Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1857-08-06
temperance Column.
From the Spirit of the Age.
HOW TO INSURE THE SUCCESS OF
TEMPERANCE.

TEMPERANCE.
1T was maxim of O'Connclls that II
you would strongly impress anything upon
the public mind, it must be reiterated over
and over again, that in fact, you must never
tire of the repetition. That great observer
of human nature was we'll aware of the ne
cessity of keeping steadily before mems minds
the purpose they had in view; and by acting
on this principle during his lifetime he sue
ceeded in most wonderful manner in con-
centrating the feelings of his countrymen,
and combining them for great purpose,
which he deemed of paramount Importance.
He did not live long enough in the posses
sion of vigor of mind and body to secure the
realization of the darling object Of his life;
but he did, to prove the great value of a
steady persistence in the pursuits of one o.
ject if we would succeed in securing for it "a
large amount of public sympathy. The OBJ
ject which this great man sought to attain
was only popular with section of his coun-
trymen; and yet it is wonderful fact in the
history of our time that, by the adoption of
reiteration, when it was applied to an object
in which numbers sympathised, he did sue
ceed in gathering around him such an amount
of power as at one time made it appear more
than probable that what seemed impossible
to many was not far from realization.
We seek to apply this law Of progress to
question upon which all are united, but
which, perhaps as much as any other ques-
ton that has ever been agitated, needs the
constant repetition of its paramount impor-
tance as remedial agent for the attainment
of fhuman happiness because the impediment
it seeks to remove out Of the way, is founded
in the universal appetite for the poison alco-
hol, which all admit is the cause of much
calamity to the human race, but which, be-
cause it has so entrenched itself in the Gus
toms and habits of daily life, requires an ex-
traordinary amount of energy to grapple
with and overcome.
Twenty years of labor-of continuous and
great labor on the part of few-have been
expendedin efforts to induce mankind to put
away their greatest enemy; but while they
listen to and admit the force of our argu-
ments, and freely acknowledge that alcohol
is destroyer of human happiness to an in
calculable extent, yet they still sip the de-
licious poison, and unlike the unhappy vic
tins of music of the Syrens, allow themselves
to be turned into swine.
Alcohol is the direct and inveterate foe Of
the human constitution, and yet the passion
for it is so great, man deludes himself into
the belief that he may use it with impunity.
Silence in vain holds up the lamp of truth to
the unwise ones, who reject reason and suffer
appetite to be their guide. Experience points
her steady finger to the past and says in vain,
to the multitude, open your eyes and behold
abundant evidence of the madness of seek
ing health or happiness in the wine-cup.'-
The numberless diseases which lurk beneath
its brim are boldly encountered by thought
less and feeble age for the momentry plea
sure it affords, regardless of the warning
voices of science and experience, which ex-
claim that danger and death are near.
With such facts as these ever before the
mind of the temperance Reformer, he knows
full we'll that he must continually keep soun-
ding the alarm; and, although his usual la
bors are exercised among those who smile
at his pains, and who oftentimes ridicule his
anxiety to do them good, yet he must not
become fainthearted or weary he has good
and noble purpose in view, and whatever
difficulties may arise to thwart and retard
his work, it will in the end succeed. He
may have this assured confidence from the
conviction that man is progressive being
that it is not an empty sound--that civiliza-
tion is onward, and that, therefore, the day
is coming in which more enlightened peo-
pie will not permit the demon alcohol to do
his devilish work any longer in the world.