Fremont weekly freeman. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1850-1853, 1852-04-10
From the Ohio State Journal,
20 the Honorable General Assembly
0fthe State Of Ohio;

| GENTLEMEN-I am about to address you
through the medium of the public press, be-
cause l well know your multiplied calls pre-
vent you from giving due heed to all re-
quests that cumber your tables; and because
| am about to detail to you matters of truth
full history, which are known only to myself
and to him who is omniscient and knoweth
! all things; and yet true as these things are,
respect for the feelings o:the living, and for
the memory of the dead, prevents me from
subscribing my own name thereto. My heart
bleeds when l think how many thousands
and hundreds Of thousands Of similar cases
of accursed wrong. caused by and accursed
system ofvending poison and death, lie bu-
fied in the grave, or in hearts deeper than
the grave, and which will never be told till
that day when God shall Judge both quick
and dead. and the secrets Of all hearts shall
be revealed.
am one of those whose names are already
upon your tables, petitioning for the passage
Of law prohibiting the manufacture and sale
of intoxicating liquors as beverage. have
done more than this: have laid aside, for
| time, q aOomen'S instructive dread Of encoun-
tering the gaze, the fidicule and the rebutfs
of those who appreciate not her motives, and
dark abodes of sin, entreating for names to
| that humble petition which prays for your
aid in accomplishing a work which would
cause more Joy on earth, and in Heaven also
than any other event, save one, that this glo-
rioas sun Of ours ever shone upon. In these
walks, have found the sick and destitute
wives and widows of those who are daily sink
ing, or have already sunk into the drunkard's
7 L., a. &c 10
haggard eyes because their owners had the
such petition; and have departed, bearing
and followed by the prayers of those who have
audience in Heaven, if not on earth.
Oh! could you. ye honorable Legislators of
this great and glorious State-could you be-
| hold, with unbeclouded vision, how many
from the novels of misery; how many from
the mansions of the rich; how many from the
pallets of straw and couches of down are SEN
| ding up petitions to Heavens high throne,
for blessings upon your deliberations, and
invoking for you the guidance of infinite wis
dom; and could YOU know with what trem
bling anxiety these praying mothers sisters,
and daughters watch your movements, and
wait with excited hopes the tidings of your
doings in this behalf you would not--you
could not turn an Indifferent ear to our sup
| plications.
| know it is said by some that women have
no right to petition. or, at least, ought not to
! be heard on SO grave a question as this.
| They say that we not fit to judge Of the
consequences and relative bearings of such
a law: that we are swayed by feeling and
sympathy, and hence that our views should
have little weight in the decision Of legisla
tors, when interests of such magnitude are
at stake. 1t may be SO; but hear my tale and
! Judge if it be true.
In early life married man who moved in
the Grst circles of no mean city. He was
descendant of Puritan stock and his venera-
BILE fathers svery locks yet command wide
respect amidst those who lager on Pilgrim
ground. He was a worthy son of a worthy
sire-a man amongst men. In the CONNER.
cial world be stood fair among the fairest-
Abundance blessed our board: If we had
not wealth In boarded profusion, we had
enough for all our wants, and even the rich
might have envied US our happiness. But
when l dreamed of no danger, the foe, with
serpentne disemblng, wound his coils around
my loved and cherished one, and blighted my
every earthly hope. Oh, neper!-never
shall l forget the agony of that hour, when
| first the full conviction flashed upon my mind
that the father of my children-my own low
cd and cherished husband-was drunEdrd!
Oh We who reve in the wealth wrung from
widows tears and hoard up gold coined from
orphans groans, were l a demon damned, and
wished to heap upon your devoted heads the
coais of unquenchable fire, could not wish
you worse than you might drink of that bit
ter cup, which then you forced to my unwill-
ing lips, and compelled me to drink, even to
the deepmost dregs.
But even then knew not the power of my
deadly foe. Hope, that angel of mercy,
sprung up from the depths of despair, and
with the frantic energy of the 6re-surrounded
victim of the prairie flames, stroVe to release
him from the grasp of the fell destroyer. l
strove! oh God, thou knowest how hard
strove, to conceal from myself and others the
truth. With my husband the struggle was
equally severe, if not as ardent He saw not
at first his danger but for my sake and his
chdren's sake, he resolved that he would
be free Like Sampson he rose in all the
concious strength of nanhood's prime; but
like him, who daled with an enemy, he too,
soon found out he was shorn Of his strength,
and Welded in aiect submission to bis deadli-
est foe He was in the anacohda's folds,
and as well might he escape from the paw of
the lion; as he from his eternal tormentor,
Thrice, before God and man, he took the
solemn pledge that he would no more yield to
the tempter. and thrice he fell but to taste in
all its renewed horrors, a drunkard's he'll.
Oh yes, many, many times, when no eye but
Gods and my own witnessed his struggle.
and when lie knew not of my vigils,I have
seen him PROSTATE and weeping as though
his once manly heart would break, as he re-
viewed the past, and looked forward to the
future. Twas then he realized his helpless,
irrrtrevable bondagel And lie was rot IL
gutter drunkard. He seldom reeled in the
street; he was never public, degraded sol.
But he was in a Demons power. and demon
like, he would in the ten thousand ways which
shall forever remain namelesS. borrow UP MY
vary Soul and rrn6er Hf. a burden Prom