American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1865-07-26


Mr. EDITOR Having found it ne
cessary, for business purposes, to find my
way to the borough. of Butler, on We'd
nesday, the 10 inst. / noticed POSTERS
up on almost every corner of the street,
announcing a Temperance Meeting, which
was to come off that night at the Court
House Although it would cost me ten
mile ride after night, determined to re-
main, and learn what ] could, and take a
few notes, that might form a basis for a
Communication for your excellent paper
Hence, at the ringing of the bell, | pro-
ceeded at once to the appointed place,
and being a stranger, and rather difiident,
| took seat near the door, determined
to see and hear all could. After half
hourc suspense, few uuruly boys came
Gathering up stairs, revealing the char
acter of their parents by their rudeness
la another quarter of an hour, about
twenty adults had made their appear
ance, after which there was a silence of
a few minutes, batting the disturbance
created by "Young America. " Two men
sat inside the bar, whom [ afterwards
learned were the announced Speaker and
the Methodist Minister of the place.
Soon it could be seen that the whole af-
fair was likely to prove a signal failure
At this juncture the Minister rose up and
passed to the other side of the house, and
after consultation with few persons,
(strangers to mel he announced to the
few who we're present, that owing to the
paucity of the numbers present, and the
little interest felt by the citizens OF But
Ter, for any active Temperance movement
it was thought proper to adjourn the meet
ing, without anything further. | must
confess ! left in disgust, not at the Spear
ker, for did not know him-and | un.
derstand that he was stranger in &e
place, and hence there could be no preju-
dice against him, but against the cause
he advocated After this magnanimous
display of Temperance principles, / got
in conversation with an intelligent gen
tleman, who gave me the following infor-
nation.
From the bes5 he coll remember,
he remarked that there were eight church
es in the borough, Jas follows: Old School
Presbyterian, United Presbyterian, Meth
odist, German Lutheran, English Luther
an, Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, and
German Reformed and that the great
majority of the inhabitants of the town
and vicinity were members of these diff
ferent churches and that living in the
Borough and contiguous to it, the follow
ing Ministers of the Gospel, viz Pres
byterian, (Old School) four; United
presbyterians, one Methodist, one Ger
man Lutheran, one; English Lutheran i;
Roman Catholics, one; Episcopalian, !;
and German Reformed, one and among
all these it appeared that there was but
one present And to the hest of my in
formant's knowledge, the different church
es were represented in the meeting as fol-
lows: Presbyterians, two; U. Presbyte-
rians, none Episcopalians, none, Meth
odsts, eleven; English Lutheran, one !;
Roman Catholic, one German Reformed, /,
noae asked myself this question =
Why was not the Catholic Priest present?
am sure he claims to be ST. Peters sue
cessor, and he was. undoubtedly a tenn
perance man, for he said Give all
diligence to add unto your faith virtue !;
and to virtue, knowledge and to know
ledge temperance; and to temperance pa
tience )" &c. Why were not more of the
Protestant Ministers present? [ wonder
if the bread and butter argument had
anything to do in keeping any of them
away or in other words, are they depen-
ding on the venders of ardent spirits for
support, to any considerable extent ?
If not, are they afraid of offending their
hearers, by making war on the internal
trafc? And as to the membership of
these various churches, where were they!
II there had been dance, or a Monkey
show, or Circus at the Court House, on
that evening, no doubt, but that a large
sprinhiiag of all the churches would have
been present, aud likely would have used
as mnch ingenuity in convincing their
neighbors of their right to attend such
places, as it would require to convince
them of the injustice of vending intOxi-