Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1866-04-13
DEER ISLE. April, 1866.
I'IiARoS

DEER ISLE. Apri,, 1865.
DEAR SIR
In late number of you: paper there ap-
peared an article relating to the Temperance
affairs of our town which reused the in
dignation oftemperaace advocates ofwhom
Deer Isle at present boasts not a few. AL
though we have in our midst disloyal
temperance men. we are confident that the
correspondent writing under the signature
of ..Touehstene,n Is not citizen of this
town but n stranger who has shared our
hospitalities. whom we have not been for
getfil TO entertain. but in whom we have
failed To recognize the angel in disguise.
The article referred to, contained several
untruths and As many facts misreprc-
sented \ few statements howeve were
correct among which the assertions that
every good cause is cursed by foolish
zealots."
As false report concerning our temper
ance affairs. has reached the public ear.
please allow place in your columns for n
statement of simple unadorned seracity.
One wear ago iutemperance was the wither-
ing curse of our otherwise prosperous aud
beautiful Island. King Alcohol reigued
and we daily chronicled the consumption
of honest wages. and the fall Of our Young
men into his mereiless grasp. a visit
from lecturer Woodbury-his heart APP
peals and rec,als of self-expcricnce, ARGUS
ed few temperance citizens. who had
long been slumbering with duty knocking
at the door of conscience. and Lodge Of
refuge for the erring and home for young
and old, soon became a popular institution.
When in its infancy. an attack was made
upon two noted rumsellers with some sue
standing the opposition then encountered.
the Lodge increased in numbers and in
fluence, and in early winter three sister
Lodges were Instituted. The four Lodges.
working in harmony, spread the temper
ance revival. until many moderate drinkers
relinquished the cup. and those long con-
firmed drunkards were reclaimed. Such
unity of feeling prevailed among the
Lodges, that "a reunion for the double
purpose of pleasure and of showing to the
world true temperance colors, was plann-
ed. The national holiday-the I'D Of
February was appointed as the day. and
the place of meeting the first Cong. Church.
|Agreeable to appointment, the several
Lodges, clothed with regalia, marched in
procession to the church designated
There. in consideration of the day and
with due respect to the memory of that
celebrated statesman and FEATHER of his
Country" the assembled temperance van
listened to the reading of Washington's
Farewell Address; AFTER which G. l..
Holmes Esq, of Ellsworth addressed Il
somewhat weary audience. The orator
was not employed to deliver an encomium
on the departed hero or to eulogize his I'M
paralleled merits, aud was aware of the
fact. His Grafton, rendered brief by the
lsteness Of the hour, was confined to the
soulless production Of an over-wrought
brain. but an eXtempore and fervent APP
peal from the heart. and TO the hearts of
his hearers. The exercises were enliven-
ed by appropriate music, vocal and instru-
mental. The day closed upon nearly three
hundred happy hearts-all engaged in the
work of carrying forward. ths temperance
reform. But life has its clouds as well as
hina .-clnu1s xvhaSa silyar tpir
are not always discernahie.
In that apparently happy assembly there
were hearts, heavy and sad. though they
may have been indexed by smiling counten-
ances. There were sisters who mourned
oyer fallen brothers-who, despite their
persuasions and earnest pleadings, kept
aloof from the pledge and the temperance
society, patrouized dram-shops, and were
fast meriting the title Of ''guttcr drum
kards." As persuasions often fall unheed-
ed on the ears Of the erring while the bar
rier to the pathway Of reotitude remains.
in order TO successfully reclaim them, the
stumbling block must be removed.
A man, unlicensed and under bonds
from former arrest, was suspected and
with just reasons, of carrying on the
liquor traffic. Cautious as the feline race
that dread second proximity to the fire,
he would not, knowingly, sell to, or in the
presence of, the Templar brotherhood, but
kept steadily on in his fiendish, underhand
work of making drunkards-withering
bright hopes, and blasting happy homes
Two sisters, stung to the very soul by a
recent shaft from the rumseller, resolved
to visit him and if possible obtain a proof