The Ebensburg Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1865-1871, 1869-06-17
The other side.


opinion"
Truth like light, always travels in straight
lines."-Laeon
Messrs. Editors believing that the
article on temperance, which appeared in
| your columns of last week, is calculated
to lead to many gross errors, we offer a
brief review; and in doing SO, we will also
try to remember that wise and philo-
sophie injunction, to be temperate ia all
| Your correspondent advances the idea
that law is incapable to preserve the in
tegrity of the people. If this be true,
why not at once abolish all law? Why
| not convert our Court houses into ware
| rooms or bar-rooms But that such
position is absurd, is evident from the
fact that it causes your worthy correspond
ent to assume the position that he is wiser
than God! God gave to the Israelites
law, which you will find by reference to
the book of Exodus. Now, He fixed
penalty to that law in case it was violated.
Why did He do this? Why was the pen
atty always so rigidly enforced if He did
not intend the law to preserve the anti
quity of His chosen people? If God
meant the law to aid in preserving the
integrity of His people, as He undoubt-
edly did, the position of your correspond
ent is wrong, or he has found out better
plan by which to preserve the integrity of
| the people than God has. 81 speak as
unto wise men. Judge ye what say"
The next remark which we deem wor-
thy of reply is that there are other evil,
as productive of woe as intemperance
when confined to the use of ardent spir-
its. We admit that luxury in eating, ex-
travagancc In dress, &C., are alike produc-
tive of their share of humen woe, but
they are evils which are In the reach of
| none who have not the means to live In
luxury, while the woes connected with the
use of intoxicating drinks are within the
reach of any man. The man who receives
but one dollar per day can go into any of
our modern hotels and for ten cents can
get dram. Now, any candid mind will
admit that if the man spend but the half
of his wages per week, which would be
three dollars, for ten-cent Whiskey, he
| would ruin his constitution, and wrap
sheet Of Q moral death. the win-4i"e-
Thus you see at once that this evil is
| within the reach of any, no matter how
poor he may be. And consequently It's
woes are visited alike upon both rich and
poor, while the woes of luxurious living
are known only by those who have the
means to live in luxury. He does not
live who can tell the whole story of the
woes of intemperance when confined atone
to the use of "drdeat spirits" Exaggera-
tion there is impossible; the fatigued fancy
falters in its flight before it comes up to
the fact. The minds eye cannot take in
the countless miseries of its motley train.
No human art can put into that picture
shades darker than the truth. Put into
such picture every conceivable thing
that is terrible or reyolting-paint health
in ruins, hope destroyed, affections crush
ed, prayer silenced; paint the chosen seats
of parental care, of filial piety, of brotherly
love, of maternal devotion, all, all vacant;
paint all the crimes of every stature from
murder standing aghast over a grave 1T
has not the means to cover, down to mean
deception still confident of success paint
home a desert, and shame a tyrant, and
poverty the legitimate child of vice in
this country, and not its prolific mother
paint the dark valley and shadow Of death
peopled with living slaves paint land
scape with trees whose fruit is poison aud
whose shade is death, with mountain tor
ents tributary to an ocean whose very waves
are fre-put in the most distant back
ground, the vanishing visions of blessed
past, and in the foreground the terrible
certainty of an accursed future-paint
prisons with doors that only open inwards;
! people the scene with men whose shatter-
ed frames are tenauted by tormented souls,
with children upon whose lips no smile
can ever play, and women into whose
cheeks furrows have been burnt by tears
wrung by anguish from breaking hearts
paint such picture, and when you are
ready to show it. do not set it In the rays
of the blessed sun, but illuminate it with
elares of the Internal fires, and still you
will be bound to say that your horrible
picture falls short of the truth.
Wo unto him that giveth his neighbor
drink, that puttest the bottle to him and
makest him drunken; also that thou may
est look on their nakedness. Thou art
filled with shame for glory. Drink thou
also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered.
The cup of the Lords right hand shall be
turned unto thee, and shameful spewing
| shall be thy glory Ha6ahuk II, ,15, 16.
Who hath 400 !? Hear Solomon answer.
They that tarry long at the wine I; they
that 90 to seek after mixed wine. Is your
correspondent wiser than Solomon If
not. let him renounce forever his miserable
creed that luxury in eating and extrava-
gance in dress are as productive of woe as
the use of intoxicating drinks. ] speak rs
unto wise men. Judge ye what | say.
He asserts, further, that organizations
devoted to the practice ofany single irtue
a-c unable to produce virtuous men,