The New York herald., 1870-03-15
TOTAL ABSTINENCE.
Addresses In Plymouth Church by Kcvs.
George Hepworth, Henry Ward Bescher

Addresses In Plymouth Church ny hcvs.
George Hepworth, Henry Ward Bcecher
and Horace Greeley.
A crowded 'massr meeting, under the auspices OF
the National Temperance Union. was held last nignt
In Plymouth church. The chair was taken by Mr..
William D0dd who referred to the serious econo-
mic loss sustained by the use OF intoxicating
drinks, and to the need or determined, united and
national effort suppress the evils OF intemperance.
lie said tnat in four years the money spent In alco-
hoilc drinks would pay or the national debt, and
that THIS money was expended In that which pro-
duced more crime than any other evu connected
with social life.
Mr. HORACE GREELEY was the first speaker. and
appealed TO the audience TO join IN an active cru
sade, to make war upon the deadly element that
sent atty thousand mea TO their graves every year
as the consequence OF the rum traiiic. There were
not less than million OF people who drank to cx.
cess IN America, and the strong probability that III
a few years eight hundred thousand OF them VIII die
miserable druukard's death. lie doubted whether
there ever was u time when more people were
acred by aud died from the effects OF strong drink
than at present. America was I, nation IN which
there was more drinking than IN any other. He
strongly urged tnat there should pe no grogshops
IN New YORK aud BROOKLYN. The temperance society
had devised a temperance literature that showed
the terrible evil that there was IN strong drunk aud
that literature was strong enough to create great
temperance party, even II The present temperance
men and women were To prove unlathiu
Dr. HEpwoRrH next addressed the meeting, and
hdiu luuL no ualiOu WAS ever SATISFIED III OD-
tanned some abnormal eXcitement In tue shape OF
drink. But the American belonged 10 nation that
needed IL tue least. The American found ms excite.
ment In whiting his way TO million OF dollars.
The German might solace his sorrows In his beer,
and the Englishman whose nerves we're outside OF
his bones ulignt cothe those bones with 1esn with
MS Burton ale; but the American, whose nervous
system seemed stretched outside his skin.
needed no stimulant TO excite a system that
was already too nervous by constitution. Tne lile
OF the American was all excitement. A boy
no sooner got INTO his teens than he began to specu
q q "a fN-nnA n una fIr TIM
corner o his fortune; Ut thirty he had bought fast
horse aud At forty he has gray head and apop!ec.
NC, and at nifty he was dead and two months after
tneIe We're hundred people jostllng each
oeaas o,aer to Ste yet into MS shoes Ine American
the air Ss b1eassa He raS for n sss
pulse that beats more vvidly than IN any
other man on the face OF the earth. Mr. Hepwortn
gave very graphic and determined appeal to all
who heard him TO be earnest In purpose ana TO De
true to themselves There was no aristocracy ike
the arlstocracy OF merit The only noo.eman In
America was ne man who held his passions
IN ms fist as tho coachman held the relns
In his nanus. lie detailed ms own eXper
ence in giving up habit, OF when he SAID
it was nopody's business 10 inquire what
1t was. Alter various intervals OF procrastlua.
| ton and the shifting OF dates he resolved TO
give II up on lst or January, but he found that just
before the time came he was bound hand anu foot
by tins haDit, and he mad 10 call upon God IN prayer
TO help him; and he rose from tGat prayerful pur
pose with tnat habit buried, and IT never mad had
resurrection Now, III that struggle u little devi
OF temptation had told him that ne had better leave
ie OH on ms brtnoay, the sth OF February But he
turned round 10 Iiat little devll and he said, NO
you don't; no you dont.n Cheers aud iauQhter1
| He sad 10 all young men and young women
| tins habit Now, now is the time, not tomorrow;
no. not Tomorrow, but tonight (Cheers.)
Rev. Henry WARD BBECHER said tuaI there WAS
nobody wno liked drunkenness. even the drunkards
despisea II, and II those who were so shocked at
II would only expend little ol their energy la
fnenting the Inevitable causes there wouid be less
drunkenness anu more souls saved IN this country
than there Ii was true that tea and coffee drank
IN excess did harm. but 1t never debauched
ANYBODY; That was the trouble WIN
this drink. There was great Anxiety
SHOWN in many departments OF life in the preserva
ton OF health; they looked after 'swill mix"
no one seemed to think 1t necessary to take legsa
tive action against that terrible social maady which
Killed man everv hour OF the day. He traced very
graphically the physiological con iitions or the men
whose nervous system susceptible or excite
! ment, ana showed how hereditary transmits
sl0nS would affect men, and though that
| TRANSMISSION might leap over generation
| II would inevitably pass to another. Though the
as the lunaic asyiums, the poorhouses. the graves
did not actually speak TO the drunkard yet IL as
nevertheless true that they did speak with living
eloquence that no would be able 10 resist II
he would lisen To IT, After paying tribute OF re.
specg To the previous speakers he brought
| Ing TO close 10y pronounclng the benedlcti0n.