Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1854-03-08
Written for the Register.
CrNTTn"

On the EVILS ana crimes OF Iutem per-
Nnce, Showing how Necessary it
would be to bring the Main Liquor
Law into action i'll this State.
Ever since man turned away from God
as a source of enjoyment, and from his
service as a means of obtaining it. he has
been prone to seek it in some improper
bodily or mental qualification. Of all
those qualifications To- which he has re-
sorted for this purpose, few, ii any, have
been more destructive to him than that
which results from the use as a beverage
of Intoxicating liquors. Though it af-
fords momentary qualification, at last
''it bites like a serpent and stingS like an
adder" II tends to form an artificial,
unnecessary and dangerous appetite, and
thus leads 10 drunkenness and ruin.
That ingredient in fermcnted and dis
titled liquors, which is the cause Of intoxi-
cation, is not the product of crealion.-
The animal kingdom, in all its variety,
saith, lit is not in me-" and the vegcta-
BILE kingdom responds, III is not in me-"
Those substances, however. which con
tain. or will produce sugar, after they are
dead and become subject to laws which
operate on inanimate matter. undergo a
process which chemists call vinous fer
mcntatiOn. by this process, a new sub
stance is formed, called Alcohol. 1t is
composed Of hydrogen, carbon and oXy
gen, in the proportion of about thirteen.
tiGuy-twO and thirty-five parts of the hun
dred. 1t is, in its nature, as manifested
IN its effects, subtle and diffusive poi
son. The elements. by the combination
of which this substance is formed. exist
ed before, but the substance itself which
that combination forms, did not before
exist. 1t is the product solely Of vinous
fermentation. and is as really different
from what existed before in the fruits or
the grains. as the poisonous miasma IS diff
trrcnt from the vegetables. from the de-
composition AMI decay (which it springs.
1t Is as different as poison is from food,
sickness from health, CT drunkenness
from sobriety.
The art of distllation has been thought
by some to have been known in China
earlier than in other parts of the world
(See Morchead on inrbriaLing liquors, p.
lO7, DC But we have no conclusive
evidence that alcohol was extracted from
fermentcd liquors, till it was done by the
Arablans, about nine hundred years ago.
When they first obtained it they had no
name forit-it was afterwards called AL
cOhol-and that has been its chemical
name down TO this dav.
Some few and feeble efforts at differ
ent times were made by various indivi
duals to lessen its evils, but they contin
cd to increase. till many, in vicw of them
sank down III despair. Fathers died
drunkards, their widows procured liquor,
and their children became intoxicated al
their funeral. Good men stood aghast,
and then drank the poison. lamenting
its evils, and setting examples which ten
dcd forever TO pcrpetuale them.
Sometimes men take alcohol to drown
present sorrow. A man lost his wife, the
mother of his children, and he was in
great distress. He took alcohol, and un.
der its influence grew cheerful, and seem.
ed full of mirth; he sr:z Il the dead boly
OF his wife. and in high glec dragged hel
across the room by the hair Of her head
and threw her into the coffin. But 1.-The
end of that mirth is heavincs<," and the
SORROW that workeLh death. you vii
produce great effect on our people, y
said man to one who was about to de-
liver an address on temperance, "for We
have just buried man who killed him.
sell by ntemperance. He was the son of
areSpecta0Ie mechanic who had two sons
ana LOOK them both into his own business
when they were young. His practice
was to drink moderately two or three
times day. His sons did the same,
and before they were eighteen they were
both drunkardS. The eldest linrcrod On
10 twenty-lhrec and died. The youn1os,
can live to twenty three he is ,r6inr
rapidly the same way. The father sIanis
1t, but the sons are ruined"
That short sentence tells the history ri
many family of once moderate drinkers
The father, it may be, stands, but the sons
are ruined. In many cases, the father al
so, and even the mother and daurhter.
as well as the sons, are ruined. Whole
families lie side by side in the drunkard'.
grave families, too, who once were re
spectacle, and had no more idea Of beco
ming drunkards than have any families
or individuals who are now, however mo.
Gierately drinking Intoxicating liquor.
mere Is no safety but in abstinence, en-
are perpetual abstinence. If man be
gins 10 drink this "mocker," he know:
ho', ana he cannot know where it will
suppose farmer shonld> take avav
from ms ia0orers a part of their fooj
snouia poison their atmosphere. and ,bns
diminish their strength, sbouId -,
enemies to oppose them, load them VIII, TS
letters, and then with whip comnoI
them to do double duty, he would treat