Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1872-09-05
and I flatter myself that You hay,

-
Il confess that I have never seen
you in a state of intoxication; but I
have, at various times, detected, by
been imbibing alcoholic stimulants''
Every moderately-very moderate
ly-for my pride of character-"
please don't talk of pride of char
acter," interrupted Mrs. Ackerman,
''for trust you have too much good
sense to assume the position, that you
are stronger minded than any indi-
vidual who has yet fallen a sacrifice to
alcohol. Persons gloriously endowed
with the gifts of intellect, and with the
attributes of mani ood, have yielded,
atlength, to the power of the destroy
er They have fallen in the midst of
their years, at the height oftheir fame,
while their immortal laurels were yet
green upon their broWs. VIII you
exalt yourself in moral strength above
those who have succumbed to a de-
graded and Unsuitable appetite =? My
reason tells me that you are fallible,
like other men. If individuals more
generously gifted than yourself, have
perished in the conflict with sorbid
thirst for unnatural stimuli, how can
you fatter yourfelf that you will prove
stronger than they p
eNonesense, Frances! why will you
go on in this way You talk to me
just as though ! was a child, having
no power of self government. An
occasional glass [ know will do me no
hurt Now don't moralize any more,
that's good girl
'sBut must moralize, Alonzo! All
that is good within me impels me to
speak; cannot be silent when / see
you engendering an appetite, which, if
not checked, must eventuate in your
ruin. When the human will is con
quered, no manhood remains A man
might as well be dead and entombed
forever, as to live on after he has been
subdued by an appetite which destroys
his noblest prerogative, as an intel
lectuaI being. What is that individua
good for, after he has sunk and de-
based himself till he has lost all in
fluence for good, and exerts no power
to bless other minds? When ones
usefulness has fairly ceased, he might
as we'll be out of the world as in it,
unless there is some hope of his refor-
nation. Alonzo, l had dear friend
once, who talked about moderate
drinking just as you do; that friend
was my brother. He began by taking
what he called ''social glass with
an cold friend" Some how or other,
his cold friends increased very fast,
and his ''social glasses" multiplied in
the same ratio When attempted to
demonstrate with him. he brought up
the same unsound arguments that
you have employed; he talked conf
IDENTIFY about his pride of character, the
strength of his mind, and his moral
power over himself The habit grew
upon him; his face became red; his
nose assumed the appearance of an
unhappy excresence; his eyes retreat
ed into his head, and lost their frank
and manly expression. A dull and
leaden apathy pervaled his being, a
moral nightmare bound him with an
inexhorable chain; he ceased to be
what he had been in the past; his
acute sense Of propriety, and his sus-
ceptibility to the most exalted friend
ship, departed. Every feature was i'm
bruted the beauty of his countenance
was no more, and his whole nature
grew so debased that his once sym
metrical figure appeared no longer to
present a reflection of the image of
God. He staggered home nightly to his
young wife to make her miserable; to
look with Indifference upon his cherub
boy to behold the uplifting of his lit
tie hands without a pulse of paternal
delight, without single quickening Of
thc@heart, or remem branee of his
former love. He gazed at those who
had been his sOlace and his hope but
few months before, with eyes that
were vacant of meaning, and express
i've only of drunken idiocy He heard
the tones that once thrilled to his
heart, like gentle music, with apathetic
indifference. Swallowed up and en-
crossed by one overwhelming passion.
his intellectual being was engulphed
in vortex dissipation, from which
there appeared to be no hope of re-
demption. His manhood was wreck.
ed upon q sea so troubled and agitated
by tempests of destruction, that the
possibility of making some port in
safety seemed to have fled forever He
drank up his substance; the few thou
sand which he had inherited went
down his throat in a stream ofalcobol
he became walking receptacle of the
worm of the still, and his sphere was
| fetid with the foul miasma found with
in the atmosphere of drunkards. A
horrible blight fell upon his manhood
a pestiferous mildew blasted his affect
ions ); a scorching fame of alcoho
burned up his generous nature.
s.We looked upon him and wept
we sorrowed over him in agony we
laid our hands upon him in pity; WI
entreated him to stop, and stay in hi.
course, with an outgushing eloquence
which cannot be written; we contem
plated his misery and his sunken bru
uality, and said, che is no longer
man." he has degenerated below th,
plane of manhood. But we will no
forsake him; we will follow his foot
steps with tenderness which canno
be uttered; we will whisper admoni
, tions in his ear with a loving kindnes
J which cannot be known except it b
felt; we will strive to redeem GU
! brother.
"His nervous system at length re
acted against continued abuses; deli
ium tremens grasped him with ht
, strong hand; she held him aloft; ST.
cast him down; she stretched his mis-
ereble form upon the rack of torture
she pulled and tugged at his life, unit
e every fibre of his organism cracke
with agony: she coninred horribl