Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1860-03-21
lTo BE Continued
For the Spirit of the Age.
THE STYLUS PAPERS
PAPER v.
BY STYLUS
Womaan and Temperance.

H0Htup ana temperance.
Innocence and infancy-love and gentle
ness-beauty and affability-all these fade
into nothing when Woman and Temperance
are mentioned. Show us more fitting COM
panionship or truer fellowship The name
OF Woman is Temperance as the mythologi-
cal representation of Temperance is a Young
and beautiful female When q woman ceases
to be temperate, she is no longer a woman !:
she is strong castle when all the grandeur
OF wealth and magnifcence of nobility have
centuries since faded into dust; or, like some
great banquet hal, where one single raw
from single lamp shines on the once mag
nlficent feast, when the jewellers have depart
ed, the wine has ceased to flow, and the echoes
OF the parting song have long died away.
On tbs sickening sight to see female
with ragged coverings, staggering to wretch.
ed home; or, stupefied with drink, sleeping
OH her evil potations in the miry filth of the
street to see her the mocking sport of un-
principled men-to hear the laughs and iibes
OF ner own offspring, brought up in the dens
OF infamous vice; to see such a wreck is
enough to tear the lattice of sympathy from,
our hearts and let the stream pour un1robib-
tied to the wounds of the fallen being. The
heart that long has been a rock is melted
and the iron soul has been softened to nature
we have ever turned to the shrine of wo-
man-upon it we have laid our most precious
offerings, and by it sworn our votiye words.
She has been the rainbow of our stormy ex-
lstence and the bright index to earthly fame
and heavenly immortality. But to associate
ner name with lntemperance, would be to
blast the sweet-scented rose-blacken the no.
liness OF religion, or tear from its throne the
lofty mechanism of reason.
All the beauty-all the purity-all the
sweetness that is embodied in Temperance. is
found fourfold in woman. The temperate
matron is an ornament to society, whose Dig
nlfled attitudes and silent sermons of her
features give Alcohol the sternest blows he
receives. And the beautiful maid, over whose
head the summers of scarce a dozen wears
have strewn their finely y-scented blossoms
exercises such an influence over the sterner
yet trailer emotions of man, that he dare not
gaze upon the wine ''when it moveth itself
Alright"
For what will that woman have to answer.
who, grasping the tiny glass of wine, press.
es ner iriend-perchance her accepted suitor
Ito partake OF the contents? Will she be
responsible for the effects of that glass? OF
heavens can she look that brofen-bearted
mother-that discarded suitor-that murder
ed victim of his incorporate frenzy in the
face calmly at the last great judgments viii
not her heart break in atoms, as, fyinp to
the deepest depths that hell can furnish. she
shall Shrek out to the end of eternity-"Re
morse! remorse remorse ?"
Such viii be the case, and the tomb yawn-
ing before her dying vision shall open to her
dread abyss, through which the biackening.
crlsplng souls of men ruined by her irnportu.
mites shall point in hideous laughter. as she
SINKS down, down to the last scene of her
horrid retribution.
Then let woman use her influence. That
It Is great, no One can nor dare deny-that
ner Deniticent sway extends not Ger the ideal
realm OF the poet and the master of fiction.
put over the stern plains of reality, being that
mighty fulchrum upon which man is moved
OIL let her smiles be turned to the temper.
ate man, and her fierce denunciation towards
the besotted fiend lolling in the mire; let her
ialry hand grasp ours and lead us to the
strong tootholds of Temperance; let her fin
ger point ever onward, ever upward to the
snowy ensign of our Order; let her voice di-
rect US, her words teach us, and her pres
ence encourage US.
Then tremble, all ye votaries of folly. shrink
back in your black and horrid carouse. OH
ye venders OF death-yell in fear, ye minions
OF the tyrant Alcohol for-encouraped bv
woman and the Angels of light-we shall ey-
er move in prosperity, and ever succeed, un-
til the lingering hope of Intemperance shall
be effectually blasted