American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1866-04-28
Temperance in High Places.

LIVELY DISCUSSION IN THE sen
ATE AND HOUSE-SENATOR NC
DoUGALL'S ANTI TEMPEPRANC7
SPEECHES.
Mr.. PreSideM-It was once said tha
there are as many minds as men, an,
there is no end of Wrangling. had oc
cason some years ago to discourse with
reverend Doctor of Divinity from tn
State which has the honor to be the birth
place, l think, of the present Presiden
! of this body (ConnecIcuO' While
was discoursing with him, a lot OF vile
rapscaions invited me to join them at the
bar. | declined out of respect to the
reverend gentleman in whose compans
| then was. AS soon as the OCCASION had
passed, | remarked TO the reverend Doc
tor: do not understand that | decln.
ed 10 go and join these young men be-
cause l have au objection to that thing,
for it is my habit TO drink always in front
and not behind the door" He looked at
me with certain degree Of Interrogation
| then asked him doctor what was
the first miracle wrought by our great
Master % lie hesitated, sad ! said to
him, WAS il not at Cana in Gallilee,
where he converted water into wine at
the marriage feast ?" l asked him then,
"a der the ark had loated 10 the tempes.
tuous seas forty days and nights. and as
it descended upon the dry land. what
was the frs! thing done by Father Noah ?"
He did not know that exactly. "Well,"
said |. did be not plant a vine ?" Yes
be remembered it then.
l asked him "Do you remember any
great poet that ever illustrated the higher
fields of humanity that did not dignity
the use of wine, from Homer down ?"
He did not, | asked Do you know of
any great philosopher that did not use it
for the exal.ation Of his intelligence ?
Do you think, Doctor, that a man who
lived upon pork and beef aud corn bread
could get up into the superior regions
into the ethereal? No, he must take
nectar on high Olympus, and mighty
mead in Valhalla. u | said TO him again
Doctor, you are scholarly man Of
course--,a Doctor Of Diyiuity--a gradu
ate Of Yale-do you remember Plato's
Symposium ?" Yes; he remembered
hat. | referred him to the occasion |
when Agatha. having won the prize of
ragedy at the Ojympc Games at Corinth,
IN coming back to Athens was feted by
he nobility and aristocracy Of that city
or it was proud tyiumph to Athens 10
the prize of tragedy. They got to-
tether at the house Of Phedrus, and they
said Nov we have been every night .
for the last six nights drunk let MS be
sober Tonight aud we will start a theme
which they passed around the table as /
The sun goes around--or as they drank
heir wine--or as men tell story. They
started a theme, and the theme was love
not love in the vulgar sense, but in its
ligh sense--love OF all that is beautiful.
Afer they had gone through, and after
he true and beautiful ID came Alcibiades
With drunken body of Athenian boys,
With gsrlands tocrown Agatha and crown
I'd Socrates and they said to those as
embed This will not do. we have
'een drinking and YOU have not" and
fer Alcibiades had made his tak in
ursuance Of the argument in which he
to dignity Socrates, as re
member it, they required, after the party
ad agreed to drink, (it being quite late
4 the evening. and they had finished
belr business in the way of diseusson,)
bat Socrates should drink two measures
)r every other mrn's one, because he
las better able TO stand it. And so, one
fter another they were laid down on
,unges in old Athcnian style, all except
n old person named Aristodemus land
lato makes him the hardest headed lel
w except Socrates) He and Socrates
uck at i, until the gray of the morning,
ID then Socrates took his bath and went
own to the groves and talked academic !
nowledge. After citing this incident |
i'd to his divine "Do you remember
Iat Lord Bacon said that a man should I
Fl drunk at least once a month, and that I
oniaigne, the French philosopher, en- !
orsed the proposition 2" Do these exN
Nations that buoy us up above the COM
on measure Of the brutc-wine aud oil
elevate us-cnable US to seize great {
cts-inspirati ms which once possessed i
e ours forever, and those who never get a
.yond the mere beastly means Of animal ?
Pport, never live in the high places Of p
e and cannot achieve them ? | believe v
women, wine, whiskey AMI war. Let
c add hat the Reverned Doctor said to I
e. "Well. General, you are right but l a
MT afford to say it, "