Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1862-08-25
Illstellxnf0ns,
IRA FRoW A seaEaE

we average ere Sneh violent death in-yGar
By year. One falls into a well, and his
blood aAd bsains are dashed on the stones;
anoiaer, another, and anotAsr, perishes in
the waters one by Gre !; one By suicide;
another visits the place where ardent sp;r-
ITS are sold, and when bis limbs are palsi-
ed, and those who have gathered the last
cent Of his earnings are wsaTiea with ma
king him their jest and their song, then
they blasken his face and send him forth
by night to perish by the way-side in
the midst of the snow. The last week has
seen another victim psrishisg in the wa
tiers, and adding one more to the number
of the slain. o, my brethren and friends,
forbid me not to speak, while year after
year, l am compelled to follow these vic
Tins of slaughter to tho grave. Forbid
me not to speak, while the Bible declares
that drunkards shall not inherit the king
dom of God and while God himself pro-
nounces a woe upon him who, through
ar evil covetousness, putteth the bottle to
his ncighbcr and naketh him drunken
For twenty years it has been my lot to
visit the wrecks of this destroying traffic
Not all die BY = violent death. Often
have l been called to visit others upon
their death bsds-sometimes to hear their
blasDhemies, and sometimes their cry OF
anguish but never did ] know one ray
of comfort by such a bed of death. For
twenty years | have witnessed the distress
aud shame, and often the bitter poverty
Of the wives and children Of the victims
of this traffic. OitsA have | seen them
suffering under anguish which scarcely
the kindest comforts Of the Gospel and
the utmost duty Of submission to the will
Of God had power to assauage. Bat ney-
er did | meet by such a bedside, or az -
comforter in the midst of such . family,
one, who had, by the traffic in strong
drink, aided in producing the ruin. Ne
one who ever trafics in the poison ever al
tends the body Of the drunkard to the
grave. The end of such a work of his
hands, 10 man has the courage willingly
to behold.
have seen the aged mother, and the
meek and afflicted wife, both suffering from
sickness, from whom the son and husband
had taken the supplies which the hand Of
charity furnished, and carried them down
to the grog-shOp, and sold them for rum.
l have seen a daughter, suffering and dy-
ing OF a couch of straw, her bedstead
standing on a few loose boards, while the
rest Of the floor and the ceiling had been
consumed for fuel, and all else was open
from the cellar to the roof. There she
lay, in the cold of winter, in d dying state.
Her attending physician had carried y
blanket and An overcoat and spread them
OIL her shivering limbs and these, the
drunkard father and mother, had taken
and se1d for rum. | followed her to the
grave; and net long after the father and
metner ; both victims Of strong drink.
A few years since, a young man sent for
mo to visit him in the fall of the year.
lie was IN a consumption; which, he &C
knowleGged, while his sobs choked his ut
t~erance, was brought upon him by excess
i've drinking and consequent exposure
Winter came onT and the charities of the
town consigned him to the care of 8 man
who had been thriving and comfortable
but had undertaken to keep a grocery
and sell rum, and had fallen a victim un-
der its power. Character, comfort and
property were at this tine well nigh gone ;
he dragged out a few years Of sorrow and
poverty and then sunk into the grave
At the house Of this person, some two
miles north of this place, I visited that
sick, and broken-heartod young man. In
a cold, unfinished chamber, on a thin bed
of straw, whose covering he had vainly
tried to exc out by throwing over it his
wearing apparel-there, without a fire,
without al attendant, | found him on the
coldest day Of a severe winter. There for
the last time | peintsd him to the Saviour,
and prayed with him and that nigh. he
died. Yon remember a man who used
almost nightly 10 be Keeling and vo-
citcrating around the Bridge, for many
years and ior whom his meek and suffer
ing wife used nightly to send down theil
little boy Two miles to follow his father
lest re should fall down and perish O,
the way home. saw that man on = bee
Of Sickness to which Intoxicating drink,
had brous.t him and then | e~arrestI,
but kindly warRod him that now lac mas
retornl or die for il all probability h
could neve i've through another such
scene. I'll poor man, when scarcely re-
covered sufficiently 10 totter down to ia,
Bridge, came down. Those who trafi
In strong drink saw his haggsrd looks an,
trembling baud. They knew his HABITS
they had known them for years. The,
bad known the distress of his family
They knew his condition. But he had
little more money and they filed for bin
once more the Intoxicating cup. He wen
home and died. After he was slain | a,
tended his %fuaeral, but not one of Their
who had received the price of his bloc