Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1866-02-15

Anew Temperance movsmsnt Of the high
Or order is now IN process OF being deyel
oped, TO which We think some public atten
tion might be directed with profit. 1t wa
organised on the 18th Of December Of las
year as the st. Jonathan Society, and q
present consists Of 25 or 80 gentlemen, WHIT
are united in social club, having total ab
stinence from all intoxicating drinks as car
dinal principle of thoir union. No one il
eligible who will not confess to the brother
hood he seeks to join that he has felt in hi
own person, once or oftsner, the evil effect,
OF occasional excesses nor can any habitua
sot, who has muddled away his brains fol
years 10 continuous drinking, be accepted
upon any terms. The Society aims chiefly
to reclaim and save from future error, with
its inseparable sufferings Of mind, body and
estate, such unfortunates as are styled "good
fellows men Of talent and position il
their respective walks OF life, who are onl5
tempted into excesses now and again, either
from mental disquietude or impulses to exu.
berently social As to habitual sots, il may
be questioned whether they are worth saving,
even we're it possible; or whether the best
thing for men laboring under such unhappy
conditions, may not be to let them finish
themselves as fast as they can, and so get
done with it. The Society has established
for its club-fees 500 on admission, with
$50 year from each member. 1t is now
engaged In securing handsome quarters in
some accessible part of the city; and its
leading members propose an annual dinner
Of the st. Jonathan Society, which they
hope will not be less populsr, nor less intel
lectually spirited, than thoss of the ST.
Patrick, st. George, st. Andrew, and other
pious but imbibulating confraternities of
that national and social class. Certainly, if
st. Jonathan is ever to become . canonized
saint, the recent war should have made him
one; aud if the total abstinence movement
be ever destined to iud asy large number
Of avowed converts among the weather.
classes and mon of higher station, it must
be through some such agency as this of the
st. Jonathan, for the ordinary ritual and
chapters of the Sons Of Temperance are
both too severe and too public for general
acceptance BY gentlemen who have to min
gle with and receive society. Kincit omnia
aqua is the motto which DR.. William w.
Sanger, its learned organizer, has chosen for
this new Society; and we shall take occasion,
in some early number, when matters have
grown q triHe ripper, to give full particulars
of this new and deeply interesting brother
hood, with the names Of its most prominent
members, description Of the club. quarters
now being hunted up for it, and pro-
gramme of the first annual dinner of the
Friendly Sons of St. Jonathan, which is to
come off some fine evening between now and
next April. At that dinner we shall have
a fair and public test whether the clear
heads, calm nerves and equable pulses Of
total abstinence may not furnish as much
true eloquence, wit, hunor, hilarity and
genuine inspiration as are flushed into un-
healthy life and rank profusisn under the
hot-house stimulants of Green Seal and
Burgundy, in all their tempting but per-
nicious forms, at other public banquets.
-fNew York Citizen.