Bloomsburg democrat. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1867-1869, 1868-06-03

pvySIC0I cuCISys WutCu VIC AA"VO 6s'SsA W.
enterprises Of infinitely less importance, had
been devoted to the cause of temperance, it
would no doubt in many cases been the
means Of redeeming many poor inebriates
from their fallen condition. And if we have
never thought Of this mattor, nor acted in
the proper manner in regard to it, are We
not selfconvicted Of being engaged with
matters Of comparatively little importance,
while an enterprise Of the greatest moment
to tho human race has been left to pass un-
noticed and uncared for by US, and mankind
has suffered on account Of our omission Of
duty to him.
Does our brothers Of the ministry preach
and reason as frequently, pointedly, and
fervently Of temperance, and the evils Of
an incorporate habit, as they do Of right
eousness and of judgment to come? If they
do not they fail to fulfil the commands Of
their great master. Does any Of my hearers,
young in years, obey the voice Of paternal
affection and admonition, which bids you to
beware of the delusive and dangerous temp
tation, presented daily by the gaudy splen.
dor Of the drinking saloon, heed their warn
ing voice, and avoid those treacherous places
which if frequented would in time probably
lead you to death too terrible to be des-
cribed. It there sister within the sound
of my voice, whose parents hourly pray
ascends to heaven for your welfare, and are
you sufficiently thoughtful and obedient to
their loving admonitions, and do you will
lingly receive the addresses Of any young
man whose breath is tainted by the odors Of
strong drink, if any such there be in our
assembly, to her I would say that by such a
course you are working out for yourself per-
haps future that will be strewn with all
the miscries that render life miserable, in
which perhaps may be seen the gloomy pic
ture of o comfortless home, tenented with
hungry, half clad and uneducated children,
fleeing from the violence of drunken father
to the feeble arms of trembling heart
broken mother. Let me warn you to be-
ware and shrink from the pollution Of such
as from viper's touch. There is not the
least occasion for man in health to use
liquor in any way, it does not render his
head more clear nor his footsteps more firm,
neither does it make him more Industrious,
more useful or more worthy member of
society, but on the contrary to be temperate
contributes to all these qualities. Intem.
perance stalks into families, it invades the
domestic circle and looms up in every COM
munity, it peoples the graveyard with vic
tins, and recruits tie armies of eternity
with souls lost; it breaks the hearts of pa
rents, blasts the hopes of children, gives
brothers to destruction and sisters to shame,
it hangs like an incubus upon labor and
robs industry Of its reward, it is the great
source Of pauperism, the foundation of
crime, and strikes at the root Of religion,
and is utterly destructive Of all christian
principle. It overturns public tranquility
and social order.
What we have been endeavoring to con.
slider and portray to you Of the evils Of in.
temperance, as connected with and affect
ing the social affairs of life, are not those of
mere fancy, but an the contrary, they are
sound unqualified facts, and the experience
of many have demonstrated their sad reali-
ties. 1t is in tho light of these reflections
that / raise my voice in behalf of that
Law Prohibition which is for time feeble
in its effects, but which in time will be potent
in its strength, and thereby stay the pro-
gress Of the aocursed thing" then will that
word Of awful power spoken by the will Of
the people "Unconstitutional" fall like u
dead bone upon the vender Of Intoxicating
drinks perhaps as now address you, one
who has had . praying mother, fond
father, and o loving sister, and hap.
py home, is dying far of in distant
place, away down in some obscure cellar,
dark and damp, and deep, amid rags and
filth, and foul corruption, curses, blasphe-
mics and horrid oaths of abandoned women;
you will find this once noble young man.
The hand Of death il upon him, the hot
fever Of delerium is passing through his
brain, the foam Of poison is upon his lips,
he groaus, shrieks, and dies. Who is re-
sponsible for all this; is the question forced
home upon our hearts, and consciences ?
We ssk the question and leave it for some
vender of intoxicating drinks, to answer
his conscience and his God, who was the
cause Of the death Of this young person.
But one matter more, and We are done.
There generally is disposition upon the
psrt Of most people to abuse and i'll treat
the poor inebriats, this is decidedly wrong;
true he has become degraded specimen Of
humanity, he is besottsd because Of his
beastly appetite, but the appetite has been
fed and goaded on by the vencer Of intoxi.
eating Liquors, and such vender has been