Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1860-07-25
Correspondence Of the Spirit Of the Age.

LAFAYETTE, Ga, July s, 1860.
DEAR EDIroR:-It is the love that bea
society that causes me to write. | am vel
satisfied that no scourge ever visited thi
homes of men with the same desolating anf
ruinous effects, as intemperance. How very
few persons fully appreciate the pangs of suf
ed dragon, alcohol. | need not describe th3
bloated face, the infamed eyes, the diseased
and trembling frame, the ruined charactel
and blighted fortune Of the drnnkard him
self; nor the withered plant of coBiugal loyd
in the bosom of a wife, nor the wretchedness
oe her infant group, as evincing the wors
evils of Intemperance They are heart-ren
ding enough, God knows. But it is afte}
this group have grownup to take their place
in society as young ladies and gentiemeu
that the climax Of the damning process
reached Then that wife feels over agai
all her pangs, with augmented strength,
the disgrace Of her children, while they, flu
tering for time with vain endeavor to ri
above the domestic infamy, alas too oft
settle back into the habits Of the father, al
drown their sorrows in the maddening cup
which had produced it.
It Is in the social relation Of dunkafds
child that the injury fully appears. The de-
pressing feelings Of disgrace and infamy, ac-
| ting upon the aspirations of the drankards
son, no language can describe. He is mis-
erable. Earth has no place for him. Socie-
| ty casts him out as polluted thing there
remains no solace for him, but the dismal
silence of the tomb.
Alas how many, who might have shown
as stars Of the first magnitude, have been
doomed to sustain this unfortunate situation.
But words fall short of the reality The re-
cord of aspiring minds biighted and crushed
by brutalized and degraded paternity, is
known only to the Searcher of all hearts
/ The pangs and tears thus extorted are to,
deep, too intense for pen or pencil. The Po e
can sing of rum and ruin, but his song i:
not inspired with the inebriates feelings
The Artist can spread the canvas and depie
the familiar scene of the temperate drinker
with his social glass, and the wife makin
her first gentle plea for him to desist; bu
no mortal genius can portray upon tha
canvas the agony, the woe, the misery, tha
tils that wife's pathway as she follows be
husband in his downward career to the clos
ing scene of drunkards grave.
/ The spirit of alcohol, though invisible,
: nevertheless, the incarnation of all evil
, Its march through the world is clotted wit
, human blood and strewcd with human bone
} There are but few wrongs it does not inst
: gate no lust it does not iInfiamc-no law
: does not violate-nO virtue it does not d.
E spoil Yet man viii put this curse to hi
: brothers lips for money. For mere filth
luere, men will make merchandise Of woman
i tears and orphans grieis.
But will desisi 'Tisvain further to po
!, tray scenes and facts upon this gloomy su
e ject. 1t is through the request Of N.
!. Cole, worthy young friend of mine that
: take the liberty of writing to the surroun
ing friends of Temperance. ! earnestly solit
j them to take hold and help in exterminatir
!. the Poisonous venom from our country.
s Fathers if you yet have one son that has n
i reforrned, solicit him to join. Mothers, if y
S have q husband who is yet subject to Xii
J. alcohol, beg him to reform. Young ladit
if you have brother lover, relation,
s. friend that has yet not joined, solicit him
Ie reform. Rpint him to our banner Of Lo'
le Purity and Fidelity. N. L. WHITE.