Monongalia mirror. [volume] (Morgantown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1855, 1854-05-13
MORAL sUAsIoN.
pY THuRLow W. BROWN.

Much has been said and written in
the course Of the temperance reform q.
bout the power Of moral suasion. There
! is powerin its tear and in its tone.-
With kind words it appeals to the bet
ter nature and essays to win back the
! fallen, With gentle voice and look it
rEkhocks at the heart ofthe erring, ind
points ont better way. lltmeets the,
I, prodigal wilma atsar, aud says 60 and
dsin no more" Ina thousand forms it
finds the human heart in its wanderings,
4 and with a tear for its follies, points with
a smile of hope of forgiveness back to
\ honor and truth. The proud spirit
which would fling back with scorn the
hatred of world, would melt andsway
like a summer leaf at the gentle whis-
pering of words of kindness,
Moral suasion hasaccomplished much
in winning men from their cups-more
than penal enactments which drag the
drunkard from legalized hell, to ilicar-
ceralion or fine. 1t has saved many
from the fang which glilters in the bub.
bles Of the beaker's .brim. Even from
the midst of deepest ruin some pleas.
AMI word or kindly deed has brough,
back the erring to virtue and duty. 1t
is doing much h7yet, and will never fail to
do much while there are hearts 10 love
the drunkard and weep over his ruin.
'7Theenrie are some Of our friends who
avo W their readiness to rely solely upon
,he power ofmoral suason for the re-
moval Of in,emperance. Itseems to us
a strange infa,uation. Prayers, and
tears, and appealing words, agains. an
evil, impregnable in its citadels of leg.
|islation, and backed by the whole force
of the government! Would the same
friends content themselves with appeal
ling to spare their homes and their lives.
and the torch andlhe knife ut the same
I|time commissioned to dc, the Internal
work, and the hand that welded them
protected by law?-What would the
cold blooded butcherca care for the plead
ing of innocence or weakness, when Ii
censed, for a price, to dreneh the very
hearth in warm bloodl And would the
] |incendiary, empowered to burn. and
sustained by the SO called respectable,
in the light Of the kindliug flame, re-
nounce the desola,ing business which he
had purchased Of government the right
to engage inl r4,r.,, :, .t...
God never designed that q wicked
world should be governed by moral sua-
sion. He himself has put on record
penal enac,ments against sin-against
vice and crime. Until human nature
is utterly changed. moral suasion, us a
understanding power, will be impo-
tent. All the blessed influences of the
Gospel, the inanencesof home, friends,
virtuous teachings, and the ehopes Of hap
piness and Heaven. as motive power,
will not restrain the vicious. All men
are not susceptible of moral influences.
If they were, the dust ofoblivion might
gather upon our statutes, and not a
crime should mar the harmony OF the
universal brotherhood of man.
\ Those who deal in rum are certainly
the last class which should ever utter a
word about moral suasion, and CLAIM,
that the temperance reform should be
carried forward upon that basis alone
We could smile at the coolness Of the
idea. but for its insulting wickedness.-
1t comes with bad grace in the teetl,
Of facts, upon q record of more, than
twenty-five years DURATION Here, as
elsewhere, moral suasion has had its Of.
tect, and men, regardf0l ofits influences,
}, have yielded to the light Of truth, and
abandoned a wickedness. And in the
high noon of our reform, those who still
persist, against reason, right and reve'
lation, in the business, ask the people
to follow their direction in the matter,
and continue course which, up to this
day, they have utterly disregarded.
With Legislation against it, it requires
the whole power Of The temperance re-
form to keepits giant antagonist at bay,
while in security itrevels upon all which
comes within its clutch. Moral suasion
knows not phase which it has not assu.
med in this great work. From broken
alta@ where every domestic tie lay
shivered, prayers have gone up where
there was no hope but of Heaven
Gather them from the angels record
and tempest of prayers would swell
its note Of accusing thunder. An ocean
of tears has drippediss bitter way oyer
checks which bloom not again. Days
and years have passed by, until ages Of
sorrow have accumulated in judgment
Wherever the victims Of the wrong have
loved, and suffered, and died-at home,
in the alms.house, dungeon, or on the
scanold,-the sob, the sorrow, and the
wall, have appealed to the authors Of all
the woe, vice and crime. Mutely, but
oh ! how eloqueptly, the covering and
ragged drunkaals child. and the pale
faced wife and mother, have presented
to tho dealer his cruel wickcdness and
their bitter wrongs oa~.,...
Tho ,rumseller is not ignorant and
deaf He knows the sweep of the on.