The Ebensburg Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1865-1871, 1869-04-15
The Temperance question.

It's indicators. In asubSCquent article YOU
not only reiteraee the former sentiment,
but attack the Temperance men of our
community, for letting So vile and black
guarding a sheet come into their families
You say it is unworthy of the support of
genuine Temperance men. [ presume
your unprovoked attack upon the Vindi-
Gator, and your uncalled for advice to the
fifteen hundred intelligent subscribers of
| that valuable paper, will have salutary
effect upon their minds. and will cause
them to take the matter into consideration,
whether the ItndtcdtOr shall longer be
supported by them or whether it shall
meet with an untimely death 1t seems
to me, Gentlemen Editors, that you are
wholly inadequate for the task you have
undertaken that of coRUiRciRg the Tenn
perance people of this place that they are
supporting a paper not fit to be read. l
think that the Old and tried veterans Of
the glorious cause Of temperance will not
feel bound to abide the decision, or heed
your Youthful advice. | think, Gentle
men, that prudence is the better part of
valor, and that young men, when they are
about to assume great responsibilities should
not strive TO make themselves too conspicu-
Gus.
IrayIng once been the proprietor OF the
AHcghdniaR, and having long been identi-
fed with the glorious reform of Temper
ance, which is second only to the regener-
alton Of the heart, [ beg leave to occupy
little space in your otherwise valuable
paper
Let us for one moment look at your
charge, that ''the different Temperance
organizations have proved totally inefficient
to do more than deliver some from the
| flames while the fire burns on" God has
! so ordered things that great and sudden
! leaps are contrary 10 nature. Every ad-
vance in the general must be made by ad-
vances in the particular. The trees and
! the corn do not leap up suddenly into ma
turity, but they climb upward little by
/ little, and after the minutest possible in
crease The orbs of heaven, too, accom-
| plish their circles not by one or two extra
ordinary starts or springs, but by travel
ing on through PAGES and roads of the sky.
1t is thus and only thus that any organ
ization or any man will become efficient in
any great undertaking. Laying down
great plans, they can only be accom-
plished by great industry,-by minute at
1t is a great fact Of history and of obser-
vation that all efficient men, while they
have been men of comprehension, have
also been men of detail And this is
equally true Of organizations. In corrob-
grafton Of this fact, look at our noble Pres
ident who, while General Of our armies,
was the most effective man III modern
times-some will say Of all times. The
secret Of his plans was more vast, more va
rious, and of course more difficult than
| those Of nthar mon, y-ot ho lA~l tho tolnnf-
at the same time, to fill them up with per-
feet promptness and precision, in every
particular of execution, to be solid and
compact framework in every part. At
this particular time when all things looked
encouraging to our brave General, many
who were timid, and others who wished to
retard the forward movement Of our noble
General, cried ont, he has proved himself
inefficient to do more than cause small de-
feats of the enemy, while the rebellion will
continue to go on yet his armies were
together only one great engine of destruc
ton, of which he was the head or brain
Numbers, spaces, times, were all distinct
in his eye. The wheeling of every legion,
however remote, was mentally present to
him. The tramp of every foot sounded In
his ear. The numbers were always sup
piled, the spaces passed over, the times
met and So the acork asdS done, and the
most gigantic rebellion ever cOnceieed COM
pletely reduced. We may in the main
reason Of any community or organization
as we would reason of an individual. The
same great laws regulate its moral and
spiritual progress. The same high JUS
tice, pure and stern, sits in Judgment spon
all its proceedings. 4 like glorious crown
rewards its fidelity.
Never may it be forgotten, then, how, as
the first pioneers of Temperance went
forth, clad in the panoply of truth, there
, was stirring among all ''the dry bones
of the valley, bone came to his bone, life
was infused where there was nothing but
death and putrefaction, and the reformed
2 and reclaimed stood upon their feet an
| exceeding great army. The crisis had
come Four of the six inebriates with
whom it commenced went to the house OF
God to hear one who, in Gods name, was
to oppose the sin Of drunkenness and the
drunkard's DOOM They were pricked in
: their hearts. On their return the jeers OF
the bar room had lost their power. They
signed a pledge, and commenced the work
of reclaiming every inebriate in the land
Some jeered others Knocked, saying doubt
less they will prove totally inefficient tc
do more than deliver some from the fame
while the fire burns on" but many went
from the meeting to pray. And if of the
l half million Of lost men, who, in that great
5 work of 164041, were reclaimed, no in
considerable number went back like the
DOG to his youit. il derooatcs nothing from