Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1864-08-19
The Willow Tree.
BY ADDISON EVERETT,
A TRUE HISTORY

am now an old man, and | often
think Of my narrow escape from the mis-.
cradle end of the poor drunkard and
now presentto to you some of the incidents
of my life h a are connected with the
temperance pledge that signed in 1927,
when | was twenty-five years old.
b d an almost uncomfortable appetite
for rum and sometime could not pres
vent the exposure Of my condition.
Bat the spell was broken when | signed
that pledge, which | have never dishon-
ored. | have told the story to my chill
dren, and all of them in their youth
pledged themselves to be temperate for
ever, and all have kept that pledge
Some are dead, and others live but
none of them have disgraced Ii e bond
that kept them free. One of them is in
the army, and the record of him is that
of brave man. He was one of the
first to enlist in our oountry's cause !;
a d he associated himself with a few
others in temperance club, occupying
the same tent; pledging themselves to
abstain from spirits, gambling, tobacco,
and profanity. In one of his letters, he
writes Our tent is the only temperate
one in the regiment In another letter
he writes - There are not more than
250 men in the regiment fit for duty
But he has never been sick a day DUR
ing the whole time, so as to be unfit for
service. In Missouri, in Arkansas, al
Vicksburg, at Port Hudson, at N "
Orleans, and Texas, he has endured the
hard marches, and the bad air Of swamps
and marshes, without compromising his
pledge Of abstinence, while others who
were intemperate, left their bones in a !
IL r ,-a. ,-..
1t. q 5,o..,;.s1 = -,
, ,r -,
-
Who would not be proud Of such
SON? Would he now be a sober man if
,;. f,,bon me-. = s.nul..I9
W., TO- r. Ii, -,
,.;,l, ,h-.o rh. I,.o t.;u ..;.. ~.
ar ,bs, they lo,. n..,. c,t,Grsr.. n.hao
have mentjonad tba pla1co i bo. a.
nav, ,,o,,od l,o;. .,1;a,,a,;o.. ,ut,;aL
rero revar ra,o,,od Tho ma, OH
ocs voor Grnnes. IN odh.r;nn - c,,1
,rirc;nles rasnac,s %, marc tbon ;f ,.,,
yeIIsd IN his vile at,ann,s 70 n,lo r,,
;Lo birso,f
In looking over nv past life. 7 find
hat have not lived in vain tbopob
ave made but few efforts to redeem NV
ellow,men, In 1845 ono of nv na;,l.
ors m Jrisbman-was e,;ovin, -
.er's dabancb In ana or tho ;ntorr,ls
r his intovicat;op told hin, &c ,,v or,r
anraved an,a,ita and tb,t f,r o;ohtoon
ears I had been sober nv having been
rue to the TEMPERANCE gled1e and
1vited him to sign the same pledpe. and I
i've it, a sober man. He tremblinoIy
onsented to sign it. saving he feared he
houll break it. but would try to keen if
Ie became sober man; his wife was
Apply, and be respected by those
nat knew him; but by some unfortunate
in 1849, he became bank
upt, n as many Others have done.
led to drown his misfortunes in rum.-l
a ga n presented the pledge to him.
hich he renewed, and kept till the
cath of his wife, in 1858. when h r
neral was solemnized by wake, and :
was the order of the exer-
ses. He never was sober again, and ;
elirium tremens soon laid him by h
de of his wife. ,
But perhaps some with a sneer will say
What good did the temperance pledge
D him. p Are not eight years of So
riety better than drunkenness +? But
hen be died l was far away, and no :,
ne cared for him to lead him back to