Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1871-01-05
Tfmperauef.
Women and Wins

who are burdened with shame. A ma
who can sing of wine and women in ti
same breath, is one whose presence
disgrace, and whose touch is pollution
A man who can forget mother and si
ter, or wife and daughter, and wantonI
engage in revel in which the name ,
women is invoked to heighten the plea,
ures of the in toxicating cup, is beyon
controversy and without mitigation,
beast. "Dost thou think, because tho
art virtuous, there shall be no NOR
cakes and ale?" Ay, cakes and ale,
you will, but let it-be cakes and ale. LIE
not the name BY which We call the pur
and precious ones at home be brought il
TO illuminate degrading east. -
Of the worst foes that women has eve
had to encounter, wine stands at tn
head, The appetite for strong drink il
man has spoiled the lives of more wo
men ruined more hopes for them, scat
tered more fortunes for them, brough
to them more shame, sorrow, and hard
ship-than any other evil that lives
The country numbers tens of thousands
nay, hundreds OF thousands-of wO
men are widows to-dey, and sit in hope
less weeds, because their husbands have
been slain by strong drink. There ar.
hundreds of thousands of homes, scat
tered all over the land, in which women
live lives of torture, going through all
the changes suffering that lie between
The extrames offear and dispair, because
those whom they love, love wine better
than they do the woman they have
sworn to love. There are women by
thousands who dread to hear at the door
the step that once thrilled them with
pleasure, because that step has learned
t. reel under the influence ofthe seducl-
poison. There are women groaning
with pain, while we write these words.
from bruises and brutalities inflicted by
husbands made mad by drink. There
can be no exaggeration in any state
ment made in regard to this matter, be-
cause no human imagination can create
anything worse than the truth, and no
pen is capable Of portraying the truth.
The sorrows and the horrors ofa wife
with drunken husband, or mother
with drunken son, are as near the
OF hell as can be reached in
this world, at least. The shame, the
indignation, the sorrow, the sense If
disgrace for herselfand her children the
poverty,-and not unfrequently the beg
gary,-the fear and the fact of violence
the lingering, life long struggle and de-
'pair of countless women with drunken
husbands, are en- ugh to make all wo-
men curse wine, and engage unitedly to
oppose it everywhere as the worst enc.
ny of their sex.
And now what shall we see on the
New Years Day, 1871? Women all
'ver tile city ofNew York-women here
md there all over the country, where
Ike social customs prevail setting out |
lpon their tables the we'll filled decan-
ers which, before night shall close
iown, will be emptied into the brains of i
'oung men and old men, who will go
ceiling to darker orgies, or to homes
hat will feel ashamed of them. Wo-
mans lips will give the invitation,
'ossan's hand will fill aud present the
lass, w6nan's careless voice will laugh
t the effects of the mischievous draught
pom their friends, and, having done ali
his, woman will retire to :,almy rest,
efore having reckoned tho number oil
hose to whom she has. during the day.
resented dangerous temptation, and
.joiced over it in the degree of its mag
itude.
o woman! woman! Is it not about
me that this thing were stopped? Have
on husband, a brother, s;n? Are
ley stronger than their neighbors who I
ave one after another, dropped into |
lie graves of drunkards? Look around
,u, aud see the desoiations that drink .
as wrought among your acquaintance,
I'd then decide whether you have a
ght to place temptation in any mans :
ay, or do aught to make a social custom q
spectacle which leads hundreds OF n
of men into bondage an e
'sth. Why must the bottle come out "
erywhere? Why can there not be a
stal occasion without this vulgar guz- ;
ing of strong drink? = =
Woman, these are some things that
u can do, and this is one. You can
AXE drinking unpopular and disgrace :,
| among the young. You can utterly a
all drin king in your own I
'use, and you can hold in suspicion y
erp young man who touches the cup. = :
ou know that no young man who y
inks can safely be trusted with the n
lppiness Of any woman, and that he is n
unfit as man can be for woman's r
ciety. Have this understood: that :,
cry young man who drinks is socially u
oscribed. Bring up your children to v
gard drinking as not only dangerous y
1t disgraceful. Place temptation in no .
ans way. Ifmen will make beasts of h
emselves, let them do it in other so
ETY. than yours. If your mercenary :,
isbands treat their customers from pri- ii
tie stores kept in their counting 8
oms shame them into decency by your o
gard for the honor of your home. Re- :"
gnize the living terrible fact that wine Il
IS alwa s been, and is to-day, the curse, A
your sex; that it steals the heart of, e,
en- away from you, that it dries up = =
'ur prosperity, hat it endangers your r
fety, that it can only brit 6 you evil.-
social custom compels you to present u !,
me at your fsasts, rebel against it, and tt
AXE social custom in the interests of b
rtue and purity. The matter is very 9
nch in your own hands. The woman Ia