Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1854-09-06
What have you to do with the Temper
ance Cause2

De put directly 10 any man. But 1t Is still stranger,
when the position assigned woman by God in soci
ety is considered, that it should trembIe upon the
lip amid the curl of supercillious scorn and disdain,
rs addressed solely to her sex. And yet some time
in an animated social discussion relative TO
progress and varied features of the present great
Temperance moeement, the interrogation which
stands at the head of this article was addressed to
myself. think nay answer then was confined to an
to impress upon the mind of my companion
very important and | believe undisputed moral
points. First, that no accountable creature lived to
and for himself alone-and secondly, the bearings
of each present act upon future years as confined
strictly to this life alone. Setting aside the reveal
ed law of God, and the beautiful and eft repeated
therein contained relative to our neigh
boris interest. happiness and character, and still
HVhat man who is not in himself a natural monster,
viii dare assert his liberty to live alone for his own
selfish purposes-to immediate virtue and truth and
justice upon the shrine of individual qualification or
gain-to advance sentiments which he knows must
in dissentions, ruin and DEATH to lead the
young and hopeful beneath the branches of the
deadly Upas tree, Viee-and to poison the source of
all those fountains from which communities drink
in Information and strength. Even without the as
'~sistance of a blissful christianity and alWthc pure
and holy obligations it imposes, who can observe the
organization of society and look into all its minute
and delicate ramifeations, without perceiving and
readily acknowledging that subtil chain which binds
each individual to his fellow man, and consequently
oqe link OF which hei2 Hhfpken OF. %eorroded, affects Ii
materially forfa T7ze 81 variability or beauty Of 7
those which it was designed to connect.
Nor is its general harmony impaired by the fact
that this influence is not confined to warrior, states
man or author, who may astound and awe the
world through the sublimity of intellect or the mag
nitude Of moral or physical power, but winds itself
down among the poor and illiterate, and even en-
braces the weak and the young. The stern heart
of Romes incensed beseiger relented not, though
Populations of the most honorable and imposing
character had bowed at his feet, until the face that
bent Ger his infancy and watched his cradle dream
ings, beamed upon his vision through a bath of bit
ter tears. And the hand that had dropped deter !
mincdfy to the final strokes of death warrant, af-
ter the e%ntreaties of aged parents and the agony of
a wife had been witnessed unmoved, trembled and
shrank from its Office before the ~prattling child that
pleadingly cried for its Papa. Nor do present ac-
tons or words, Insignificant though they be, end
with their actual commission or utterance, but are
often productive of lasting effect either upon others
or ourselves. As ye SOW now, so shall We also reap
as yc lay the foundation deep and strong, so shall
the superstructure be symmetrical and beautiful, is a
lesson incapable of being too indellibly impressed
upon the mind of youth. And would to Heaven l
could find words and arguments sufficiently strong
to induce the youthful and the gay to pause in their
buoyant and exciteable hours, when the blood dash
es impetuously through its channels and impulses
and tempers crowd thick and fast upon the brain,
and ask how shall | review this act when the calm
ness and wisdom of years shall have done their
changeful work-how viii it appear to me when
the last lingering look of life is taken, ere / step
from the shore of time into an unfathomable eter-
nifty All, can we imagine any situation moro
cherries and awful than old age, standing upon the
t c~ruTnbling verge of the grave and within the very
} shadew0f eternity itself, yet doomed to reflect upon
t a useless or a ~nisspent life-poweTs of mind and
p body mlsapplied-energies peTyerted-opportunities
of doing good scerned and neglected, until the dim
, ness OF that night is already gathering about them
u in whioh RoRe can york. The euphony Of flames
Y clarion may indeed have rang delightfully."- upon the
4 ear, but it swehs out a still louder blast for some
= new claitGapt now, or has become shOTn of all its
4 power Go please. Wealth may have rolled its gor-
geous tribute to his feet, but it fails to bear away ON
its gilded waves the iufrmities Of age or stay for an
: hour the stern hand OF disease and pain. Love IL
lufained his lifetime, Aut it stands back shiyering
d and poWerless befoSe that awful and mysterious leap
d which hURlan ingenuity has no power to avert.
