Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1873-09-24
j G1lnptanGG.
Thc World's Great Cnrse.
nY DR.. j. @. HOLLAND

Sixty full regiments every man OF when I
will before twelve months shall have CONF
plotcd their course, lie down in the grave
Of drunkard Every year during the
past decade has witnessed the same sacri- /
fee aud sixty regiments stand behind this I
army ready TO take its place. 1t is 10 he /
recruited from our children and our chill /
drcn's children. "Tramp, tramp, tramp
the sounds come to us in the echoes OF
the footsteps Of the army just expired
tramp, tramp, tramp--tho earth shakes with I
the tread Of the host now passing tramp, I
tramp, tramp, comes TO us from the cnmp
Of the recruits A great tide Of life flows
resistcssly to its death What in Gods
name arc they fighting ior2 The privilege
Of pleasing an appetite, Of confirming 70 a
social usage Of filling sixty thousand homes
with shame and sorrow, Of loading thcpublic
with the burden Of paupersm, Of crowding
our prison-houscs with lelons, Of dclracting
from the productive industries Of the coun-
try, Of running fortunes and breaking hopes
Of breeding disease and wrctchedncss Of
destroying both body and soul in hell be-
fore their time.
The prosperity Of the liquor interest, COW
ering every department Of it, depends cn-
trely on the maintenance Of this army II
cannot live without IT, So long as the
liquor interest maintains its present pros.
porous condition, it will cost America toe
sacrifice Of sixty thousand men every year.
The effect is inscparoble from the cause.
The cost to the country of the liquor traffic
is a sum SO stupondous that any figures
which we should dare to give would convict
US of triaing Tho amount Of life ahso-
lutcly destroyed, the amount Of industry
sacrificed, the amount Of shame, the una
vaiing sorrow, the crime, the bread trans
formed into poison, the poverty, the pau
porism, the brutality, the wild waste of
vital and financial resources, make an ag-
gregate so vast-so incidentally vast--that
the only wonder is that the American pco-
pie do not rise as one man and declare that
this great curse shall exist no longer.
The truth is that there is no question be-
fore the American people to-day that begins
to match in importance the temperance
question. The question of American
slavery was never anything but o baby by
the side Of this; and We prophosy that
within ten years, if not within FIVE. the
whole country will be awake to it, and de
vided upon it, The organizations Of the
liquor interest, the vast funds at its COM
mand, the universal feeling among those
whose business is pitted against the IA
tional prosperity and the public morals
these are enough to show that, upon one
side Of this matter, at least, the present
condition of things and the social and poe
Utica questions that lie in the immediate
future are apprcbended The liquor inter.
est knows there is to be great struggle
and is preparing to meet it. People both
in this country and in Great Britain are
beginning to see the enormity Of this bust.
ness - are beginning to realize that Chris
ian civilization is actually poisoned at it,
| fountain, and that there can be no puriGca.
ton of it until the source Of the poison /.
dried up
The country is to be sincerely cougratu
| lated on the fact that the wine interest o.
the United States does not promise much
Little native wine, after all our paiustaking
finds its way to a geutloman's table. The
California wines are a disappointment anC
failure, and the Western wines are tn,
same. Neither the dry nor the sparkling
Catawba takes the place of anything i'm
ported. They are not popular wines, ant
we congratulate the country that they uev
er can be. The lager beer interest is en-
deayoring, in convention, to separate itsel
from the whisky interest, claiming to b,
holier and more respectable than that. The
are all to be Jumped together They ar,
all opposed to sobriety, and, in the end, W,
shall find them all fighting side by side 70
existence against the determined indigna
ton Of long suffering people.
A respectable magazine reports, as fac
of encouraging moment, that of the fit,
thousand clergymen of the church Of Eng
land as many as four thousand actual
abstain from the use Of spirits So, eleven
twelfths of the clcrgymen of the Englis
church consent to be dumb dogs on the TEN
perance question How large the proper
. ton Of wine drinking clergymen may be /
= this country we do not know, but we d
= know that wine glass stops the mouth o
the subject of temperance, whoever ma
e hold it, \ wine drinking clergyman is
: soldier disarmed. He is not only not wort
. straw in the fight ; he is part Of III
Il impedimeRta Of the temperance army
G We have a good many such to carry, wi
/ ought to be ashamed of themselves, and VII
= very soon will be- Temperance laws al
y being passed by the various Legislature
c which they must sustain, or 90 over, soul an
j. body, to the liquor interest aud inauenc
II Steps are being taken on behalf Of u
public health, morals, and prosperity, whic
they must approve by voice and act, or the
must consent to be loft out. There can
no concession aud no compromise on Il
part Of temperance men, and no quarter
the foe. The great curse of our COUNT
=, aud our race must be destroyed.
a Meantime the tramp, tramp, tramp SCUM,
, on,--the tramp of sixty thousand year
victims. Some are besotted and stupi
= some are wild with hilarity and dance alou
the dusty way, some reel along in pitifi
>, weakness, some wreak their mad and mu
/, derous impulses on one another, or on Il
4 helpless women and children whose dest
. MES are united to theirs, some stop in wa,
q side debauchereS and infamies for a momen
some go bound in chains from which the
seek in vain to wrench their bleeding wrist
: and all are poisoned in body and soul, an
all are doomed to death. Wherever tho
move, crime, poverty, shame, wretchedne
: and despair hover in awful shadows. Thel
is no bright side to the picture. We 70
= get there is just one. The men who mai
4 this army get rich. Their children al
= robed 10 purple and fine linen, and liz
. upon dainties. Some of them are regardC
n as respectable members of society, and the
: hold conventions to protect their interests
f. Still the tramp, tramp, tramp goes on, at
before this article can see the light, fl,
i thousand more of our poisoned army wi
! have hidden their shame and disgrace
the grave.
r. Very Remarkable Story.