The Planters' banner. [volume] (Franklin, Attakapas Co., Lou.) 1849-1872, 1852-05-08

without counting the gains; feasts of
pleasure to soul and sense from whence
no intoxication arises, eXcePtthat upon
which the heart may banquet till lis
passions are charmed to repose, and all
It's dreams are robed in the hueS of
poetry. If these offer no lure-if these
fail 10 satisfy the desire for companion
ship. and quiet the feelings of restless
ness which Of smaller or larger growth
pervades the bosom of every nan
with mauv. urging on from excite
ment to excitement till the moral sense
is lost in mad, delirious longings for
sensual excesses, we would proudly
despise and overIeap all the barriers
which the ingenuity of the law might
throw around US for defence
Besides, all who visit these establish
ments do not drink-the fewest number
drink to excess; and they were closed
tomorrow. in obedience to law, the
moral Punishment and preventive force
of that law would reach many in the
exercise of a social right which they
have never abused, along with that
melancholy class, poor in purse and
shattered in health, who have sunk to
that degraded stage in drunkenness
when IFS disgusting exhibitions have
no longer any power to harm by ex-
ample or contagion. The poison is
wasted upon the victims ii has ruined.
just as disease sometimes wastes itself
and loses its infectious power by the
force of the ravages which it commits
on the peculiar structure of the frame
where ii has fastened It's hold.
The law may affect this unfortunate
class, and drive them from their accus-
toned revels in the public bar-rooms-
drive them to the highways or TO lurk
in dark places to perpetrate their un-
seemly orgies-drive them to your
apothecaries for medicines with strange
aames, but possessing IN singular de-
gree tie properties Of The old poison
But the law cannot reach-does not
seek to reach the cellars of the wealthy
and the side-b boards Of the fashionable
1t cannot enter the bower and hall
where the wine spirit, robed in flowers,
sings the song which lures 10 tuin-the
song whose early cadences stir the
blood and fill the bosom with generous
emotions, hat whose last echoes are
heard i'll the maniac's shout-in prisons
in mad houses. OF are silenced in the
grave, The law cannot reach these,
but the moral force and loving grasp of
your benevolent Older may do So-has
already extended there, and in many
places robbed the banquet of the bowl
which flushed the feast with unnatural
mirth: and you should guard we'll, lest
through your violence the evil spirit
which has been exercised return again
with legion in his train to resume the
sway in his old empire.
Think of these things. Ponder well.
and let the Judgment, not your too
ardent desires, influence your actions
in the matter. Your mission is too
noble to be imperiled for an experiment.
The hopes of too many are garnered
in your keeping to be rashly veutured
now The bark upon which your for
tunes are freighted is sailing upon
smooth waters, famed by the breeze of
popular favor, and sped on its smiling
way sanctified by the wishes and
guarded by the prayers of the purest
and the best; do not trust it amid the
breakers of treacheFous sea, where
many a goodly ship has gone down
more ably manned than she. By at
tenn mpting too much you will accomplish
nothing. States have drifted from their
moorings, and stand as wrecks among
the nations through the bigotry aud
fanaticism of their rulers seeking to
force men into heaven by particular
orthodox route, and our institution
should take warning by their examples
not 10 overstep the modesty Of its just
pretensions in striving for an unattain-
able good.
So far as | am personally concerned,
have no hope in this life, nor for the
life which is to come, that is not to a
great extent dependent on the exercise
of the principles of your Order in the
government of my own actions, and
from the depths of my soul do | wish
that it may go on and prosper until it
conats thousands where now ii num-
bers units yet, al the ballot-bax. il this
law comes TO be acted on, my vote
shall be against it, under the belief
that the true interests of the order
would be sacrificed by any attempt at
legal interference in It's behalf Yon,
gentlemen. will in like manner be
governed by your convictions of what
! 4 ho.% a,1d