After all, in considering this event, what is in
~tellect, what is sveGlth, what is fame, compared with
- q lie spent IN the exercise of social ana moral viz
tue, an eye ever watelful for the happiness or i'm
% p~roveRent Of others, q disposition 20 head the i'm
re Fpressible minds Of.youth into the same anselhsf
ID path, 41pd.to d-issemminafe ever those views which
beautify human life and awaken all those sublTmel
n attributes of love and admiration for the creature
!, which God has made. AL this and much mere o.
a similar character would go toward answering thu
, general question "srwhat have YOU to- do with tn
tempeFsRce cause r fer ats opposite, lnterRperance
IS is adtaitted to haye'behB productive of more Grim
it and misery and poverty aMd degradation and dealt
r. than mortal pen or tongue has power to detail
45ut when addressed to NE as an individual, it SWok
MVSSGI iG0 SHOt IlCn i dLtl0Se StbA
a volume to contain. In a moment I was a chill
er again, and as l sat ut my alother's knee with nj
aY hands clasped in hers, whIlSt she snsOOthed she tan
"a gled locks back from .1Ey brow and gsaea as it ver
id down ia the very depths Of any soul, her words cam
N back to rae with &AI the fierce and distSDctness
~ yesterday. As the eldest OF her little family, aaT
dRg, said she, yea are the one upon whom mother d.
+ ponds fer assistance in guiding and directing arigf
IT. those younger than yourself and you should try
m understand and remember her lessons well, Seeaus
n " if Sha JVara tokpn III It vr0arld rpSt urMnKa HpH
fill her place and import to them all that she b;
striven to teach you, Manhood will come Gp yOJ
:. brothers and they must GO out into the busy WOr
w. and be exposed to SHARES and temptations fFe
which yeu will be sheltered, but perhaps shegeE
able all the more readily to perceive. Watch ov
:, them, warn, entredt, direct, that they may NOT ha7
to mourn over the follies of youth, or have mstarI
darkened by the contraction of odious vices A
lat ways remember, my child, that you must emGeav
ltR to be a model after which the rest can live nm ss5et
lie, open her deathbed these words were repeated al
his child asI was, is it any wender they sank deep In
,a- my heart, or that among the other dangers to- whE
~ her darlings were exposed, that of intennpeTar
u0 took to my eye a fenrfuIfy alarming shape.
All the relations 1 have sustained since the da
try of nay childhood, with their consequent accumWGati
err of responsibilities, have only served to strength
so and deepen to intensity Exy prediction in favos
am this great reform now stalking with the tread 81
80 giant over the world. With all the hopes and fes
U which once thrilled my own mothers bresss, / III
ure look down upon the little ones which God has CIV
me, and earn esty pray that He may prOtset thu
ave from all the fell consequences which follow M t
the wake of intemperance; and not psotect StOHe, I
her Undue then with an earnest, tTRshful desire to 6
Tighten their fellow nen, and neglect no oppoytGl
- ty of leading the erring hack into the green pat
from which they have Btv5yed. As q mother, oh
have much, very much TO do with the temPersE
,ape cause, and God help the woman to whose tralni
efuI hand immortal dGstinies have been committed, "
ripe feels that she has nothing to do WITH us PogFe
the NO interest in its Ue"ence. Dependent as shs
upon her affections fer happiness, sna suseepti
a as that very depen&eaoe makes beT to amy yiolat
= of the principles of virtue and trDsb, she must 9
be the greater sufferer where these are disregard
Iout or openly violated through an Incorporate coul
imp In the victim himself all finer perceptions and s
Their sibilities become gradually bluntedy until he is
longer prepared to view properly the height III
""6 which he has fallen, or the deep, dark, dread alb
YAH into which he is ahoRt to plunge But & Tift
TO mother, a friend UNSOLICITED to these supplying
my duences, must not only mourn the loss Of a val
companion or relative, but must realize ID all
az 70 startling force the depraEed path heb chosen
low tne Rofrlole emu wnlcn MusSoe us lnsxleaple res
ttSs' time to reflect upon the realities of the present
they well aeto anticipate the closing in Of days Of
deeper gloom, when the sunlight of life shall b
will become Eeied in clouds of impenetrable aensit
ask the light eff hope gone out from her eye-and
roa3 black chill of despair settled down upon her he
Better, far better, that the rigid hand Of de
~ should blight at once all premise of a glorious N
kon. hood by dinming the lustre of the eagle eye,
ting his seal of silence upon the eloquent ton
and stifening the robust and sinewy form for
grave, than that the slow crushing coils of the
- pent vice should fasten about his soul and brea
.orA' its venomous ereath upon each flower and tree