The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1853-01-18


temperate insfny crusade against the monster
vice that has desolated our homes and robbed us
of the sweet promise God once gave us in our
childhood. Y
The speakers voice had trembled but now it
was lost In a sob. In a moment he recovered
himself and went on, still in the same low, search
aInthe sweet promise.of our children. Where
are they look all around this large audience.
There sits an old5friend land there, and there.
Like mine, Their heads are blossoming for eter-
nifty. Long years ago, I'VE started side by side
on the Journey Of life. We had our wives and
our little ones around MS then. Where are they
now ~
Another long pause and deep silence followed.
The dropping of "a pin could have been heard in
that crowded assembly. -
When my thoughts go wandering back to
that olden time y resumed the speaker, and /
see, in imagination, the bright fire, now extin-
guished, and hear, in imagination, the glad
voices of children;s now hushed forever; and
when / think of what caused this sad change,
do not wonder that, Ihave been all on fire, as it
were that / hare appeared to some mere cold
water fanatic.
g wish that young man were here tonight !;
and, perhaps, hesis here. Twill, at any rate,
take his presence efor granted and make briefly
my address to him. &, 81
q You have called me, my Young friend, a.cold
waterSfanatc. IF You had sad en-
Swonsd have liked sthe term better. But, no
matter, a fanatic letitsbes And what has made
me 500 Il will draw for You picture.
. q There is small, smeagerlys furnished room
in the third ,storysof an old building. The time
is winter; and on the hearth burns a few pieces
Of pine wood, that afford but little warmth
Three persons are in that troonl--.a mother and
her. two children. The mother is still young;
sbut her thin, sad suffering face, tells story of
poverty, sickness, and that heart sorrow which
dnes up, the very fountains of life. A few
years previously, she had gone forth from her
fathers house, a happy bride. looking down
the open vista Of the future, and seeing naught
but Joy and sunshine. She. clung to her hus-
band as confdingly as the vine clings to the
oak and she loved him withsall the fervor and
devotion of q pure, young heart Alas that
shadow SO soon fell upon her path; that loves
clinging tendrils were soon torn away!
I. She is still young. Look upon her as she
moves with feeble steps about her room. All!
into what depth Of misery she has fallen
Where is her husband who SO solemny
swore to love- cherish, and keep her in sick.
ness and in health? The door has opened!
He euters-gaze upon him % wonder an
expression of pain and disgust is on your coun-
tenance fora miserable drnnkard is before
YOU. No wonder the poor wIfes pale cheek
grows paler, nor that the sadness of her face
changes into d look Of anguish. Hark He
has greeted her with on angry word. He stag.
gers across the room, and, in doing so, throws
over that little toddling thing on her way to
meet him. The mother, with an exclamation,
springs forward to save her child from harm.
See! The drunken wretch has thrust her an
grily aside with his strong arm; and she has
faHen-falen with her head across chair
G The fall, my friends, proved fatal. week
after that unhappy day, stood by the grave
of one who had been to me the best aud most
loving Of children!"
The speakers voice faltered But he recov-
cred himself, and went on:
ga few years before, | gave my child, dear
to me as the apple of an eye, into the keeping
of one believed to be kind noble.hearted and
faithful. He was SO then-yes, ] will still say
this. But the demon of intemperance threw
upon him her baleful glances, and he became
changed. And such change! The scene l
have pictured took place in a far city, whittier
my child had been taken. Alas the poor
child did not die in my own arms. Twas sum-
moned too late. Only the sad pleasure Of
gazing upon her wasted cheeks, white as mar.
Bile, and icy cold, remaiaed to me" Z
The old man could no longer suppress his
emotions. Tears gushed over his face. and he
wept aloud. Few dry eyes were in that as
semblage. ,s ,ss.,.s.~
aIs It any WONDER resumed sturgess, after
he had again recovered the mastery of his feel
ings, I" that am cold water fanatic Me-
thinks, if the young man to whom have re.
ferred, had passed through sorrow like this,
he. too. would have been an enthusiasts IA
natic, if he will, in the cause of temperance.
He, too, would have proclaimed from the
streets and the house-tops, in highways and
by-ways, his mission of reform and regenera.
ton. But let me say to him, and all like him,
that prevention is better than cure, that it is
easier to keep sober than to get sober, easier
to give up the daily glass at twenty-five or
twenty-five, than at thirty or forty. These
drinking habits gain strength more rapidly than
others, from the fact that they vitiate the whole
system, and produce diseased vital action.
ga cold water fanatic perhaps | am. But
have not had cause! Ten years ago, a youth
of the brightest promise stepped confidently
upwards, and set his foot on the firm earth of
manhood. Hehad education, talents, industry,
and good principles. But he lacked one ele-
ment of safety-he had not deeply fixed an
tagonism towards all forms of intemperance ;
nSaad LILO tho unnnn man to whom I have