Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1855-09-26

row to the grave" and stained the hand
of its votary, with the blood OF father,
mother or a sister
Who may enumerate the horrors of In
temperance-who number its countless
victims How often has the frenzied
husband slain the once cherished partner
Of his bosom, dipped his hands in the blood
of his own offspring, and then perhaps,
by his own deed hurried his guilt-burden-
ed soul into the presence of his Maker,
there to answer for all his crimes.
Intemperance is the plaguespot upon
the surface of our country-fhe enawing
cancer within, that preys upon its vitals,
and saps the very foundations of our polit-
ical well-being. Give that Intemperance
full sway, annihilate this order and all 9th
ers of the same nature, and do not hest
tate one moment to predict, that in less
than fifty years, the stars and stripes of
our country, that as yet have never been
disgraced, will be trodden into the mire of
despicable slavery, beneath the heel of for
eign despotism
Even as it is-labor as we WILL there
are thousands borne every year to the
drunkard's grave. And is this long list
composed solely of the poor, the wretched
and ignorant? Far from it Those dark
columns, are swelled by the forms of men
born to rule-men of genius-men of
education of influence Into this
fearful chasm that yawns in our midst,
they will cast as worthless baubles, all
that should be dearest to the human heart
Wealth. position, intellect, honor, aye,
even life itself, they will sacrifice, as a
6 trife light as air." Then in the name
of high Heaven, ask, how dares any man
set the accursed bowl before his fellow
man? How dares he, for the sake of
few paltry dimes, wiring the hot tear drops
from the eyes of suffering wives and chill
dren, and burst the heart strings, already
strained to their utmost tension? Shall he
longer shelter himself behind the poor and
pitiful excuse, " If do not, some other
will p No! must sin because another
sins Because one man burns the house
of his neighbor, furnishes the fair fame of
} his friend, or plants the dagger to his heart,
) may I do the same [ know that it is
} not popular to treat this side Of the subject?
know Immediately there arises a great
: cry, when any one assails the sacred per-
son of the rumseller, nor do Iintend to
enter upon crusade against that useful
Individual. Let him then still attempt to
screen himself behind his shallow and
transparent excuses, let the voice of pub
lie opinion, (if it wild still rise up in his
favor, the arm OF the law is powerless to
punish his crimes, and words alone are
: useless. But, my friends, in the dread
: full day that is to come, the widow and the
n orphan shall rise up in accusation against
/ him, and every tear-drop that has been
S shed through his instrumentality, will be
0 a leaden weight upon his soul.
IL Oh! would to God that my lips 'were
IS touched with the live coal,' that might
l. burn the words of truth and conviction
,e deep into the heart of every man, within
re the echo of my voice. Then would
/, describe the scenes of horror, Of crime,
4 of wretchedness, that even I have beheld,
is until the thrilling heart should shrink
ID back aghast from the recital.
N In the city of Baltimore, [ have fire.
a. quently traversed those abodes of sin and
Of misery called the Point and the Cause
n way [ have looked into the wretchec
to novels that abound there, and have seen
= men and women drunken, degraded below
ye the level of the brutes of the field, scat
Sc tered half naked upon the floor, perhaps
Id among fragments of broken glasses anc
n decanters. [ have stood in the midst of
[ mob composed Of intoxicated ruhians, with
e. drawn knives and pistols in their hands
he and have seen the warm hearts blooC
en- poured out like water upon the Streets
n, [ have been present when innocent ant
ur unofending citizens were struck to tn
Sc ground and mercilessly beaten, and evel
th upon one occasion stood in crowd, a
IL. which man was seen deliberately to fir
nd no less than five times. All this in opel
ng day, in city whose police regulations ar
ne as good perhaps as those Of any other, AM
ill yet but ONE man was arrested and he S
ais desperately wounded, as to be unable {
he walk away. When | look around m
it week after week, and see the many empt
7ill that the star of Temperance beams bu
ny dimly in this community. Why is it SO
ese In the first place, because the church doe
lid mot engage in this good work. While il
ray members do not exert their infuenc
ON against the use Of ardent spirits, nay, NOR,
full when they even become intoxicated then
/, it selves, what is to prevent non-professo
lci- from doing the same +? They are natural
md looked to, as examples of morality the
lge influence extends to even the low ar
l of abandoned, and when they bring dow
,ct, their standard of piety, SO faras to enga,
1sh in scenes of drunken reyelry and riot, wi
'ws can expect aught else from men wi
IS a make no professions of religion.
ody In the second place, we have not Il
The cooperation of the fairer sex. So lol
AN, as the smiles of women are withheld fro
, as our cause, so long as they encourage t
IDS drinking of wine by their own examp
I'D SO long shall we be compelled to encount
eek almost insurmountable difficulties.
on I do not make this assertion causeless
as No more than four days ago, I saw f
the girls slipping the ruby wine, and hea
lrles them praising the sparkling foam up
9TH the champagne cup. They hugged to til
who bosoms the venomous reptile that shall
nth, sting them to the death-the deadly wo
IS in. of the still,' that has cost their sex m
have tears than all the others ills of life. a
n to broken more hearts than the bloody sw
their of war itself. Let them awake from t
the dreadful delusion-let them turn Il
,lood backs resolutely, not only upon the us,
;4coIe HIT oO