The Ohio organ, of the temperance reform. (Cincinnati, [Ohio]) 1853-1854, 1853-07-01
A TeetOtaler's Story.

We. who are no teetotalers, cheerfully
admit this. We have seen the fruits
Of their labors, and can bear witness
that they are good We have seen
item raise from the very sinks Of vice
and depravity men whom every other
missionary had abandoned in despair.
We know many whom they have ele-
vated from pauperism into comfort,
from pollution into cleanliness, from
degradation into respectability, from
habitual drunkenness into habitual
sobriety.
Many are the thrilling tales that
teetotalers could tell, of men dragged
from the slough Of sin into the pure
air and sunlight of social well-being
and well. 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 culture. But
teetotal literature is advancing, and
the day may come when some genius
will do for the drunkards what Mrs.
Stowe has done for the American
slaves,-stir up a universal desire to
alleviate their lot, and rescue them
from the depths of vice and misery.
We shall never forget a tale of a
rescued drunkard, told by one Of the
teetotal lecturers. Itwas a statement
of his own experience, and its truth
can at this day be attested by thou
sands. The story was told in rather
broad Lancashire 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 res
pectable 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 produced 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 written paper
"I was out on my first teetotal
journey" said the narrator, "and was
very new to my mission. l remem-
Der that was dressed in a velveteen
cut-away coat, with white mother-of-
pearl buttons, just raw factory lad,
full of enthusiasm for the cause; bnt
that is worth a good deal, as you
know"
&" | reached town in the north OF
England. 1t was a fine summer even
ing, when | went out into the market
place to address the people. l bor-
rowed chair frcm a poor woman
after being rebuffed from several
doors,-and carrying it into an open
space, near which some children were
playing, and laboring people saunter-
ing about after their days work, |
planted the chair there, mounted it,
and began to speak-not without some
great flutteringS at heart, and serious
qualms as to the success of my speech.
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 got to say. At first,
some thought | was selling pills 9th
ers took me for Mormon; and when
l began to talk about teetotalism,-
this new-fangled doctrine of abstain
ing altogether from intoxicating drink,
my slender audience began to gig
gle, some of them jeered at 'Gustian-
jacket and several of them gufawed
outright. This was not very en-
couraging beginning for a raw speak
er.
"While l was still talking, saw
drunken man staggering along in the
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