Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1853-07-18
A TEEToTALER's STORY.

A TEET0TALER'S STORY.
Among the energetic workers of the
present day, the teetotalers are unques-
tionably entitled to take first place.
! Those who are not teetotalers cheerfully
admit this. We have seen the fruits of
their labors, and can bear witness that
they are good. We have seen them raise
from the very sink Of vice and depravity
men whom every other missionary had
! abandoned in despair. We know many
| whom they have elevated from pauperism
| into comfort, from pollution into cleanli-
| ness, from degradation into responsibility,
from habitual drunkenness into habitual
| sobriety. -. ....
Many are the thrilling tales that tee
| tOtalers could tell, of men dragged from
the slough of sin into the pure air and
| sunlight of social well-being and we'll
| doing. But teetotalers are not literary :
| the hardest workers among them are
| working men. who have been their own
| educators. They have no time to write
tales, even if they had the literary cul-
ture. But teetotal literature is advancing,
and the day may come when some genius
will arise from the ranks of the teeto-
talers, to portray the condition of the
drunkards. and to stir up universal
desire to alleviate their lot, and rescue
them from the depths of vice and misery.
We shall never forget tale of a rescued
drunkard, told by one of the teetotal lec-
turers. 1t was a statement of his own
experience, and its truth can at this day
be attested by thousands. The story was
told in rather broad, uncouth dialect,
for the speaker had originally been a
| factory workman, and had raised himself
by his own industry and energy, chiefly
in this very teetotal cause, to a respecta-
BILE and highly useful position in society.
We despair of being able to impart to our
readers the full force of the story as told
by the narrator, or to produce anything
like the thrilling effect which he pro-
duced upon the meeting in question-for
there is an electric influence in the spoken
words, which is lost when it is attempted
to commit them to the written paper:
II was out on my first teetotal jour-
ney," said the narrator, land was very
new to my mission. remember that Twas
dressed in a velveteen cut away coat, with
white mother of pearl buttons-just a
raw factory lad, full of enthusiasm for
the cause; but that is worth good deal,
as you know. ... r.
81 reached town in the northern part
of the country. 1t was fine summer
evening, when | went out into the street
to address the people. I borrowed chair
from poor woman, after being rebufed
from several doors, and carrying it into an
open space, near which some children
were playing, and laboring people saun-
tering about after their days work, |
planted the chair there, mounted it, and
began to speak-not without great fut-
terlngs at heart, and serious qualms as to
the success of my speech. .... ..
GO At the sound of my voice the children
ceased from their play and gathered
round me, and several of the saunterers
also turned aside to hear what | had to
say. At first, some thought was sell
ing pills, others took me for Mormon;
and when began to talk about teetotal-
ism-this new-fangled doctrine of alb
staining altogetherfrom intoxicating drink
my slender audience began to giggle,
some of them jeered at fustian jacket,
and several of them gufawed outright.
This was not very encouraging begin.
ming for raw speaker.
While [ was still talking, saw a
drunken man staggering along in the
distance, with a lot of boys about him
calling out names, and provoking him to
swear at them in return. He seemed
to notice the little group collected about
me, and like most drunken men when
they see crowd, he at once made toward
us. Now, thought l, my evenings work
| is fairly spoilt; this drunken fellow will
put the finisher to my speech; and as he
came rolling along, some of the crowd
gleefully called out, as if they expected a
row, Here comes Charley Brown-a real
teetotaler; hurrah for Charley The chill
| dren set up a shout; the drunken man
staggered in among the audience; and [
went on with my speech. .a1
'I could not keep my eyes off the man:
he was frightful example of the degra-
dation to which habitual drunkenness
| may bring one. He was tall and power
fully made, but he was clothed in rags,
dirty and unkempt, and his face was one
mass of red blotch. The man fixed his
drunken eyes upon me as l spoke, and
felt encouraged by his attention, degra-
ded and outcast though he looked. l
went on, in homely words drawing
picture of the wretched life of the drunk
| ard, his beggared home, his neglected
children, and his ruined wife; and urged
again and again that the only radical
cure was the teetotal one-abstinence at
once and forever from all intoxicating
drinks.
"By this time, some other tipsy men
/ lnI ;o;,od IL. .,,l;oraa and I xrac told