The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1873-06-21

honWeaitn Oh ermOnt.
All this looketh we'll Fire crackers are
an intolerable nuisance, and often cause
terrible connagrations, and not unfrequent-
" the loss of valuable lives But has not
our venerable friend, in this proclamation
OF hostility to their employment by boyish
men, and inconsideratc children, on only
one day in the year, and their sale by the
shopkccpcrs for filthy lucres sake-has
not, say, our venerable friend strained at
a gnat and swallowed camel? d,
Let inc have your patience while cx-
plain. What, let me ask, is the evil of
selling fire crackers. or Of their use. COM
pared to the sale and use of intoxicating
drinks? Very little. SO little, as, that
while the evils coming from the sale and
use of intoxicating drinks assume the
towering proportions of the huge noun
tain, the evils of your complaining friend,
dwindlcs down to mcrest molchill !?
Verify. And for the proof look at few
startling facts:
Firstly. The use of fire crackers takes
place but one day in the whole 3G5 days of
the year while the sale and use of alcohol
takes place every day Of the whole 1856.
The first is the lesser evil to begin with and
only the 356th part of the continuance of
the other,
!Secondig. The use of fire crackers caliseth
We grant, at times. the burning of build
ings, consequently the loss of property, and
also, by frightening horses, causeth the
breaking of vehicles. the fracture of limbs,
and the loss of life itself but the sale and
use of alcohol causcth many more of SINH
lar accidcnts-so callcd-and where fire
crackers lead to the loss of one life,
alcohol causcth the death of hundreds, if
not thousands. of our most valuable citizens.
Thidly. While the use Of fire crackers
never causes. AS their well-known results,
poverty, the use of alcohol often sends. not
only the drinker of it himself, but his help
less innocent family to the almshousc. or
boggars them for life.
Fourthlv. The use of fire crackers never
causes people to become crazy, but alcohol
causes many cases of - softening of the
brain. apoplcxy." and "dclirium ire
mems" aud hundreds of its victims 90 an
nually to the inebriatc and insane asvlums
of the land, hopeless wrecks of ruined man.
hood and usefulness Did 0l,r threatening
friend ever know a man sent to the insane
asylum because hc exploded fire crackers
Nay. verify.
FUthH. Fire crackers never become The
sale and Use of alcohol causes thrce-fourths
| of the crime committed in the llnd. and
their perpetrators langIish in prisons ol
swing from the gallows. Who ever knew
a murderouS crime committed under the in
| iluence of fire crackers : But how many
crimes are inspired by fire water Verify
Sirthiy. Fire crackers while they please
| little children and children of larger growth
and do little or no harm, il used away from
buildings and public roads, are not charg
able with the dangers attending the use OF
| uitOhpi Nliiti bNStt> t'iiibiN tl'iNpt'
wherever used, with many who use it, so thai
even the strOng-minded are not able to over
come, and which grows with their years
while with years childish pleasures pass
away. The child, in other words, as a rule
outgrows his love of sport and pop-guns
but his appetite for strong drink, once
formed, is with the greatest difficulty re
sisted, much less eradcated. And is no.
this fact of dreadful warning Verify
| SesenMy. While the Good Book, ii
terms at least, has no special condemnation
for the vendor and user of fire crackers, il
does say Woe unto him that giveth his
neighbor drink-that putteth the bottle t.
him and maketh him drunken, also" Whilt
| il declares-how fearful the declaration
mo drunkard shall inherit the kingdom OF
| God" Fire crackers don't shut the gates
of Paradise against the soul-rum does, fol
it defilcs the soul, so it cannot enter il
where Infinite Purity hath its holy dwelling
place.
| Now, inasmuch as intoxicating drinks &c
infinitely more mischief than fire crackers
and the said drinks are sold in violation OF
law, every day in the year by Il great many
dealers, making ii often their main bnsi
ness in your own town of Rutland, under
your very eyes, and the palpable evils OF
which you well know do you not, my
aged friend, in seeking to restrain the lesser
and saying nothing against the greater evil
- strain at gnat and swallow Il camel !: -
And if the law against the sale of fire
crackers should be enforced, should the en-
forcement of its provisions against the sale
of intoxicating drinks be omitted If you
do the one, should you leave the other I'M
done : Is it good policy, or right principle,
to save at the spigot and let out at the
bung
Hoping that our venerable friend may
think of these things, and that you, the
responsible conductors of the GLOBE, may
so give attention TO these evils, that your
influence and words will BIC on the side of
right and sobriety and against wrong-docrs,
even if they wear superfinc broadcloth and
fare sumptuously every day.
remain,
Your diligcnt reader,
TIMOTHY BRoADBRIM.
Dated at the Friends Retreat, in the
year of Grace, 1873, the sixth month and
seventeenth day thereof.