The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-09-04
The Temperance Conventional Lunatse
Asylum Wanted

Asylum wanted.
Well the Temperance Convention is over,
and the country is safe. Lucy Stone Garrison,
Greeley, Burleigb, Rev. Antoinette Brown, Mrs.
Nichols, and the host Of teetotal crusaders, have
by this time, it is to be hoped, reached their
homes in safety, and resumed the regular rou-
tine Of their usual avocations. We trust they
have enjoyed their holiday. We hope they will
look back to the Whole Worlds Temperance
Convention of September. 1853, as one Of those
joyous merry makings which it is pleasant in
after times to contemplate by the ireside. Like
the graybeards of old who were fond of telling
how the carnivals OF their youth had been hon.
ored with wild dance and sprightly jest, when
they were Rois de Ia Folie, and the apple was
awarded to the maddest of the merry throng,
we can fancy Mr.. Burleigh, when time has shorn
his Narcissus curls, delighting group Of eager
grandchildren with spirited account of the
funny doings of September. '53. We can picture
Mr.. Greeley-in the sere and yellow leaf-be-
moaning the days when the rules of propriety
were so relaxed in New York, that he and his
friends could revive the ancient Saturnalia at
Metropolitan Hall ladies could openly repudiate
the obligations of modesty, and brazen mounte-
banks could give reins to their impudent
ordinations Of religion and morality. For,
though we trust we may never live to see the
day when any mans mouth shall be forcibly
stopped in New York, it were vain to disguise
the fact that. as time creeps on, the public re-
lish for such exhibitions as we witnessed last
week is fast disappearing. Novelty will wear
of, curiosity will be dulled-even the edge of
satire will be blunted. 4 time is close at hand
when it will need something more than an an
petticoats to attract an audience to tempe
rance lecture. It is we'll that the teetotallers
make the most Of their brief carnival.
What fruit they may personally reap from
their melodramatic displays on metropolitan
stage. il is not very difficult to indicate. Those
among the temperance contederates whose
names are already familiar to the public as
promoters Of socialism, Fourierism, woman's
rights and infdelity will hardly retrieve the
character they have lost. Men who have done
their worst to shake the foundations Of society
and spread scepticism among the people, will
not regain public esteem by running muck
against one Of the blessings with which God
has endowed his creatures. Men who have
assailed the Bible with every weapon
that devili.h ingenuity could suggest, will
gain little credit when they quote Scripture on
behalf of teetotallisn. Their public and social
standing cannot be perceptibly affected by their
recent exhibition. Horace Greeley's character
T. s,.s "a Y,.rr
the steps Of the Tribune Office.
Nor can we suppose that the proceedings of
Thursday and Friday will cover the female por-
ton of the convention with any additional
odium. The ladies who. during the last year or
two, have thrown of their allegiance to society
and proclaimed themselves outcasts and pariahs,
have already suffered the highest penalty that
an outraged community can infict. Our an
cestors were wont TO brand the female delin-
quent with the dreadful scarlet letter; we need
no such symbol to outlaw Lucy Stone, Lucretia
Mott and Mrs. Nichols We're ii not for the
publicity they command we could well leave
their punishment to time. But enjoying, as
they do, an auditory Of millions OF people. il is
but right that we should inform strangers that
no respectable man in this city would allow his
wife or dan hter to associate with these persons
that they are tabooed in every gentl,man's
family-that they owe the audiences they at
tract 10 no other reason than idle curiosity. and
the singularity Ito use no harsher term Of their
costume.
Such were the elements Of the temperance
convention vowed atheists perfdious foes to
religion. unblushing socialists, unprincipied po
Iticians in search ola new platform wherein to
rise to place and bold women-such war the mot
leg crew which undertook On Thursday last, to
legislste for the people, not Of New York, not
Of the United States, but Of the whole world
Need We say anything more? Is it possible to
regard the convention in G different light from
that in which we should view the holiday OF a
lunatic asylum
Is il not mockery to attempt to sum up the
net results Of their deliFious rawlings? To say
seriously that these people--the scum thrown
no by the hesvings and effervoscings Of a fe-
YeTiso society presumed TO lay down lew
by which their sane fellow citizens were TO be
ruledf To discuss in calm language the inco-
heTent vagaries Of Greeley Garrison,
Lucy Stone?
1t may be law Of nature, az II is a law OF
art, that the truth is most surely saiued by
oyershooting II at first. The car;oat,rss. or
the comedian must exaggefate to gain his end
It may be that the extravaganza Of a Worlds
Temperance Convention and Maine l,iopor
law are required 10 reduce intemperancs
within it's proper limits. They may be the
forlorn hope, who sacrifice Themselves n order
that their successors may enter the breach
When they have fallen, and their names lie
low in The dust, we may possibly devise means
equally etfectual and rational for TIE proven
lien and extirpaiion q Drunkenness.