Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1869-03-23
Ticket for Council OF CensOrs.
ELECTION MARCH 81. lSe
A New Chapter on an Old Theme

that there Is TOO much rum SOLO tnere'
abouts. We have no doubt of it
But is selling liquor such an extraor-
binary occurrence in Montpelier, or
anywhere else, as to call for particu-
lar mention in a public journal ?-l
There IS too much rum sold in the
world for the worlds good. Notwith-
standing the fact, which the world rec
obnizes as fact, it persists in allow
ing it to be sold with impunity. Rec
ognizing the rum seller as bad man
in community; admitting his inhu-
ence to be as baleful as the poison
tree Of the east: standing before
the public as its recognized curse, he
is yet permitted to WELD his terrible
sceptre ana to blast the fondest hopes
of families that out for him were the
abodes of peace and happiness. Poll
ticians come at his beck and bend at
his nod. Even the robes of many
placed upon the watchtower of Zion
are too often besmeared in the mala-
rious slop Of the rum room-tOo often
are tainted with the poor pence that
rattles in the rumseller's till. Socie-
ty is an anamoly. 1t bends to that
which it abhors it outwardly wor-
ships that which it inwardly loathes
it passes laws making the sale of liquor
a punishable crime, and yet often ex-
ats the criminal to the singular posi-
tion of executor of the peoples will
thus expressed. Society vote him an
outcast then give him superior rank.
Temperance men, too, talk of the
enormity Of selling liquor to towns
man an d advocate its sale to the
stranger, as if the soul of the stranger
were Of less consequence than the soul
a friend, or his appetites were more to
be consulted than those of an acquain-
lance. What reason do they give for
this most singular position? Why,
travellers aoiU have it, and if they can
not get it in one place they will drive
on to the next village Orr hotel
must be kept up that our village may
be kept growing. Money, then, is both
corner and cap stone of their morality.
In other words the abode of the damn
cd must be recruited with untold mil
lions rather than that a few country
hotels should suffer loss of trade
What far reaching sagacity! How
profound the logic What heartfelt
christian utterances ! Yet the world
is full of such preachers and such
philanthropists.
The destroyer is allowed to be
abroad. He is free, untrammelled
and unbound. He is suffered to burn,
to pillage, and to Stay to fill poor hou-
ses, to populate prisons, to patronise
the gallows and TO people the grave
with its victims once brilliant and
buoyant with hope. We see all this.
1t moves before our eyes hourly, dali
ly, weekly, yearly, like a dreadful
panorama, yet we make no sign to
arrest the terrible picture. Sorrow
full to US TO utter these terrible truths
Would they were libels, as they are
not. Would to God we could burn
them into the hearts of our readers as
with pen of fire. Would to God
our voice might reach through endless
chimes and enchain the attention of
the unthinking millions. But it can.
not be. We must leave the means
and the fruition to Him who does
his work in his own good time and
as seemeth him best.
Many are the evils of the liquor
traffic. But the worst of all is
when the demon drunkard drives the
fond and patient wife from his door
to the embrace perhaps of the cold anc
pitiless storm. Years before he haC
taken her to his bosom and promised
to love, cherish and protect her, anC
thus does he fulfill his vows. ShC
goes forth with thin and tattered gar
ments to the streets, her starving chill
dren hanging with frightened look
to her tattered skirts--yes, dr1Uei
forth with cruel words and unkin,
blows to meet the mercy of the win
try winds and to ask aims of thos
whose sordid hearts are unmoved t
pity, and who perhaps in times pas
were of those who took the first $50
cial glass" with the human demon sh
now calls husband! This, dear reac
er, is the terrible phase of the ru
traffic. This is the full blown fowt
whose seed was planted in the "socii
glass" whose tendrils were nursed
the hot house of a fashionable hote
and whose upward growth was waite
ed by the tears of once darling wifi
"Who hath woe p The wife of Il
drunkardl "Who hath sorrow ?" III
wife Of the drunkard "Who hath co