Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1854-01-25
29sE
Reform Reform -


Hearts ofoakl hist! the army shou
up ike a bugle blast startling the eamn ,r;th
its thrilling depth and power! /" Dorm ,.ah
the tiqtor-trg6fc" hurstS from evaru ~
Carolina hill-top-its enthusiast.
echoes back from the Frceman's b,ou
ing high for God and bis Country
its stern tones adown the green voi,;.a
land, and the sea-board meets it ri
blasts and rafting peals from the Temnor
ance bugle and drum! The united Toa.pI
ance hearts beat high to-day. The nil.
mind is rocking to its great depths. IN
goes up from every hearthstone is i RI
or is it God, enshrined in our Altarsq o.
feeble pen feels fired with enthusiasm to-3,r
Our soul burns with Hopes bright fame
The clarion blast of the marshalled hosts
rings in our ears and nerves our arm for oc-
tion-stern and uncompromising. Our heart
throbs for Freedom to our race and copntrr
from the scaling, soaring curse and desnot;xm
Of Intemperanee. Our shout goes upto swell
the chorus Of the struggling. God of Hosts
defend the right
Denounce us as " fanatics, !" red eyed Dem
agogism, if you will. You have done it: We
glory that our humble name was attached 70
that ever memorable " MEMORIAL" and sLal
f be again; yea, to one more rnmistakable in
the future. Our course, in common with the
hosts of Temperance, may appear fanaticalto
demagogism that looks only to the dimes
! and dollars of the public vaults, and barks
t like an yelping eur on the cold trail of a fat
r ofice-sharp after "the FIVE loaves and three
If fishes" Who so stupid as to doubt it?
It Why do we shout in the ears of our law
giverst the stirring appeal-reforml reform :!
a Why do we pray and beg them to enact a
law to crush the monster-sear in his den, the
d gluttonous Gorgon Intemperance, reeling a.
mong the tombs Of our beloved in his debauch
and drunkenness of blood?
Ii We see, and o! God. how wildly the
5, rushing sweep Of the inebriate's fatal path.
OF There it is :-dark, craggy, rocky, gloomy,
thorny, walled about, hedged in, steep and
IN swift. In lis blood stained track are our
~ brothers and our kinsmen after the fesh.-
They are beckoned onward by the gilded
II fiend, Temptation, and goaded forwards by
:" the demon, Habit-driYen to the Death by
q the whirlwind of popular Indignation. There
n they go-one, two, three-thirty thousand
,t annually {! in one bloated, blasted army
" There ! see one, a dear brother-a bosom
id friend-the father of three little children
that we love-the husband of weeping wife
of with whom we played in days Of yor
70 around the old school-house, and sat Will
on her, when we were children, on the grass,
nix bank weaving daisies into garlands and rose
his into the Future,-he starts back at the enr
of that death-road-be shrinks when his BLOOD
shot eyes gaze down into the black depths c
hat the unfathomed gulph roaring its eternal che
bv rus of despair beneath him-he tries to ba
var ance his mortality upon the shadowy prec
the pice-he casts one lingering look away bac
ill to the sunny hills of Temperance he has fol
too feited-a cold tear gathers in his eye as
sees his wife, his children weeping and pray
Kew ing for the eternal rest of his soul-vai
aid hope ne feels it in his own soul that it
vain-the curse, the penalty of Gods viola
der ted law Of prohibition takes hold Of him-h
18th trembles on the brink Of a drunkard's hell
I 1t IlC piCClp4C6 IeGlS-lI CTuInDleS-De Snrlek
If. for help-he falls thro' the chaotic nigf
the quick as by some unerring grayitation turned
Jor- devils and night give way before his howlin
ath- transit, and on the waves of molten lava h
lose immortal essence rides ever-forevera shire
the ing wreck by whiskey riven!
e so Have we any excuse for our seeming If
ndticism 2" Yea, verify, and if Demagogis
the had one hallowed spark Of humanity glowir
pro- on its frozen Altar, it would partake of Il
rral same :" fanaticism."
pen- Hearts of oak the battle between Tru
and error wages from plain to plain-fro
its pillar to pillar. Keep the plumes tossing
{ al the air-let the bloodless banners wave
the sky-futter the pennons in the mornir
and evening breeze-let the war steeds re
tion in the confict-let the sound Of the bugle
heard from the outer to the inner valid
and night let the watchword, Reform
KEEP REFORM !" thunder in the public ear a
NOR awake the sleepers in the valley of Hinno
after <