue. of hope, and of joy-misery i.
in possession of the port Of peace.
| Is the ear satisfied with hearing! The voice
and note Of the soft whisperer can tell you the
tale Of misery and brutal life, and make it al
impressive, and show its panoramic course and
termn--as well as the voice of the thunderer
or the swift passing note Of the mail carrier of the
several unverses of God--the comet.
| Is the eye satisfied with seeing? Do you need
the highly magnifying glass, with powers sufii
cient to bring to view the secret of the ultmatum
! the chemical combinatlon-or, to measure the
unmeasared circle further than human thought
hath power to travel, to lead you to behold the
evil Of Intemperance and its auxiiarics and APP
pendages, which has, and is now laying waste
many Of the brightest ornaments of our land
deranging the best economy Of the soul; weak
ering the social ties Of society, and loosing the
bands Of Republican form of government.
AT The forum of safety and moral power YOU
have heard the Philosopher, the Phianthropist
the Statesman and the Christian, describe the
dark and dangerous way Of intemperance--tle
way to run-lrom the fragrant and joyous posi-.
tion OF health and happiness, d0on step by step
until naught is seen of that once happy being, bal
pitlfnl wreck by the shore Of time, or perhaps
on the alarming and dangerous shoals of frantic
alIuson. Alas you have heard the deep groans
and earnest lamentations Of the dear wife, fol
comfort and for home and its blessings gone by
and low on the ear of night you have heard the
soul stirring. pitifu means Of that dear orphan
floating in the bark Of cruelty alone ou the tunul.
tuous sea Of time.
| Yea, heard the philosopher in bis stole eIo-
quence meet this great evil in his favorte way and
number up the wrongs that have and do nov ex is
in consequence Of mans losing his moral & phys.
convert the unuise man TO the true philosophy oil
life. He spoke of the magnitude Of the wrong,
its effects, its various phenomena, and compared
it TO dark system--death its centre.
In lucid manner he unfolded the true system
code of morals, drew aside the veil that separ.
ates the unhealthy mind from happiness. Moral,
he held up to view the beautiful rose, faithfully
described the bud--ts unfolding beauty. bushinp
virtue, impressive fragrance, and its odorous
grave. o how different! the perverted pleasure
and principle produces the most corrosive trouble
He urged them not TO things through that glass
made Of the siler ofdestroyed or decaying hope,
but bid them
"Go say to your children this refuge is tried,
This truth is the truth to the end;
Temperance,
This virtue forever the people shall guide,
This arm shall forever defend.'
NY mind was electrified and my soul rejoiced
when heard the lover Of his race; the philan.
thropist persuading his fellow man, to leave the
path Of error, to form societies, to preserve virtue
unbIemished, (thai name SO dear) and to be hap
py and contribute in the way Of happiness for
others.
His arguments for truth were as arched as the
rainbow, and as destructive to error the breath
Of the Upds, to wit:--Union is strength.
Alone man Is the orphan Of creation,
Alone worth is worthless,
Alone and ununided rirtus is but hermit, to
live and to die unwept, unhoneled and unsung.
Therefore he plead for the formation Of societies,
,pd the establishment of governments