Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1855-02-07

chooses his profession and sits down to its
laborious study. Dreamingof greatness, or,
ir the more practical spirit Of our age. antici-
pating the golden rewards which accompany,
and to many, constitute success, he works,
for a. time, and arden:ly and we'll The DIFF
ffculties which surrounded the mastery of
the elementary principles Of his science be-
! gin to disappear, and its complete and har-
monious proportions to rise upon his view.
His preceptor prognosticates his future emf
nence, and looks forwards to the time when
his old age shall be brighsened by the re-
Election of his pupils fame.
Soon, however. the companions of early
youth, from whom he has been, for time,
separatedi gather again around the Young
! Man. Some have fallen otherssare falling:
all are Sgnorant Of the biaadishsnSsfts ftssof sicat
and the perils of life. With them he meets
occasionally at the wine party, or the luxuri-
Gus supper. His cultivated mind makes !
him without purpose on his part or theirs,
their leader or the wine cup stimulates the |
wit, which is repaid by ready applause
And thus the way downward is opened-a
way smooth and easy, and surrounded at
first BY the tones Of music andthe fragrance
of flowers, by melody and laughter and
good cheer.
He may be years, my hearers, in making
gradual descent. lie may enter upon the |
duties of bis profession. .Hemay not be seem
ingly injuredas 10 his prospects. He may make
for himself something of reputation. But if
he walk min the course he has begun, his po- |
tations will just as surely ruin bis intellect, as
they will destroy his body, and damn his
soul. His mind will come at last to work |
only under the influence Of strong drink and
then with diseased and unregulated force. |
His quick and keen perceptions will be bunted; |
his memory refuse to doitsoHice his imagina-
ton lose its vividness and brlliancy, and even
his speech become thick and ungovernable. |
Business will leave him for more sober and |
diigent men, and the poor man linger around
the place which mighthave been the scene
of his successes, only to see others preferred
and triumphant. Descending from thence
he may become the oracle of some bar room,
or the leader Of band Of noisy politicians
In such places and among such men, you
f will now find the young man who was once
of brilliant promise-who once inspired to
greatness and seemed destined to reach it. |
The brilancv alas! is clouded. His fine
: wit has all degenerated into vulgar obscen-
ity. The fires of appetite have burned
n into his bright and cultivated intellect,
$ and physically, mentally, professionally,
e he is wreck. A daily deepening obscu
: rity hides him from the busy world, bat
as he sinks into it, Oh think you not,
r that there ereE- come moments of sobrietY
o chanting at the first, "at the last it biteth
). like serpent, and stingeth like an adder"
J. Is it needfui now that We speak of the
N effect of this evil habit upon tie moral part
of the man? For is not this the part of the
: man on which the habit of constant drink
% ing does its most destructive work When
ct business habits are preserved sufficiently at
or the least, to retain the confidence of the
m customer-when the intellect works with
Re vigor enough to meet the demands upon it,
ID and sometimes with ftful energy, aston
n. ishing to those who know how much has
ne been done to weaken its. power and dim its
~ brilliancy, does not the moral power of the
a. man constantly diminish? Is he not every
is day less ready to do good, and more ready
en- to do evil? Is he not less prepared to serve
his fellow men? Will you trust the drunk
he ards word as readily as the word of sober
nd man? Will you commit your property tc
nd him with as firm reliance upon his honesty
its as upon the honesty Of sober man? VIII
of you put him without reluctance, into Offices
an. of profit and trust? Does not every on,
,ed feel, that while there may have been nc
las past great moral delinquency, yet in regart
ust to the man upon whom this evil habit O
Isl. drinking is fastening itself there can b
tho nothing felt but dread, and that to lean up
md on him is to lean uponA broken reed ?
and Does not every one std in inward fear, lei
nst. the defences weakeped BY long indulgenc,
nds should suddenly <e way, and stron
ned temptation sweeI poor man away frol
md his anchorage oat for little while uT
is on the sea Of Lii helpless and hopeleI
sich wreck, and Sin g last IN the dark and trout
EN- led wateas
,hes But SON you may say to US, that {
nest these instances, the destructive effects of Il
pro- wine cup, are merely sketches drawn by Il
iade imagination, and have few counterparts
len real life. We would that this were so, al
i'm that our illustrations had no existence out
,ern- the imagination which conceived thel
hon We would that all Of you, reviewing p:
e. scenes, and recalling past associations, COT
was, discern no history as sad as those we ha
! he pictured forth. But suffer us to justify o
can selves to those who will doubt, by one exa
Sc of ple-one illustration borrowed from the |
Y by tory of our own times.
Iioin, 1t is good maxim, or at least charita
es to one 10 say nothing of the dead save t
be which is good. But some names Gas
,rs- have elsewhere said) must be lifted up a
D was beacon. The moral world must have
;rand light houses. Thousands of young men
ough running down upon the same rocks,
wine which brilliant men, and men of reno
the were cast away. If the light of their
pleas nious then has made them conspicuous,
and US use their conspicuity, and throw
with from them, as from beacon, far out u
oiteth the dim and perilous sea.
der" CONCLUSION NEXT WEEK
icated -'ssss-
ect of think said an old topper, comment