Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1870-11-17
For the Herald and Tribune.
Somebody's Child.

CHilu.
A little boy was playingo on the crowded
street of a village horse took fright and
the wagon ratified rapidly along the mac
adamized road. Every mother along that
crowded street rushed to their doors out
into the street. for ''~somebodys child" was
in danger. Each mother thought it might
be her darling boy. Mothers, sisters,
fathers, brothers, wives, in JonesbOrough,
in Washington county, somebody's child
is in danger! Do you not hear the rafting
wagon and the gathering feet that may
crush somebody's child IN ruin? Run to
the door quickly See-the danger is i'm
minent! On the streets of JOnesborough
there are hundreds of children and young
men playing day and early night. | see
the little girls and boys as they come to
and from our schools daily. There are
many bright, cherry faces among them
Some nave bright, broad. high foreheads.
We are not ashamed of these children of
Jonesborough. Give them n chance and
they will make true men and women.-
Reader, goa may have no child, but these
of these bright-eyed souls there is, or was,
a mothers heart. a fathers fond hope
They are somebody's children" They
are in danger. Mother, your boy is in
danger! In danger of beings drunken
man! In danger of forgetting your love-
of debasing his noble young life to the
level of the brute. Father, your bright
faced daughter is in danger! What dan
ger? In danger of being linked for life
to one who, with his beastly nature, will
drag her down to the lowest depths of So
ciety. You say no-''there is no danger"
Is it possible? Is it possible for one word
heard, or one scene witnessed by that
young mind, to be without an impression?
The learned tell us that there is nothing
which is without influence upon us. The
other day there were some men drunk
upon our streets. They we're swearing
profanely, violating a law upon cur statute
books, never enforced. Our boys and girls
we're coming from school to their homes.
What influence had that upon them ?
That Monday night your wife heard the
p~rofane, loud, babbling words under your
window. Did those drunken yGlls disturb
the peaceful slumbers of your children?
We are fatally in error if we suppose that
these influences, and others, will have no
effect upon these boys and girls soon to be
men and women among us. They are in
danger. That danger is increasing. You
may think to shield your child from that
~danger-but, somebody's child' is bound
to be a ruined man or a ~drunkard's wife.
because of these influences. Let every
man stand up and say, "By tie help of
God these things shall cease" The very
principle of self-preservation demands that
we should do something. That man who
is making the poison which is Staying
thousands among us, Is not making 1t for
the destruction of that little one which
now hangs upon its mothers breast. No.
But, sir, even if that little one whom you
love, should escape the death which you
are manufacturing, ''SOmebOdyS child
must suffer from it. We kindly and ten
derby ask those in our county who are dis
tilling intoxicating liquors, to consider If
they are doing a good for our community
Oh sirs, somebody's child" is suffering
by your act.
We have two grog-shops in our town.
One is in a house rented by the Court of
our County to a grocery-keeper. During
the last month we have seen more drunk
enness in our town than for three or four
years past. What does all this say?-
Somebody's child" is going down to a
drunkard's grave. Somebody's husband"
has forgotten the early plighted love-
Somebody's father" has forgotten the
wants of his once fond children. 'Some-
body's home is desolate and dreamy
The family altar no longer smokes with
the morning sacrifice of prayer and praise.
ily on the hearth-stonc. Somebody's
daughter" wecps in sorest widowhood,
brought by amore cruel enemy than death.
Somebody's son." bright with intellectu-
al promise, is chained in the dust, and is
bringing ''grey hairs with sorrow to the
grave" And, who is responsible for
these things? IAN enemy hath done it"
Intempcrancc. Somebody is responsible.
But, what must be done? We must grid
up public opinion against this terrible
evil. We must have better laws against 1t.
Our County Court must refuse to rent the
property of the County for the sale of this
poison. The friends of temperance must
organize. Good people in our County
must join hands and stand together in one
great earnest movement to stop this tide OF
intemperance which is sweeping over our
community. 1t is time to awake. mothers
and fathersl Somebody's child" is in
danger? Brothers and sisters, somebody's
sister or brother is in danger! Wives.
somebody's husband is in danger! Run
snatch them from the impending ruin:
J..