Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1874-04-02
CORRESPONDENCE.
For the Gallipolis Journal.
To the Fathers, Husbands and
Il Sons of Italia Catsufv.

Sons of Gallia Comfy:
BRKrHRES: This is q momentous
period in the history Of our beloved
country, and we ask your serious and
thoughtful attention to some facts
which may tend to show the duties
which devolve upon us at the present
time. Our greatest nationsl sin, in
temperance. is now arraigned before
the bar of public opinion, and the
times are full of signs that Jehovah
has heard the cries of His children and
has seen their affection az surely as He
did when they suffered at the hands OF
the Egyptian task masters, and he has
chosen the women of onr land, and
sent them forth as His servants to plead
with the people and to lead them forth
out of this worse than Egyptian bond
age, in which King Alcohol has en-
thralled them. Does it not behoove US
to inquire what have We to do in this
great reform2 We do not suppose
that our Heavenly Father ~vouchsafes
His blessings to those who douot show
themselves worthy, and although our
sisters have been called to the front in
this conflict, yet aoe must not stand idly
by expecting TO enter into the inheri
lance Of temperance without we too la
Dor for 4. We may remember that
most of those who came ont of Egypt
| fell in the wilderness because they were
not worthy to enter into the Promised
Land
What, then. is our manifest duty at
this juncture? Ought We not TO or
ganize Temperance Societies in every
city. village and neighborhood, in or
der that we may inform the public
mind. and move the popular heart in
regard TO the great evils of intemper-
ance? II may be thought that all
know these evils now. But is it so?
While every sane man does know that
the sale of intoxicating drinks is detri-
mental to the social, moral and relig
ions interests of the people; that it
brings poverty and misery, and is the
cause of most of the crimes commit
ted: that it produces a fearful waste of
life. health, enterprise and property,
with no compromising good; that it de-
stroys manly ambition, enfeebles the
people, degenerates the children, fills
The land with widows and orphans. and
our alms-houses and prisons with the
miserable wrecks of runined lives;
while every sane man who Uses the
senses that the Author of his being
endowed him with. knows these things,
vet We do not feel tbem-the popular
mind and heart do not feel them as
they ought We do not feel and real
ize that in this favored State, Ohio.
thousands OF our fellow beings are
hurried to premature graves every
year by intoxicating drinks. We do
not realize that thousands of orphans
are yearly cast upon the cold charities
of the world by the anne cause. We
do not realize that thousands and tens
of thousands of men, women and chill
dren, are kept under a cloud of untold
misery and w~retchedness by intern
temperance. Yet all this which meets
the eye and pains the ear are but the
overfow of misery, these are the phys
ical effects Of the Infamous traffic in in
toxicating drinks. This is its haudi-
work written out in unmistakable char
acters of woe and desolation on the
whole face of society But back of
all the visible ravages of intemperance,
and deeper than all these, there lies a
field of devastation and woe which has
never been fully explored and which
neither pen nor tongue ear faithfully
picture. II is in the wasted realm Of
the social affections and the violated
sanctuary of domestic peace. Could
we look in on those innumerable hearts
that have long silently bled over the
ruin of all their dearest hopes, what a
sea of anguish might we there behold.
Myriads of such still sigh among the
living, and many. oh. how many, have
found a resting place for their crushed
and weary hearts in the silent grave
Could a map of our State be drawn so
as to present a full picture of its social
condition, and could it reveal to our
gaze all those drink ruined families,
strown in desolate huts over all its sur
face; could il be made transparent so
as TO reveal the burdens Of grief that
are hidden in these homes; the burst
ing hearts of parents for their ruined
sons; of wives from whose life all Joy
and hope, all tenderness and comfort,
have been blotted ont; of children
slain, crushed and doomed to penury
and disgrace-could we tbus look in
on all these woe-stricken families, each
with its own peculiar history of sor
row, we should ask no further witness
TO the beinous gilt of the traffic or the
righteousness of the law against the
destroyer Of all these. This is no
fancy picture, for our own town pre-
sents scores of these desolated homes
But the moral influence of the traf
6c is still more deplorable. 1t is the
parent Of all that is unseemly
and fagilious. 1t is a central vice. a
radialing point for all crime. 1t ere
ates an appetite for all iniquity. 1t is
the favorite and most successful device
of the enemy Of all good. 10 steal
away the judgment, stupefy the con
science, and remove all moral suscepti
bilities and restraints. and at the same
it goads up every passion to a
pitch of m%addening excitement. In
toxicating drinks impart to one a ca !
pacity for brutal abuse of his family.
10 another theft, or lustful violence, or
murder. With intoxicating drinks the -.
.ncendiary lights his torch, and the as
sassin sharpens his appetite for blood.
Such is the traffic, feebly deiineated. :
Brethren, what can we do to stem {
his torrent of iniquity and turn back :
his fatal tide? We can organize for ,
United effort. We can see to il that .