The Ebensburg Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1865-1871, 1869-06-17
Temperance.
LETTER NUMBER TWO.
the Editors of TIE 4LLeob1a;on.

that organizations devoted chiefly to the
observance OF some single virtue are not
competent to produce well balanced men.
The agencies that take part in the forma-
tlon OF character begin at the cradle.
The education that commences thus early
cannot have its place supplied in after life
either by schools or moral associations,
! organized for some single specific end. 1t
| is a truth, sometimes not duly esteemed,
| that if --~---lI IuUeI.ScTuaI ueVeI-
opment, we must chiefly train the intel
lect if physical development, then the
muscles; if moral development, then the
moral nature. We build schools We
build colleges and universities We boast
of the spread of general intelligence We
desire that every man and woman shall be
able to read and write. We persuade our
selves that by these means we shall pre-
vent crime and rear people the most cor
rect In their habits of any in the world.
Yet our prisons are filled to overhowing.
Crime increases. We see going down into
the vortex of crime, not simply the illite-
rate, but those also who have had the ben
eft of our schools. Perhaps the suggest
ion will be tolerated that we depend too
much on training the intellectual man in
order to develop the moral man. To de-
velop the moral man, submit that neither
the school, nor college, nor temperance
lodge, is competent The culture of NOR
ais must begin in infancy, and take place
within the sacred precincts of home. To
do right, to abstain from vice, to control
the passions and appetites, must be incul-
Gated as things of habit. The only sphere
that can find for temperance organiza-
| tions is the same that exists for homes for
fallen women, or for founding hospitals,
or other similar charities. In all societies
| there will be found unfortunate persons
degraded by contact with crime, or hard
ened by improper discipline, slaves to their
own passions. 1t is noble act, and wor-
thy of angels, to rescue these, and en-
deayor to restore them as nearly as posi-
| bic to their lost estate. But the same
reasons that forbid me to rely on the eff
cacy of homes for fallen women to secure
female modesty and virtue, would also for
bid me to rely ON the temperance organi-
cations -,--i--o smperanee. . IF the
habits of youth are cc--ao.I,- fo-,,o1 80
cared for no more need viii exist for
special organization to prevent intemper-
ance in drink than for special organiza-
tiens to prevent profanity or lewdness or
| gluttony. If the habits of youth are not
correctly formed and cared for, the tenn
perance organizations cannot supply one
defect, for the defect is general, blighting
and bunting the whole nature, while the
remedy is partial and specific. l do not
deny the necessity for the existence of re-
medal and correctional institutions. On
the contrary, l aver their necessity. But
all such institutions are calculated in their
very nature to apply to exceptional cases.
Until the millennium dawns, we may not
hope for state of society so perfect as to
contain no vice, no crime or degradation
1t is the duty of the State, through the
sequality of the laws, through the absence
of anything that savors of oppression or
unjust hardship, or that promotes indo-
lence and luxury, to encourage virtue and
industry, and restrain their opposites. 1t
is also the duty of the State to care for
and endeavor to reclaim those who, in
spite of all incentives to virtue, have be-
come stepped in crime and addicted to the
qualification of infamed passions. But
no justification can be offered for relying
on these exceptional agencies as the means
of securing and maintaining virtue among
a people Hence it is that organizations
at best can only rescue some from the
flames while the fire burns on No one,
1 suppose, would deny that person in
time of destructive confagration who
busies himself in saving pieces of furni-
ture is doing some good. But would he
ever put out the fire? Z?
In seeking the amelioration of the con-
dition of mankind, it is never worth while
to attempt the impracticabie. While we
are confronted by the fact that there is
not people In christendom who entirely
abstain from the use of fermented liquors,
the advocates of total abstinence will find
it difficult to clear themselves from the
imputation of attempting the impractical
| BILE. Nor Is it possible to point to any
such people in any age. For fifty years,
the advocates of total abstinence and total
prohibition have labored zealously. Yet
they cannot show that in the aggregate
they have relatively lessened the amount
of intemperance. The one trophy of
which they can boast, is, that they have
banished the use of liquor from the farms.
1t is true that the glasses and decanters
of the sideboard are now no longer seen
in our houses. But the drinking is SIM
ply transferred from the side board at
home to the counter of the saloon. For
my part, 1 would much prefer that when
men use fermented drinks, they use them
under the restraints of home rather than
! amid the carousal of the saloon. L much
prefer, also, that the liquor to De drank
should be made on neighboring farm
than by large establishments and monop-
olies, having every inducement and OPP
portunity to adulterate their Installations.
The drinking of pure liquors banisbed