Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1854-03-08
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, WEDNESDAY,,

IL UdnULINd, W WEUNEpDAI,
heart of the man who receives jhe poison,
and it stings the soul Of the nan who i'm
parts tit brings desolation ind ruin up
on the drunkard, and sorrow hd ruin upon
the family of the rumseller.
From one end of our landlto the other,
in every age and in every hiEtory, this has
been the fact. We summo1our witnesses.
Chemistry comes forward AMI says: 4 have
analyzed the elements of akohol, and they
are all poison-nothing but poison Phys
iology comes forward and says 4 have
tested its influence upon the animal frame,
and Its whole operation is destruction and
death. Nothing else.' Political economy
ccmes forward and says: I have tried to
grapple with the devastation that it has pro-
duced, and entirely in vail. It has filed
the Alms-house, the Lunaic Asylum, and
the Prison with inmates /; it has filed the
world with beggary, and every nation of
this earth is looking upon the sad havoc,
and crying out in ALARM what is to be done?'
Human governments come forward and
say, We have been attempting to bale
out the deep abyss Of human misery-but
it has baffled all the efforts and the skill of
man. I dare hardly touch on social rela-
tlons. If there has been man among us
who does not feel the evil in his own fami-
ly, and can look around within the walls of
his own house and connections, and say that
he has not felt the evil, call that man a
happy man. | cannot send my beloved son
IN his early morning effort down to the store
IN which he labors, where far from me he
must get his MONDAY meal at some public
eating g-house, but he is to be beset at every
point, and in every stage of his little youth
full journey. What 7zgsht ha75 these icen-
sed harpies to destroy the happiness and
prosperity of my family? Who ever gave
this government the ri ght to pay a man for
poisoning my son? Who ever gave hu-
man government the right to hire man to
bring disease, disgrace, and damnation into
my family? cannot look at the whole
subject of social relations, but I remember
poem by young lady, who was accused of
beng lunatic on the subject Of alcoholic
drinks. The Rev. gentleman recited the
poem, the commencement of which is as
follows:
" Go feel what have felt;
Go bear what have borne;
Sink meath the blow father dealt,
And the cold, proud worlds scorn.
Uo, struggle on from year to year,
Thy sole relief the scalding tear.
:" TO weep as have wept.
HOPES 6af faded, a iedI, A6wae air 1se way
That led me up H6Woman's day" &c.
The Poem concluded with the line:
"This dark beverage of hell"
Did Heaven ever mix such cup for man?
Amid all the dews that descended from
Hermon's SHOWS upon Zion's happy top,
does one single drop Of alcohol come down !
Amid all the floods that pour down from
Alpine heights, that fertilize and beautify
Europe's wales, does one singl drop of al
cohol come down F? Amid all the ripling
fountains that cause the bloom of many
glen and sylvan bank in all our Western
hills and woods, does one single drop of al
cohol ever flow? Did Heaven ever mix a
cup like this for man? Could earth do it !!
No; [ verify believe this child of sorrow
has touched the actual fact of its own origin,
the dark beverage Of hell, and the great
= being, the great agent of evil-men may
: question his existence while they are pull
ling in the traces of his labor-the great
being, the instrument, of evil alone, can tell
: us either of the full purpose of its origin
; or the full product of its effects. Now that
. we see this whole evil set out before US, i
J may be we'll to consider the question which
: Immediately arises, What is to be done
> with it.? Am [ to be told, in the Language
3 of my friend from the North, Mind you
= own business ?" Why, is it not my busi
4 ness? God has given me as lovely a famil..
y - as ever blessed fathers eyes-six dea
- ; sons to bear my name, if he spares thei
u lives, throughout the earth Two Of then
ne unfinching advocates Of fthis righteous caus
1, The eloquent gentleman proceeded b
,o OF observing that if the liquor trade were a
;, honorable, and profitable and fair trad
laC ID then there was no question in regard to
'n1 Mr.. North might sell his silks and his lace
III III and no living man asked either to restra
lMal M him or give him license, on the contra
na' the more he prospers the more will Il
community rejoice around him. CA
en- plause.) If the liquor trade be right
'e it be practiced and abundantly. lnste
'eS' of five thousand, let us import all Euro
al all to help us (Applause) Then might
tne congratulate the poor Irishman who, VIII
Ell he came to this land and found he cor
70 get beastly drunk for six pence, said,
non sThe dear crathur, wish my throat W
lent en- mile long, and could taste it in evt
olt1 inch of it. daughter and applause.
: Oh What though the man who occupies
4 as eating house in Broadway and restaur
Fom in Nassau ST. make poor boy the des
'rs') dation Of his fathers house. The man
own right. What thoug gh the lad come he
u as as with words of profanity in his mouth
'an' father never taugh Int him nor uttered
len'' his ear. The man has right. w
en- IS though he sends mother to bed
) TOT sleepless sorrow. The man has right
anu 1t is a legal traffic. If it is right, be i
ers' But he would put it to the common 81
ce.,, l of unsophisticated men, who can recol
TINS the problem of the f555Wer of the gov
We y >, 70 ment in attempting to restrain and pro
Il tne it traffic which it legalizes and ackn
tne edges right. The reason of man W
neaV- propose one Of two alternatives. If
ever the evil suggested, arrest it. If i
pen right, legal, honorable, and just, carr
the out He considered it complete m
traue pIication of this warfare to stop at the