Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1859-06-09

necessity OF the case TO associate Win tne
lowest and most worthless in his neighbor-
hood How often have I heard affectionate
fathers and mothers say, 81 had rather see
my SOD brought home corpse than to re-
turn drunkard" And the choice is cer-
tainly not to be condemned. ..s
The danger of being caught in this net a.
rises from the fact that in the commence
ment no evil is apprehended. The youth
sees the beginning, but the end is concealed.
He sees-the gayety of his companions, their
antic prauks, their high glee, their jovial
merriment, but he does not anticipate what
they will be in few years, loungirg in the
bar-room, tottering in the streets, wallowing
in the mud, and prematurely carried to the
drunkards grave, followed by broken heart
ed parents. In the commencement of his
own career, he feels the exhilirating effects
of the social glass; wrapt in delightful reve-
rie he scars above the earth, and leaving all
care and sorrow behind he imagines himself
able to perform exploits which he dared not
attempt in his sober moments. His COM
panious applaud the Auency of his expires
sions and the sportive flashes of his magma
tion, and he is encouraged to make higher
and niger efforts. These scenes may be repaa-
ted again and again, and the youth may not
go 80 far as to lose command of himself He
can talk and walk, and control all his move
ments so that he becomes confident that he
can and will always stop at the right point
and will never get drunk! But before he
is aware, habit is formed, and then, reason
and conscience and the prospect Of eternal
ruin cannot stop his onward progress. Pause,
young man, and reflect on the consequences
before you begin. Remember that many
wise men have been deceived, and many
strong men have fallen in the way which we
have described. Ifyou would be safe, "touch
not, taste not, handle not"
"In the midst of the current of life" says
DR.. johnson, isis the gulf of intemperaDce,
dreadful whirlpool, iuterspersed with rocks,
whose pointed crags are concealed beneath
the water--whose tops are covered with herb
age, on which ease spreads couches of repose,
and with shades where pleasure warbles the
song Of invitation" This is stream in which
you are all liable to be engulphed. How
distressing is it to see the youth seizing those
fatal draughts of the intoxicating bowl which
are parching the manly life and soaring the
manly brain How affecting tosee the downy
but wasted cheek tinged with the fever flush
to see the eye once so radiant with beauty
and intelligence, settle down into frenzied
glare-to hear those words once of meaning,
of eloquence and of genius, changed to the
delirious rawlings of the drunkard D.! Such a
scene is indeed affecting when we consider
that these wrecks might have been orna-
ments and pilots to their country With the
bard of Avon we are led to exclaim,
"Oh that men should put an enemy
|. In their mouths to steal away their senses,s
That they should with joy transform themselves
Into brutes."
And with Prior:
"Uuhappy man whom sorrow thus and rage,
To different ills alternately engage;
Who drinks, alas! but to forget, nor sees
That melancholy sloth, severe disease,
Memory confused and interrupted thought,
Deaths harbingers lie in the draught;
And in the flowers that wreath the sparkling
bowl,
Fell adders hiss; and poisonous serpents roll"
might go on to an improper length emu
merating the awful consequences resulting
from the use of intoxicating drinks. I will,
however, close this part Of my address in the
language of another.
"Intemperance cuts down youth in its
vigor, mankind in its strength, and age in
its weakness. 1t breaks the fathers heart,
bereaves the doting mother, extinguishes
natural affections, erases conjugal love,
blots out filial attachment, blights parental
hope, and brings down mourning age in sor.
row to the grave. 1t produces weakness, not
strength; sickness, not health death, not
life. 1t makes wives, widows; children, or.
phans; fathers, 6ends ;and all of them paup,
ers and beggars. 1t covers the land with
idleuess, poverty, disease and crime. 1t fills
your jails and supplies your almshouses.-
1t eDgenders controversies, fosters quarrels,
and cherishes riots. It is the life.blood Of
the gambler, the aliment of the counterfeit
er, the prop of the bighwayman, and the
support of the midnight incendiary. 1t
counteuanccs the liar, respects the thief, and
esteems the blasphemer. 1t violates obliga-
tions reverences fraud and honors infamy.
Incites the father to butcher his helpless
offspring helps the husband to massacre his
wife, and aids the child to grind the parra-
cidal axe. 1t burns up man and consumes
woman, detests life, curses God, and despi-
ses heaven. 1t suborns witnesses, nurses
perjury, defles the jury-box, and stains the
judicial ermine. 1t bribes voters, disquali-
ies voters, corrupts elections, pollutes our
institutions and endangers our government.
1t degrades the citizen, debases the legisla-
tor, dishonors the statesman, disarms the
patriot. 1t brings shame, not honor terror,
not safety; despair not hope; misery not
happiness. And with the malevolence of a
fend, it calmly surveys its frightful desc
lations, and insatiate with havoc, it poisons
felicity, slays reputation and wipes out ma
tional honor; and then curses the world and
laughs at its ruins" There, it does all
that, and more. 1t murders the soul-the
immortal soul 1t is the sum of all villainies,
the curse of curses-the devils best friend !!
But let US see, in the next place, how you