Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1859-08-17
For the Spirit Of the Age.


| 1t is dlf1cult TO restrain the evil passions OF 4
our nature, under the most favorable circum- {
stances, but when the blood is inflamed with
/ Alcohol, and reason is well nigh dethroned;
then the demon is stirred up within, and none
G an feresee what excuses may be run into,
Eor what crimes may be perpetrated. Ifthere
is one vice more fatal to tie happiness of the
soc. al circle, or more degrading to human
tnati ure. than another, it must be intemper-
ance ; for it is antecedent to an almost innu-
mer able train of evils which follow it, as a
natu raj and almost nnaxs56sf consequence
There is no sight more hateful, or that makes
me sicker at heart, than a man who is habit
ually DRUNK. Look at his house! its logs
and ~rafters are going to rack, the nnderpin-
ing decayed and lying tiaton the ground, and
the whole building is sadly dilapidated and
weather-beaten. This-wih the thought that
a number of small children thinly clad, and a
mother almost heart-broSen and worn out
with trouble, lives here-is enough to make
a woman, or even a man, sick at heart, and
8 shudder at the thought ola father, brother or
son, ever using as a beverage that fatal and
alluring poison. But let us follow him a lit
tie farther. He has left his children perhaps
shivering with cold, and crying with hunger,
and the mother, with the sealding tears trick
ling down her cheeks, at the blight that has
fallen on her once bright and happy prospects
he has gone to the grogshop. Look at
him as he comes home-every side of the
road is his side, and part of the woods; he
has lost his hat and scratched his face IN the
briars. But on he goes, now down he rolls
in the mud, turns over and loses his shoes
> up he crawls and looks for them, but cannot
find them. He again. p~roceeds-takes
chew of tobacco to keep his mouth in motion
r the amber soon beginssto ooze out at eacl
} corner of his mouth, and RIM down his necl
, into his bosom. Hear him as he goes cursin
3 and swearing, enough to shame Satan, VIII
looks at him at a distance; but he arrives 9
:, home-can't find the gate-falis over tn
: fence; and his wife and children come an
n drag him in the house, and-but let us dro
y the curtain, I do not care 10 follow him tu
:, Their. as $50 rs e
n 1t is said that a dog will not bite a ms
h when he is drunk; no doubt the sight tar
his stomach. But let us look at a darker az
n more fearful picture, mot a picture ofthe II
agination,O but one whose original can
le found even in our own happy country.
er Fearful is the record of drunken fury-ml
ed der is often the companion Of the bottle.
n. We see two friends, who, when sober, wor
ar be willing to make any sacrifice for each o
OF er's welfare. They are officers in the sa
n j regiment, and both have wives and chlldl
Re tavern e tssppee spend hdfra an e 81 mhsr' they fssF B B
a their bottles and glasses, with the view,
's they suppose, of enlivening and cheer
themselves. The fumes of the poison Il
en- are imbibing rise to their brain-they beco
OF noisy and boisterous-they dispute-tE
sc, look at each other as hateful enemies;
Gu. rising to their feet, their swords are dra7
Oh and soon one of them lies weltering in
blood. Such is the result of the social G
ON ming. One is hurried without preparation
IAN the Judgment Bar of his offended Great
the other is a murderer, who has the gull
blood on Lis conscience. The murdere
om his friend, and the destroyer of the happir
of an amiable family. Can he excuse h
our self because he was intoxicated when he C
ore mitted the foul deed? This is an aggraya
the of his, crime. He first made himself a n
man and then a murderer. Bitter cause
at he to curse the social glass, as it is GALES
rse, In one night the thickest glooom has ia
pay on his worldly prospects-for the rest OF
ng, life he. walks forth an.4uauiet and unha
for spirit, terrified when he looks to that s.
Of blood, and still more alarmed wher
NV looks forward to the dread account he
YAK render to God for his m;sdeeds.
and Man, if thou wouldst avoid such a C
vent and such a fate, let not Alcohol pass thy
hFee (. Elvva m FIJI