Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1857-12-09
For the Spirit of the Age.
|" INTEMPERANCE THE CAUSE"

1NIEMFEkANCE THE CAUSE.
z The dead body.of man was foundon,
the bapks of the river has notI
yet been aseeFtSincd what Il . kaine i wel
hear that lntemperance was the cause"
It is our painful duty to record the
death of one of our most prominent citi-
zens he was brutally assaulted and muir
dered we understand that the parties were
in liquor"
"a street fight occurred here at the cor
ner of - and - streets. Many were
beaten limbs broken, and other injuries,
were inflicted. The cause, we hear, was
liquor
Reader these are extracts, and only al
few, from the papers of the day. Look
under the column of Deaths of Murders,
of Accidents, Robberies and Crimes, and
see what large proportion are occa-
stoned by-Rum! But do more than
this; go into the highways and hedges, in
to lanes and bitches and mire, and see the !
wretches themselves see them debased
and degraded far lower than the nature of
man, and what is still stranger, far lower
than the brutes, and you will be constrain-
ed to acknowledge with an immortal di-
vine "God! what difference; there is a
manly brute, and british man."
But you can do still more thau this :;
you can 60 still farther and trace the grie-
vous results of drunkenness. Search out
the poor and afflicted of the earth, the
distressed and broken-hearted, and who are
they? They are those who have had con-
tact with the deadly poison, the destroying
venom of Rum. They are those who have
drunk of life's woes, bitter burning sorrows,
when the cup of pure and sparkling wine
was dipped. They are those, who have
played and toyed with the dangerous SER
pent, and even fondled in their bosoms,
until it turned and bit with tenfold VEN
ON.
Wander thorough the streets of the
crowded city. Seek for the neglected, the
outcast, the despised; go into the hovel Of
wretchedness and Woe; enter the misera-
BILE hut, where sin and poverty 90 hand in
hand, where sorrow and anguish and mise
~ reign in wild. terrible confusion.-
See the loving mother, the starving child
the clinging infant, all, all poor and needy
and afflicted. Hear that cry of hunger
that piteous moan, that sobbing wall, and i
your heart be not stone, it will melt; We
of what is all this the fruit whence com
eth this sore distress The wan fngerwil
point to the red, bloody bottle; twill poin
to the drunken beast. .ying before the fire i
will point to the grog shop, and the hellisl
fend that rules there
; Reader! are you philanthropist? an
T are you not touched by these scenes of wo
!, and sorrow? Will you stand aloof, apal
5 from your privilege, apart from your duty
o apart from your God! Will you stan
q idle? Here is field for your Iabors,
n precious field; full and promising. Hel
$ an opportunity awaits to be seized by ever
;, true philanthropist. Here you can give
B, helping hand to Danish this great evil frol
our land, to direct the misguided, to bic
p heneedy. Roll back the black and blood
r. tide Of Intemperance, and let our good sh
: sail on, unfettered and free, going forth co
+ quering and to conquer, yet bearing peac
5 plenty and happiness.
Il Reader are you patriot? Born in
If land of liberty? Does not your blood II
q free, does not your mind act free, does n
n your heart act free? Know you not tn
y religion and skepticism, vice and virtue, Ii
Of erty and slavery cannot 90 together 2
n Know We not that with Intemperance is
l. dissolubly connected sin, and shame, a.
in crimes innumerable? Know We not til
in its train follow ignorance ruin and d
n grace? Will you, knowing these thin;
90 not throw off the chain that holds you "a
;o- that winds tighter, frmer embrace arou
as you? Will you continue to nurse Il
h plant, whose seed scattered will bring fol
ve vice and misery; which will bring Z
nr grace and shame on you as represen
. tive of this glorious Republic. Shake
he that coiling serpent then, at whose
oil proach Virtue shrinks and Liberty tu
i away in horror
I'm Reader! are you Christian Rene
lie ber that Intemperance is a fatal oppon
90 to religion. Remember your relations
;ng God, to your country to your fellow N
9ee7 and do your duty. If Rum is the caus
bas misery, Danish it eternally from the co
i'm try. Does the physician use those M
Won cines which are hurtful Does the div
tho preach those doctrines that are injurio
M Does the statesman act so as to endar
and his country? Then rouse to your DIT
- drive this curse away, dispel it from
: of country.
ION Reader Remember that the cause
c;o- murders, debaucheries, gambling, ro'
; of ries, and crimes beyond computation,
> great degree that foul fend Intempera
WILL o. THE WISI