Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1860-09-05
An Appeal TO Moderate Dript

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An Appeal to Moderate Driptsr.
1t is always a difficult and unplea..,..
to repeat what has so often been s.id
done, when our former efforts have bce,
less and unavailing. But how many
are there in which our labors have beoa
p~arently inefficient after a long and per,,
ing effort, when all of a sudden, the s..
sticks, and the work is accomplished. NJ
a tough, hard piece of oak, which SEEM
DEFY the wedge and maui, have given
when the last lick is made; and thousap3-
obstinate, r~ecreant servants and cb;,3-
have been saved by persistent effort. at
when we were ready to give over. TIE ir.~
Lawrence immortalized his name mora
his dying command, than by his lfe,lopc g
forts. Never give up the ship has neTv,s
many a despairinga hopeless spirit, on the min.
of ruin, and rallied them to the char-e al
secured the victory.
The increase of moderate drinkers and
drunkenness in late years, is ALARMING
The rayages of death among hard drinkers
is assuming a most fearful and melancbdr
NAG8E
aspect. The eulogistic remarks of frjer5.
upon the death of those citizens who have
filed public station and respectable position
must not be taken to mean what they say
Newspaper concentrations of the dead. Ar,
: no sure criterion of intrinsic worth, and piyo
no assurance, that What men have once been
they were such On their dying beds. The
fearful, melancholy truth stares US in the face
that the largest share of men who have re-
I Gently died in the State, were hard drinkers,
The papers may have carried them off with
violent attack, a protracted illness, a conres-
a tive chill, and such like, but if the truth
must be told, drunkenness is at the bottom
Of it.
Sympathy with the dead or the bereayed
is right; it is natural it is mark of c~ultiva-
ted and refined humanity but it should new
: er prompt us to sacrifice truth. Man who in
s. this age Of light, of intelligence and moral
al and religious helps to sobriety, who give wav
I'd to the influence of Alcoholic temptation and
of fall by it, while they are the subjects of our
ne pity dlid OIIoh ,OuA y ApdllliGS SlOtlll iCF-
I'd er lead Us to speak of their habits. their drum
e. kenness, as an infirmity and not a crime
at God has said, no drunkard shall enter Hra
ven; and when we attempt to wedge theu
es in, we do it at the sacrifice of truth.
in The number of intelligent, once yaluabl
ed citizens, and the number of promising youn
an men, dying from intemperance, is not onl
On alarming, but it is a matter Of the deepcs
in concern, to see how soon they die, after CON
in mencing to drink moderately. In many ca
an ses, the moderate drinker of to-day Is tn
drunkard of to morrow. 1t is not as in forme
ice days. Time was when men were stronger
ith firmer and more capable of resisting the er
)li- croachments of frequent potions Of %artitici
ent stimulants. Then, too, Intoxicating drIl
were purer and less injurious, perhaps. No,
evidences of physical degeneracy in The rae
are every where apparent, and now the va
life quantities of intoxicating drinks sold, 4
ere shamefully impure and destructive TO heal
ted and life.
What losses to community, to families.
en- the country, is the rapid accumulation
Ugh drunkard,s graves AMONG us CREATING esr
ciallv in that norton Of orr nonulatior VIII;
sizes might be valuable. How many hearts a
+ Is stricken and broken by it? How MAJ
wives arc made h~usbandless and how maj
n children made orphans. The wall Of az
nized hearts is going up to Heaven eve
the hour, with no hope of relief Families .
'me bereayed and ruined. Creditors are robL
are of their just rights. Crime of every hue
and multiplied. Society is damaged and
red country is robbed Of what they might ha
Dor done and might have been, but for Alcoh
OF Now all this ruin has its beginning in IN,
dod crate drinking. Thousands of our fcllow-c
5 II zens, who to-day are very moderate drinkC
cta- are on the high road to drunkenness. III
,uit- may shun the vortex, but how uncertain
'ar! The probability, the uncertainty is agai
them. Dur appeal is to them, to dam
how this c,rrent &c yo, -
= III persons, gentlemen, upon whom this sr
a responsibility rests. You don't wish to
g OF drunkards-you don't intend to be. J
love scorn the thought of filling a drunkal
Don. grave; but there is nothing more certain,
po less you sop just where you are, and t
about. Already the plank is ready for y
nm coffin, and the graves mouth is ready to
with open. Men of sense, of worth, Of NJ
en- minds, stop, stop and consider, ere you
mir. the grave of the drunkard!
Easily Discouraged.
only We have seen many people who, if
ant could not be successful with some projc
m once, get angry, fret and give it up as an