The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1854-05-16
Temperance Department.
Make the Causc Your Own.

Some very good people doubt the expedien-
cy of:prohibitory laws against the liquor traf.
fc. They would still rely upon moral suasion.
We shall impeach neither the honesty nor the
benevolence Of these men, but upon this ques.
ton so many and marvellous changes of opin.
ion have occurred within six months past that
We by NO means despair of seeing all honest
friends of reform agreeing in this vital prlncl.
pie ofprohibition, so essential to the continued
tJs Of the temperance reformation.
Some of these objectors are parents, and, Of
course, deeply solicitous for the we'll being OF
their children. Let us suppose case, which
shall not only do no violence to probability,
but the counterpart Of which may be found in
the every day actuaties around u.s.
Here is community in the main, vrtuous,
temperate, respectable. Its professional men,
its merchants, its artizans, are characterized by
integrity, industry, and thrift. Education and
religion flourish, together with all material in
terests but there is one blot on this fair picture
the grogshop! Open by day, and far in the
night throwing out its lures in this direction
and in that-tempting the thoughtless youth
within the circle of its fatal influence, drugging
him to delirium with its terrible poisons, and
weaving around him the meshes of habit and
appetite, till to their combined influences, he
surrenders his manhood-this is its work, and
this the fruit of its ministry.
Your son is its victim. Through those very
traits in his character which renders him below
ed-his frank, ingenious nature, his love of
companionship, Of social enjoyments, and his
confidence in his felows-he has been led as.
tray, until the occasional glass is succeeded by
habtual tipping, and the latter has degenera-
ted to confirmed drunkenness. Not without
struggle against these downward tendencies On
his part, has this point been reached. He has
seen the gulf towards which his feet were sli-
ding, has looked into its boiling hell, and, with
averted face clutched despailiugly at every
promise of rescue from its sure perdition. But
the weakened will has, again and again, yield
ed to the strong temptaton-the former grow
ing weaker and weaker with each defeat; the
latter stronger and stronger for the unsuccess-
full resistance. You have tried all the appli-
ances that parental love and parental authority
can suggest, to save your son. In vain. lie
promises to drink no more--buf his temper
laughs all such promises to scorn. You have
demonstrated with the liquor vender, and wrest-
ling down your pride, you have told him of the
anguish and desolation that he is bringing upon
your household In vain. Yet nothing but
the removal Of the temptation can save your
SON. Has the grogseller right to destroy
him? Then nothing remains but submission.
But you deny The right. You demand that he
shall no longer poison and madden your child
You so far prohibit his traffic. May not other
fathers join with you in this act of prohibition?
May not the whole community? May not the
legislature! Then we should have prohibito-
ry Ian. And when it is made manifest that
only through the operation Of such a law, can
we rescue our own household from the destroy.
er; all objection, on our part to this enactment
must cesse. We have only to feel the neces-
sity Of protection as personal to ourselves, or
to our families, to make every man Of US a pro-
hibitionist.
Not till these potent poisons now ignorantly
or from the force of diseased appetite, used as
a beverage, are banished from society, or pla-
ced in the guardianship Of discreet physicians
and apothecaries, as other poisons are, can we
hope for exemption from the numerous ills con-
sequent upon their perverson; nor can this
banishment be effected until the laws of the
land are brought into harmony with the pur-
pose of civil government-the protection ofhu-
manity with all interests thereto appearing.
Haryisburgh (Pa.) Fountain.