Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1860-11-14

Is it right, then, to take that which was in
tended to bless man, and give for it that
which destroys him? There are many men
who, when in a drunken spree, will give you
the last dollar they have Would it not be
just as honest for person to take the drunk
ards money in that way, as it would be for a
liquor seller to take it for whiskey
But, says the liquor seller, we give him
something for his money, you give him moth
ing; there's the difference" We reply,
liquor is worse than nothing therefore you
get his money dishonesty. Bat suppose l
said to the drunken man when he gave me his
money" thank you sir" would that make
it honest for me to take it? | think not
and yet | believe one thank you, sir"
is worth hundred barrels of whiskey for
if it does man no good. it does him no
harm but whskey does him no good but q
vast deal of harm.
And here will PROFOUND another query
If liquor-seller sells a man liquor, and he
gets drunk and kills his fellow man, is he not
an accessory to the crime? ought he not to
be held as an accomplice to it :? He sold the
man the weapon that caused him to kill his !
fellow man he nerved his arm and excited |
the brain to commit the deed; and does it |
not look hard for the poor drunkard to forfeit |
his life for the crime, and the one that des-
troyed his mind and nerved his arm, to go |
unpunished
| But the liquor seller excuses himself for |
being engaged in this sinful, mean business,
| by saying If do not sell liquor, some one !
1 else will" How do you know? Who told |
| YOU so? And if others do, that does not
justify you. You might kill, and say if | |
did not kill, some one else would. 1t would
be just as good an excuse as the one you rem
der for liquor selling. You might steal, and
say, if | did not steal, some one else would"
One mans sins do not justify anothers
There are other liquor. sellers that fatter
themselves that they are keeping decent and
respectable house? You must not call theirs
whiskey shop; that sounds too low and
vulgar they wish to be assed with the re-
tiGcd and genteel. They can never be dis.
graced by having their dead falls called whs-
key shops. And to make it look respectable
and decent, they connect some other business
with it. They know that respectable people
do not like to visit a regular slaughter-pen,
so they fix it, like Doctors fix medicine for
children, ice and sugar it to entice them to
take it. They will connect groceries or dry
goods with it, to entice people to come A.
liquor shop of this kind has "a worse influence
on society, and does more harm, than dozen
regular retail whlSkey shops. They allure
tue young into the snare, and prepare them
for drunkardS; and soon as they get on
the road to drunkenness, they send them out
to other liquor shops to make their destruc-
tion complete. 1tnever will do for them to
have drunkards living around their DOORS
their house womId not ffb.ng bs eaeH e1 Away and
Now look OH those wouldb respectable
whiskey sellers as being just as far beneath
the regular retail whiskey seller, as corpor-
al is beneath general. They are only sub
, ordinate recruiting officers for other liquor
sellers. They enlist young men in the drunk
1 ards army, and others march them down to a
5 drunkard's grave And yet these respecta-
bic, life destroyers go on; sometimes with
prosperity and peace of mind! 1t seems that
! they do at any rate No lightnings blast
o them; no volcano pours over them its floods
: of lava no earthquake engulfs them. They
c are permitted to fill up the measure of their
l. wickedness. They may riot in ease and lux,
e ury, but let me tell them, that punshme Mt,
d though long deferred, cannot always be
= esaded A day of retributlon must and will
J. overtake them.
1t But have not time to point out all the
h evils resulting from these respectable sink
sr holes that send forth so much corruption anC
u distress in the world. Respectable, did
:e say? Yes, as respectable as a common iai
stepping stones to all these crimes Now
ne young man, beseech you shun these schoo
I'd houses of vice do not be enticed or draw
be there by any pretence of responsibility. The,
IT., are like the famous bat of Madagascar, tina
1g gently fans you with it's wings whilst it suck
ur your life's blood. They will decoy yo
ife there, by holding out inducements for you t
he buy your groceries and dry goods; but in tn
il end, they sap the foundations of your lives
cir fortunes and happiness. If | had the elt
quence of Bascom, my greatest effort shoul
IRE be to persuade these scourges of our land
,ad stop the low, degrading, demoralizing, pal
ch per-making, wifewhipping, soul destroyin!
= God defying traffcin ardent spirits. wou
nat draw such picture of misery and woe, eau
lily ed by their tiendish business, that it wou
es- haunt their visions night and day, and s
ha torment their guilty conciences that the
ON, woulo quit the traffic. | would hold up W
re- man, in all the haggardnesS of despair, br
the ken hearted, with every hope in life crush'
Il out, and nothing but an earthly night
- msery-without one beacon ray of hope
the illumine her dreary path of life | won
sm. show them her innocent, half starved ch
hey dren, clad in rags, thrown out upon the co
charities of the world to battle through lift
,nls stormy sea without friends or means to he
b is then; and fathers disgrace to follow the
il to their graves. | would draw aside the CT
its tain of hell, and let them hear the walls a
and see torlnents of the victims of their trait
and And then in the name of suffering humani
be | would pray them to cease their destructi
cim business
test Mode, ate drinking is another source of tt
both dreadful evil No man ever intended to
come IL drunkard. No man was ever mad
nng drunhard at once. All those that have d
Irge drunkardS, were once moderate drinkers
lerS, AL that are now drunkards were once mi
re - crate drinkers. They all thought, as mo
,rty, rate drinkers now think, that little dr.
Dyed would not hurt them. They never drean
you Of becoming drunkards. They were all |
that the boy that stole the orange: the 81
tempted him to feel it, that tempted him
,oor smell It, the smell tempted him to taste
ous, and the taste tempted him to steal it. \
and lf he had never suffered himself To touch
iails he never would have disgraced himself
We to stealing it. So it is with the moderate dri
$ for er: one dram tempts him TO take anotl
In and so on, until he becomes sot-a dru
hich ard. The deceitful tide OF habit bears
pay on, until every beacon light of hope and NJ
fades out in the future, and he finds him
a IL without character, hope, or friends IN
nest, world-a complete wreck on the ocear
an waste.
At re- The safest plan then is not to drink at
ing but abandon the use of liquor entirely, wi
is it YOU have the control of yourself; for be
with well assured, it will get the control OF "
Nov YOU continue its use. An OK could drink
| H.,