Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1862-05-26
From the Hendersonville Times.
The Enemy at Home.

and the loved ones and friends of their
pleasant days, and gone forth with the
implements of war to stand as sentinels on
our Southern borders to meet and repel the
i~nsolent invading foe, [ deem it a duty, we
WHO are left to enjoy the pleasures of home
tnd peace, We owe to God and our coun-
try, hat We array ourselves with the prop
er panoply of war, and act as true seutinels
and pickets in repelhng the most formida-
BILE enemy, with which man on earth has to
grapple and contend, and whose forces are
ever arayed against all the better princi-
pies, feelings and passions of youth
maturer manhood, and ripper age, and who
seeks to poison the hopes Of the noble
youth, and to sink low in infamy, the limo
cent and unsuspecting, and who has fealIy
succeeded in pulling down the great pill
lars of a once grand republican edifce,
who has broken the "golden bowl and the
pitcher at the ~fonntain," where all the sons
of a once proud united republic could as
semble in peace under the same vine whose
tendrils were all fed from the same great
trunk. The great enemy which laid proud
Rome waste, and imperial Greece into the
dark abyss of national ruin, made other
nations older than ours to shake from CEN
tire to circumference and our own young
America to be rent in twain, that destroy
err of nations and Kingdoms, souls, body
and property-Alcohol.
1t appears to me that since our national
bonds have been rent asunder, that this
invidious foe, and national urse, and king
of evil, has let bis dogs of war loose and
that while our brothers fathers and friends
have left home, with all it's enchanting and
endearing ties, and gone forth to meet the
invading foe as it appears, is trying to sap
the foundations of human liberty and to
rule US i~ndespotism; he is working nightly,
for the destruction of both soul and body
to establish his kingdom and over all pre-
vail.
How many noble youth from their friends has he torn,
From mothers kind and sisters dear,
And naught on earth can bring them back,
Neither mothers prayers. nor sisters tear,
Mourn not now for those who the drunkards grave do
But nerve thy arms and fight till the enemy all wekin,
The time has come when we have a
mighty work to perform, & great battle to
uSuL-it - luoSIIdUle, duO lcG tcoue, lel
US arouse from our lethargy, and work
nightly to the down pulling of the strong
holds of this vile destroyer. Our coun.
try's hope fickers on the point of despair
The perpetuation of that liberty which oul
fathers bought on many o hard won field
is suspended over the deep dark gulf of de
spair anu ruin. Shall it survive the shocl
or 20 down forever? Shall those who are
: engaged in making this liquid bane tx
send mems souls to hell, and to grind thu
face of the poor and needy and. cause limo
cent women and children to cry for bread
continue?
Will not God curse US as a nation fo
our wickedness? If our country is ruined
and Liberty'ss last departing kneU be hearc
in It's winged fight from the green hill
and broad plains of our would be youn;
republic of the Confederate States of Ameri
ca, what will have been the prime cause
The answer is-Whisky.
Already, it has been making its way in
to the soldiers camp, to baoy him up an
drown the pious thoughts of absent one
and doubtless has caused the death of ma
ny noble sons of the sunny South, au
what reverses we have met with the prof
lens are two easily solved to deny the fact
And now, if We do not strike with a Dol
hand and terrible stroke, it may sap tt
foundations of our cherished institution
aud hopes, and the blood of the noble an
brave, which has been aud may be poure
out on the field of carnage and death, as
:. lbatlon In defence of expiring liberty 10;
be lost split in vain. We have bid adj,
to many, perhaps, for the last time TO IN
; ny of our fathers husbands, brothers al
friends who have left home with all
sweets, and gone to the ensanguined fe
to battle for their loved ones-us and
r ture posterity. W. know they are passion
= like ourselves, and subject to be decoy
c by such an iusidious foe, and now what sh
+ we do to save them from falling into t
h horrible pit of degradation and ruin 4
Is swer-Stop the distilleries and shops.
3, Shall those noble ones who have end
er ed all the privations and hardships co
re mon to a soldiers life, return to tn
s. homes again drunkards2 The answer
Y, no; never. Then destroy whiskey.
u Shall the wife of the toil-worn soldie
!; with her fatherless children cry for bre
til while he is away on the tented field |?
. Then stop the grain-consumiug d~istiller
an And now as we have severed the
", which held US together as a nation on
It and sought with our blood aud treasure
to plant the principles for which our fatf
he fought in a more cougenial cline, VII
a. the great tree of Liberty could yet ext
S. her branches and under which her own S