Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1857-07-16
PRACTICAL.

PRACTICAL.
When we glance at the domestic prospects OF the
country and see the bountiful harvest which ms
lust been garnered, we know not whether TO con-
slider it blessing or curse-a favor of Heaven or
a temptation cast in our way. It's blessing or
curse just as it is properly used or abused But
how many who have labored hard all winter ard
summer to exc out scanty subsstence-who by
their own improvidence and want of economy
have been compelled to drag out, year by year,
weary existence, who never think ofacquirng an
independency or providing for the future; who
spend their lives in the severest toll, yet never
know the comforts Of home, nor the bliss, so laud-
ed by the poets, of rural quiet and unambitIous
retirement who in short, have had their "noses
held to the erind-stone" ever since their first nd
vent into this beautiful world; who will now, in
spite of the lessons of the past, 60 on in their
thriftless course until their little store is exhaust
ed. and they are forced to Eight the battle Ger
again" with want and starvation Their little crop
of wheat or corn will be greedily devoured or sold
TO the distiller,-that arch-robber Of money and
bappiness-for unmitigated 'rot-gut." There are
n few weeks of rejoicing, sensual indulgence and
drunken revelry. Soon "hard times comes
knocking ut the door, their crop, which with good
economy, would have suficed for their legitimate
wants. has been sauandered and with heavy
sigh, and, perhaps murmur at Providence Tor
their luckless destiny, they begin again their
struggle for existence.
The charitable and phlanthropic come and look
into their miserable novels, and pity their wives
and tattered children, but 60 away pronouncing
their case remediless. The distillcr who has ap-
propriated their crop, has too, sigh for their
wretchedness-or their inability topurchase more
of the poor mans bane: The christian reads IN
his Bible that "charity covereth multitude OF
sins" and talks benevolently Of their hopeless
condition. The legislator labors to extend the
sautary influences of education around their
humble hearths but how many toing for their
daily bread will avail themselves of his kind as
sistance? The same routine of labor, thriftless
indulgence and abject penury, mocks annually
the efforts of benevolence and kindness. The dis
tiller again pockets the toil-wrung earnings and
phianthropsts, Legislators and christians connlVe
at his shameless avarcc and openly patronize his
nefarious employment. Whether their visions are
dimmed by the haze of their own sensual feelings,
or they have not the moral courage to speak out
against the insidious foe, is question which can
I 4 I'D, l,,o1 N
the hour of prayer and trembling, when the spir-
itual and carnal man wrestlc for supremacy.
But let it not be said that phianthrophy cannot
reach and alleviate their sufferings-that charity
sannot fall ''like the gentle dews of Heaven" upon
their lonely paths-that Christianity can only
weep and wiring her hands, or stand like statue
of MODE in mute and voiceless woe, Mt the spec
tacle of their suerings. 1t is false that wise leg
islation cannot elevate their social, moral and in
tellectual status If those who spread out temp
tations to ensnare their unwary feet, be made pay
the full price of such iniquity by means of the
legitimate and effective counter Standardization,
and the funds thus acquired be disbursed iudici-
ously in the purchase of provisions in times of
plenty and abundance, to be reserved for the nee
dy in times of scarcity and want, one of two ben
efcial results would necessarily follow the dis
tller would close his door, which, like the fabu-
lous lake of DID, is the entrance to the reglons of
the damned;" or else his poisonous 'bald-face,"
q heterogeneous compound of corn, arsenic, buck
eve and flthiness, would become so dear as effec-
tnally to preclude that class of purchasers who
are the greatest sufferers.
But without resorting to unequal or partial tax
alton, the same end could be gained through other
means Let the State purchase annually through
Commissioners of the Poor, an amount Of provi-
sions, equal to the probable wants of the people
let this purchase be made in the Fall when provis-
ions are cheap-and in the following summer be
distributed among the poorer classes at costprce.
BY this means the State would prove real bene-
factor for the dstilleres would no longer destroy
the surplus produce and the poor man need no
longer fear that meanest of all despicable misers
the man who takes advantage of times of scar
city, when his hand and purse should be open, to
extort from his less fortunate neighbors, the most
exorbitant prices.