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

Public opinion will yet crush out the Rum
Scourge, The old system of iniquity is fast
crumbling away. Truth has long since been
gnawing at its pillars, and the temple of
blood begins to show signs Of falling. We
firmly believe that the time is just ahead
when the liquor traffic shall be denounced
universally as a nuisance, and ground into
the dust beneath the heels of honest men,
The wild dreams of 8 fanatics" as the Sena-
tor from Mecklenburg once said, is being
rapidly realized all over the nation. The
masses are beginning to take the rods from
the hands of the magicians, and vote and
~legislate for themselves.
1t does the heart good to look back over
the lapse of years and witness how grand
and sublime has been the progress Of the
reform. There is a moral subllmity about
it, that does the soul good to dwell upon
1t has met with disasters in a thousand forms.
but it has gathered strength in every strug-
gle. 1t has braved every storm of oppose
ton, and like the giant oak, has sent its roots
deeper and yet deeper in the public soil
In the days bye-gone when moral suasion
was the key note in the reform, it was sneer-
ed at by "strong minded men as a theme
too low for them to do it reverence. In la
ter days, when the bugle blast of legal coer-
cion is sounded from State to State, there are
hundreds of whining ~demagogues ready to
nro+aok N oo.nek - &c ,,ooooo4.A.-o Ill
swear resistance, and Judas-like Disciples
have betrayed our beloved into the hands Of
Its enemies for less than thirty pieces of sill
yer. Notwithstanding all this, wider and
wider has been the sweep of the reform, un-
til it now beats back defiance with giant
power.
The glorious cause has been sneered al
and derided from its first i~nfantile struggles
That day is beginning to pass away forever
Reasonable, right thinking men now regard
the reform as a grand and sublime scheme
} for the amelioration of the human race. Pc
litical demagogues are now the only one
, who swear at it. We thank God the sceptr
| is fast departing from their favorite Judea
and that the reform is fast crushing then
, under. Wer%ejoice that the scourge has bee
: driven from the entire borders of severa
States, and that each year stronger and ye
$ stronger waves roll up to the beach. Their
o is a moral sublimity in the work that doe
the heart good to contemplate.
n We firmly believe the days of the ru1
r scourge are numbered. 1t may be years b
fore tbs grand temperance Millennium burs
d upon the world. Many hard struggles wi
n have to be encountered for the monster wi
n die hard. Utter and entire prohibition
the peoples scheme and cannot be annihil
ted. The people have decreed and their d
cree must be obeyed though all the dem
gogues in the land go to the block. Anr
hilation ofthe liquor traffic is one of the col
ing events whose shadow is even now falli1
in our midst. The war cry rings glorious
from State to State, and lips burning wi
enthusiasm send back ten thousand echot
Prohibition of the liquor traffic has become
liked star OF the first magnitude in tho WORLD
moral galaxy. Ten thousand eyes gaze up
Of it with rapture and it's benefcient bear
% cheer the hearts and the homes of a christi
T. world X