Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1854-01-11
1851.
9etttrs TO tge 4topIe:
In which tho Author meets his Readers at their
own freside.
To the Patriot.

SA q t4 ! v T.
My BRoTHEg,-Are not our hearts linked
together? Do we not all love our homes,
our hearths and our blessed father-lan p?
We Americans dearly love our green hills
and shores, aye, like the good old Patriot of
olden time, g when Romans in Rome's quar-
rel spared neither land, nor gold, nor son,
nor wife, nor limb, nor life, in the brave DAYS
Of old"
Then are you not willing to protect your
home and hills from dangers, foes and evil
Suppose, while we are talking together here
at your blessed hearthside, the startling news
was to flash along our trembling lightning
lines that the footsteps of a Russian foe was
heard on our shOres-that the war trumpet
had been sounded-that the ~sanctity of one
home had been invaded and the feeble ones
slaIn-that a great battle had been fought,
and $4,000 of our fellowmen had fallen with
feet to the foe. The red pilgrim tide would
swell in this Nations knotted yeins-vou,
and !, and all Of Us would rally 10 a common
standArd-wavc after wave-of Shhttterfng uay-
Onets would flash in to-morr0w's sun as thew
rolled like a storm-swept ocean across this
noble cOnfederacy from Maine to California.
and Freedoms lire 6illors would roll on and
orer the crushed aggressors
- The desolating footprints of a worse than
Russian foe are now burning on our shores /!
(And you kRolc it, More than $4,000 of our
brothers have already been slain, not in hon
orable warfare-sword to sword. eve to eve
but massacred with more than red mems
cruelty in their own homes-their clothed
blood dries and crumbles on the hearth-stone
to-day. The fiery cross Of Rum sweeps like
an avenging storm through this liquor-cursed
land; the demons clans loiter around fields
and houses, and the incarnate slaughter goes
madly on in the highways and bye-yays Of
City and hills. A scourged Humanity cries
out for war and vengeance! The tocsin echoes
from the blue mountains to the crispy beech.
The roll Of the Temperance drum is heard in
the vale, and the peeling blast ofthc Teetotal
bugle bursts from hilltop and home. Let no
man call himself a PATRIOT if he can look on
! +rrrnUvTd while his feIiow-men groan, and
bleed, and die-and women and children cry
: out for mercy-beneath the blazing swords
2 of RUNS desperadoes.
Your eye kindles when you hear that a
soulless Pirate has been run down and cap
tured off the Isle Of Pines A land Pirate
is in your midst RUNS ebon flag waves
over your conquered country. LdW protected
assassins and legalized manslayers openly kill
your relatives and fellow-men.
ACllla was SaiQ 10 De the ScOurge OF G0Q :,
: Rum must be the scourge Of hell for earth
IN has no record of so heartless a conquerer q
: tyrant so merciless SO terrible an enemy to
man.
Turn to the pages where the history of
earth's Impressions and c~ruelties are record
ed, and pre-eminent for atrocity and blood
u sits the Rum Moloch on his throne Of skulls
= and waving a sceptre of ~Iniauity. Freemen
We and Patriots are arousing to the oppression
the old spirit that hurled the tea in Boston
harbor has been invoked from the ashes Of
= dead heroes, and the fame-banners of a rec
~ rebellion blazes in every State, from the bleal
he hills of the North to the wave-washed pebbles
!" of the South. The deep-tones of a new Lib
l. eIty Bell linger on the waves of the wind
= announcing that another Declaration of In
m dependence has been submitted to those op
ii pressed 10y tyranny. Another great Revolu
ton stirs the public soul to its depths, ant
spies are lurking IN town and dell. Thou
'er sands Of brave hearts throb under the folds I
I'll the ~tri-colar, and vengeance is being sworl
fer against the Autocrat of Rum, the Whiske,
~ Gar of these United States. The ghosts {
cur slain brothers cry out for war to the hi
ne against their destroyer. The dumb lips Of
lb- million gaping wounds on brave breasts lik
Of those on murdered Caesar, plead for redress
CITIZEN ! Will you fight or fee? Wi
A1N oHhJ 6aAAc VI VIII NOo
Will you meet the foe, eye to eye, in ever
out conflict, or will you play the craven cowar
and hide behind carts?
Hear! If you shrink and refuse to dcfen
eW your hearth and home under the gloriou
tile flag Of Temperance now iuttering in ever
81 breeze, you are q traitor TO yourself, yoI
home, your land, your God. If you fear II
foe, go join the Rumocrats, like Arnold dl
AXE the English, and 60 down to posterity wit
A. -f.o-
!. Go join the reyelipg horde around the 10
ioh grog-den, and like the infamous Simon Grit
when he turned Indian, help them murd,
Aw- your neighbors and snatch the bloody sea
Ioz- from the innocent brows Of your wife al
children.
IN Patriot! Your old mother Carolina
its scourged from mountain to shore by the m
CHI rauding hordes Of the enemy. Defend h
no1O.
"There is a thing that's better yet,
z a And stronger than the baycnet,
tbo That executes a Freeman's rod,
As lightning does the viii of God
llgh The charlottesville 6alot-Jor %
lcle. Defend old mother Carolina at the ball
ON box-there is swift lightning in the ballot
ited a vote has n longer range than q musket,
4;os Soldiers in this moral war must be valia
men. Some may think it does not reou.
ndef courage. 1t does tho anybody with the Coz
hlbl- age ola butchers cur, can stand the fash
es of a rifle, OF the CLEAN CT a sword, but it tai
a Marion hero to stand calmly amid the fla
of scorn at the social gathering, and
ed of CLEAN of contempt from a proud female e
to bear the jest, the gibe, the contempt,
irony Of the rich and powerful. All this, a
er- a thousand times more, the brave sold
vn g often has to bear in silence after beeomin
opin- rebel against Rum. The tongue is shar
than the sword, and words tell on the sou
Breast the confict-with brave hearts 9
COM strong arms rush to the moral battle-fe
:, his and strike for your land, your hearths a
far homes. Stand shoulder to shoulder q
press the column on. Let the s%entinels sta
-. on the towers and overlook the plain. r
'thlz- the hot ~javelins of retributivc Justice M
the camp of the aggressor, and with the sh
,ad q of a brave crusader win back this West
holy land from the Infdels of Rum!
y Al = THE AGE
rance -S~~
runk Capt. NICHOLS. an eminent architect