Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1857-11-18
DEBATES OF CONSCIENCE.
DistiIler, Wholesale Dealer, and Retailer.
BY HEMAN HUMPHREY. D. D.
DIALOGUE II.
vHoLEs ALE:. DE EA1ER's. oouNTINe TooM,

1
WHOLESALE DEALERS coUSTrNe TooM.
81
Conscience Looking over the ledger
s0ith serious ar. What is that last in
voice from the West Indies?
Runa Dedler-Only a few casks Of fourth
proof, for particular customers.
| ConscieDce.-And that domestic poison,
via New Orleans; and on the next page,
that large consignment via Erie Canal !
. Dealer.-O, nothing but two small lots
Of prime whisky, such as we have been sell |
ling these twenty years. But why these
chiding inquiries? They disquiet me ex-
ceedingly. And to tell you the plain truth,
| am more than half offended at this NOR
bid inquisitiveness.
Conscience.-Ah, | am afraid, as Ihave of
ten told you, that this is bad business
and the more think of it, the more it trou-
bles me.
Dealer-Why so? You are always
preaching up industry as Christian virtue,
and my word for it, were l to neglect my
business, and saunter about the hotels and
steamboat wharves, as some do, you would
fall into convulsions, as if | had committed
an objectionable sin.
Conscience pettish quibbling is
utterly unworthy of your good sense and
ordinary candor. You know, as we'll as |
do, the great difference between industry
in some safe and honest calling, and driv-
ing business which carries poverty and
ruin to thousands of families.
Deater.-Honest industry! Thfi is more
cruel still. You have known me too long
to throw out such insinuations; and be-
sides, it is notorious that some of the first
merchants In our city are engaged, far more
extensivel y, in the same traffic.
Conscience it so. "To. their own
Master they stand or fall" But if fair dea-
ling consists in "doing as we would be done
by" how can man of your established
mercantile and Christian reputation sustain
himself, if he continues to deal in an arti-
Gle which he knows t9 be more destructive
than all the plaques sf Egypts
Deoter.-Do you intend, then, to make
me answerable for all the mischief that is
done by ardent spirits, in the whole state
and nation i? What [ sell is mere drop
IN the bucket, compared with the consump-
ton OF single county. Where is the
proof that the little which my respectable
customers carry into the country, with their
other groceries, ever does any harm p
How do you know that it helps to make
such frightful host of dunkards and vac.
abonds ? And if it did, whose fault would
1t be? l never gave nor sold glass Of
whisky to tippler in my life. Let those
who will drink to excess, and make brute.
of themselves, answer for it.
Conscience-Yes, certainly then mus
answer for it; but will that excuse those
who furnish the poison? Did you never
hear Of abettors and accessories, as well a
principals in crime? When Judas. in al
( the agony of remorse and despair, threw
down the thirty pieces of silver before th
chief priests and elders, excaiming, I ha0
ssn'eed, IN that haze betrayed the innocen
btood-they coolly answered, What as tia
to as i? See thou to that. And was !
therefore nothing to them? Had they N
hand in that cruel tragedy? Was it moth
: ing to Pilate-nothing to Herod-nothin
{ to the multitude who were consenting t
! the crucifxion of the Son of God-becaus
they did not drive the nails and thrust th
t spear?
O, when | think Of what you are doin
to destroy the bodies and souls of men,
cannot rest. It terrifes me at all hours c
; the night. Often and often, when | an
just losing myself in sleep, am startled b
a the most frightful groans and unearthly i'm
; precautions, coming out Of these hogshead
! And then, those long professions Of rough
: made coffins and beggared families, whic
l dream OF, from night-fall till day-breaE
they keep me all the while il cold swea
! and [ can no longer endure them.
! Dealer-Neither can /. Something mu:
: be done. You have been out Of your hea
4 more than half the time for these 81
4 months. / have tried all the ordinary rem
3 edies upon you without the least effect.
Is Indeed every new remedy seems only I
/ aggravate the disease. o, what would
4 not give for the discovery of some anodyr
d which would lay these horrible phantasm
a The case would be infinitely less trying,
q | could sometimes persuade you, for nigl
n or two, to let me occupy different apar
4 ment from yourself; for when your spasn
,e come on, one might as well try to slet
' with embers in his bosom, as where w
4 are.
Conscience-Would it mend the matt
Is at all, if, instead Of sometimes dreaming,
y were to be always wide awake?
7 DeaIer.-Ah, there's the grand dific,
T. ty. For | find that when you do wake u
10 YOU are more troublesome than ever
tn Then you are always harping upon my
s. ing professor of religion, and bringing
n some text of Scripture, which might
a well be let alone, and which you would Il
nd ring in my ears, if you had any regard
no my peace, or even your own. More th
me fifty times, within month, have YOU qr
,se tied, by their fruits he shall kzaoae then
Sc In fact, SO uncharitable have you grown
was late, that, from the drift of some of W