Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1858-08-18
The Five GRAFT Waues.

The first great wave Of the temperance
ocean rose up and rolled over the land under
the early labors Of Hewitt, Edwards, Beecher
and Kittridge, and their conpeers in 1826-29.
IL promised thorough work wherever there
was a conscience and a heart. But it subsi-
ded in 1893 and 1884, as reformed men went
back upon cider and ale, and gentlemen were
satisfied with wine, though they relinquished
the fruits Of the still.
The second great wave rose, and rolled in
with mighty power, in 1885, as the whole
real temperance community rushed to the res
cue Of the cause, and rejected from their Ia
bles and sideboards wine and ali fermented
drinks. Everything promised mighty results,
but the distilleries and rum shops continued
to do their horrid work, and drunkards in
creased rather than diminished and though
total abStaiuers saved themselves, they did
not save the lower population from r%eveling
in the dram.shops, and the wave in a year or
two sunk away, aud was almost forgotten.
In 1Sln the A11rt and rolling in ON ali the
coast. II welled up. pouring over the whole
land, and r%escuing every drunkard from ruin.
A hundred and fifty thousand miserable inc
briates were buoyed up, and carried to the
safe port Of total abstinence, and there was
great JOY throughout the whole country. o.
That Na%shingtonian wave! How great, how
oiesSed-ncycr to be forgotten But the traf-
nc was unmolested. 1t was licensed in every
state. The reformed men believed they could
Subduc IT by love. But alas! the snare and
the trap were too we'll laid for the feeble and
Inflated inebriatcs. Had we then had a Maine
Law, all might have been saved. But we
had not and the unholy traffic overrode
the whole of that beautiful work, and
swept 1t nearly all away. The Order of the
sons Of Temperance came to.the rescue, and
so prolonged. for a season, the mercy.
In 1901 rose the fourth mighty wave, com
mcncing at Portland, Maine, and yelling I'D
all down the Atlantic coast, and over the
Green Mountains, and rolling over upon the
vast,and beautiful fields Of Indiana, Michigan
and Wisconsin. \ burning Indignation at
the traffic filled the breasts of thousands. and
men and women, fathers and mothers said we
must outlaw this terrible evil, and give our
land freedom from the scourge. The hopes
ol all consideratc men were greatly animated.
But that wave dashed against high and terri
tc rocks, constitutions and courts, and rich
barbados aud was lost in circuitous politi-
cal mountain passes, and after a short period
1t was put back, and the whole was pronoun-
ccd a failure to accomplish all it promised.
But the end is not yet. \ fifth wave is to
roll in. We know not what is to be, or when
It IS to come. But we think we see it. 1t
Is coming. Perhaps not in form of law, or
association, or cccleSiasticism but it may be
In the mighty power of public sentiments
sentiment Selling the minds of the masses
a rising of the whole people as the heart of
one man against the traffic, in all it's opera
tons, as the scourge of the world, which may
almost in u dav sweep it entirely from the
Garth. We will look and pray for it. 1t will
be no more surprising than the waves which
have already rolled in, and effected such sig
nal blessings. -Jour. I'm. Temp. I'm.