Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1862-03-05
7ocAL AND MISCELLANEOUS.
PRESCOTT Wisconsin. March 5, 1862.
For the JOURNAL.
e Watchman. tell us of the night.
What its signs of promise are.

For the JOURNAL.
rWatchman. tell us of the night,
What its signs of promise are"
Tho more numerous the rocks and
.A,,. which threaten death to the mar
ne, the more numerous are the buoys
,zj beacons placed to give warning of
dancer. If this be the economy of Di-
vine as well as human, providence, the
danger Of the country is imminent. In
about three months, three graves, opened
lrematurely by intemperance, have start
ed Us by their warning, and three men,
unnamed by excuses, have been sacrl-
iced upon the altar of guilty traffic. to
open our eyes to its evils. Three un-
timely graves. Does this tell the whole
story of evil and shame? Does the re-
nor,er who chronicles "a skirmish-
three men killed." portray in those five
words the scenes of SORROW which he
suggests! He gives us no picture OF
three widows, the light of whose homes
IS extinguished; for whom the sun is
clothed in sackcIoth; whose hearts dwell
IN sadness with the dead. He utters 10
word concerning fatherless children, sent
forth too soon to meet the hardening
care and seductive sin of the world. No
ne is devoted to the gray locks and
dimmed eye Of those who looked TO
brave sons for light in the twilight OF
life. No more does the simple fact that
three men have fallen the prey Of intern
perance give us full panorama of the
sorrows which encompass their fall.
Three wasted lives! Manhood blasted
Their influence made springs of poison
except as their death stands rs warning
EXAMPLES With what portentiOus
gazing do the gates of eternity swing
a1en. How desolate is widowhood, but
What other widowhood is like this
How cherries seem the widows weeds,
but what desolatiOn is like thisi The
world looks coldly on orphans, but casts
On no others SO chilling glances as on
Nose whose heritage is the memory of a
fathers shame. Sadly droop the young
hearts that bear this double load: an I'M
protected childhood, and the inherited
curse of parents guilt. Heaven havo
mercy on the drunkard's child, for earth
is merciless.
Fellow citizens; the reality of all this,
thrice repeated, is the beacon which
warns US Of the rocks towards which we
/ Nedrifting. We are not yet fully aroused.
We do not see the danger. We are even
ofer;ng unusual facilities to those who
lie in wait for the souls of men. We
give our hands in sympathy to those who
81! in their dens, and watch to lure our
sons to shame and death. We know
hiher, yearning with fatherly tenderness
and anxiety over his son, vet feeling
himself powerless to shield him from
these dangers, watching with anxiety the
trembling OF the balance, whose turning
shaI give his son to hogor or disgrace.
let we hit not a finger to bind the
tempter. Why2 He will, forsooth, pay
US forty dollars. Forty dollars! the
Prlce of a diseased body, of debased
intellect, and of a depraved heart-the
lnce of endless shame-the price of
"IdOwhood and orphanage-the price of
OrOther's life. Who shall say that this
Is not cheap!
We are glad that a movement is now
10 progress to stay the swelling of this
tide of incompetence. We hail the gath
erngs at River Falls and at Hudson, so
asppy in their conception, and so auspi-
aous in their issue, as the first day-spring
Of the morning. We bespeak for the
Meeting soon TO be held in Prescott, a
y, ,S.l attendance and hearty sympathy.
We urge the most energetic and gener-
Gus action upon all the friends of tenn
PeFsnee. The responsibility of the mat
~ hes with US all. We have sought to
pant the seeds of intelligence and virtue,
"iay well the foundation of happy
'3elety and a noble state why shall we
men scatter so widely the seeds of igno-
l'nce and crime Why undermine the
"a9dation which we have been laying
''n 50 much toll We have built
%aOol houses and churches, and inscribed
- ~sa0m and salVation, upon their doors;
NY shall We now rear the temples of fol-
= over against them, and bid The orgies
- I'm lemons be there enacted, and make
-. ,o.s Vlcer and more slippery the broad
> pesta . EIsDEx.