Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1863-04-13
No. 81
@ ron THE SPIRIT OF rHK ACE.
A WORD no THE LADIES.

i I -
DEAR LADIES ALLOW me to remind
you of the power of female influence. My
1llPs are not speaking fattcry, for | will
credit you for nothing more than what God
your maker allows you to claim, without
sutjeciing yourselves 20 the power of i'm
putation or vanity. 1t is not yours to
minglo ia the rough aud thorny scenes of
life, and By masculine authority control the
destinies of the world but in the nusery.
at the domestic freside, in the social circle
and other retired and consecrated scenes,
it is yours to give the first impulse to
thought; to the heart its abiding impress,
and to character Its hue and texture. You
are inparting a lasting favor of those
mountain springs, that are destined to send
forth the r pure or polluted waters into va
rious end extended regions.
You have the moulding Of the feelings,
and the habits of communities. Your in
strumentality, under God, materially affects
the destinies of empires. Princes and
Kings are sitting upon your knees and re-
ceiving laws fron yeus lips while uniyer-
sal consent has invested you with peculiar
advantages; for you. can speak and act,
when others cannot; you can reprove
where others dare net The combined in.
fluence Of your loneliness beauty and af-
fcctioD gives terror to your frowns, and
reslstiess power to your smiles. They in-
part force to your argumeRt and pungeney
to your Tebukes. Your Influence, though
soft and gentle as the Zephyr which inn
presses its kisses en- the fowery landscape,
is still rs powerful as the rushing winds,
which raise into mountain waves tho sur-
face of the great deep.
How. then shall vaur ;,n-enee bo ex-
er,ed IN the dssenca ~ mans best interest,
"A an ali tbat,s nc~r and dear to hims Shall
=; lnHaence come down upon cur soei---
..i'" - 90. rdlsstial dss mercy, to aiure the
it send out pesuis-ae danger. or shall
wither and destroy? No H. =. on,sa 11sa
ready to reply: We wish to exert y.
strength in proper way" Lend it not,
then, to the cause of Alcohol. Snatch
your children from its rauks, and in the
exercise of that authority which is pecu-
liarly your own, command the world to
forsake it. LookSat the army of drunkards!
You have aide3sin filling its ranks and
many Of your OWN seS are there; and ID
: there anything more hateful and disgusting
j, than female intoxicatedt If you are
n shocked at the idea, should you not abhol
. and shun the first step that conducts tc
4 such an end! Alas.!, many of your som
are there, who have filed your cup will
!, wormwood and GALL. Ten thousand hus
20 bands are there and O!,b bew many heart
=, have they brokeni They have causes
Il och hl1o
and spend year after year in uuavailing al
guish aud having wrapped themselves
rags, and laying down on their beds
o. straw, in the bitterness of their souls
W. curse the day they were born while pov
. erty, neglect, strife, scorn, bruises, are b.
mt part of their sad inheritance. The wretc
sh es who once swore to love, cherish al
ye. defend ron, have become your tormentir
e foes; and alcohol has made them So Soc
ne many of these wives viii put on the rob
,e, of widowhood, and then, with their iii
Id ones, they must beg crust of bread at t
,ry door Of charity, or die.
the Such are the consequences of bayi
,ou such husbands, and these husbands on
i had mothers, aid perhaps the first sep t
nm maternal guidance enabled them to take
me, | toltcFiHS luldHCf, Was tHOuefalc uflukH
ped Perhaps their mothers dedicated tlrcm
lie it, and said, alcohol is good, drink gen
But on, dear little ones Cruel Mothers
all sacrifice your own child on an altar VIII
of is worse than Moloch's.
to Nov let me solemnly eoquire-how
ling you, how dare you countenance an ener
ri who causes you thus to abuse your G
fell sex, and compels you thus to abuse y
Ser little ones? for on your own heads falls
tremendous cu,se! You are the deer
his sufferers. Methinks | see your bose
sun swelling with just indignation. Let it b
,row full vent; let it fall on the monsters p
-ivod You have it in your power to preren
e his you Can influence your children, J
/ his neighbors and yonr friends; and you
tlIan reprove the drunkard with that seye
that which he must feel, and as man canno
niled And can tell you what else you can
with ,ou can declare to all your adlniring lo
[ am # they wish to secure your heart and b
as hcy must be divorced from Alcoho
.oun- ih! this will be taking the right ST
died and if adhered to, it will touch item
COM ADAMS Boys must have wives any
0 my and rather than not get them, they
css in gladly forsake the banners of the .
and fly for refuge to The banner Of
ate. - TOTAL ABSTlNEN(