The Ohio organ, of the temperance reform. (Cincinnati, [Ohio]) 1853-1854, 1853-09-30

sober citizens in this regard ! Moral
forces must impel to duty. Our MEM
bers, at least, know the moral influence
which belongs TO meeting in Putnam.
have endeavored to show that the
sale of liquor is such an evil and crime
to society as requires law TO restrain and
prohibit it. have shown that there is
nothing unconstitutional or illegal in that
prohibition. have shown what the law
is, a wide chasm what it ought to be,
in many instances; but all these coDsid-
erations are but the she'll Of the matter.
The kernel is untouched True, it is a
social evil but its blight falls on the indi-
viduaI mind, blasting, whitening. 1t dead
ems sensibility, ,blunts perception, destroys
the reason, and coIrodes the soul. Here
is the demons work indeed The mem
tai habitudes are under the spell Of the
Tempter. He comes TO them under the
roses Of Hilarity, His eye is fascinating
his colors prismalic-his motion the
easy waving line Of grace and beauty
oitentimes; but at last be biteth like
serpent, and stingeth like an adder"
His first victim is the young man, whose
heart is alive to every excitement. For
the brief hour, every thing is fine, joyiaL
glorious Who can laugh louder whose
purse is freer? He is genteely tipsy and
can hiccup strain of Tom Moore
with an exquisite gustol He is very
God and the wine is his nectar Alas
that chemists have infringed on the rights
of the jolly God, and discovered his nec-
tar to be miserable migling of rum,
sour cider, alum, tartaric acid and log
wood; and Physicians have found out
that it is an irritating poison, resembling
in its effects, stramonium, hemlock, prus-
sic acid and opium
1t is necessary that sound sense should
now and then dispel these poetic dreams.
But his nectar gives a momentaTy thrill
OF ecstacy and that's enough for him.
Alas it is too much for him. The
uneasy appetite begins. The victim
is bound. But he deserves our kindly
care and gentle admonition. 1t is the
Tempter for whom we would enact the
penalty. For the Ieehng drunkard, we
can but sympathize. "What a picture
he presents--a glorious nature in ruins.
What hopes cut down! What powers
wasted What means are turned into
gloomy disappointment What is man,
and what might he be? The very body
with its fine organization, groans and
sickens under such base indulgence
The spirit sighs in its secret places over
its meanness, its treachery, its dishonorW
There should be for him no icicle moral
ity, no fmsy sympathy, no trumpery
honor. Let a tear fall as he passes
Let others pity the plumage Let us
think of the dying bird. See the glim-
merings OF an immortal mind Pickering
upward still through the degraded body;
only to sink again. The mind will not
look through the dimmed eve; the soul
ceases to shine in the bloated and stolid
countenance. The drunkard's death is
double. His soul dies in his body; ere
his body is consumed by the fires of base
indulgence.
Does any one chill our sympathy by
asking, is 1t not his oOn fault? Has he
not right to use his osC" body as he
pleases?
answer, it is not his own fault. The
fault is in the State, in the citizens, in
YOU and me, in all who have voice to
proclaim an everlasting NO." to tie
liquor dealer. Neither has he the isnt
10 imbrute his body by such indu gence.
The God who made his bod, 20 sink un-
der it, never intended surA a dedication.
A certain poet, it is tabled of old, leaped
into Mount Etna to prove that he was a
God. OF this Burke humorously, yet
philosophically remarks, "that be con-
siders such frolic as that, an unjustify-
able poetic license, rather than as one of
the franchises of Pernassus and that no
man has a right to do that which is Rttrea-
SonabIe, or not tor his Gun benefit" What
would be yto him who leaps into the
fire of passionate selfindulgence And
if he has no right to use his own body
thus; where in the name of truth does
the vender of the poison receive his over
the victim? Friends of order, dcceney, and
justice in Ohio! Let US unite and urge
upon our Convention, to fix these rights
with their aDDToDriate nenalties A dark |