Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1874-09-19

of the late Geo. w. Lyle, at that time
a citizen of this county, is taken from
the CHRONICLE of January 20, 1854.
We republish it at the request of sew
eral of our readers:
TEMPERANCE-ITS ENDS, AND THE
MEANS OF THEIR ATTAINMENT.
1t is admitted on all sids, that the
use of ardent Spirits, as beverage, is
the greatest moral evil, that affiicts the
human race it is a wide exhaustless
fountain, from which issues a stream
of moral corruption, whose branches
penetrate the land and send its deadly
veins through all the avenues of socie-
ty; it is plant Of great growth, whose
top pierces the clouds, and whose ex-
tending boughs overshadow the earth;
its fruit is the desolation of the human
heart, the overthrow of reason, the
spOilatlon Of domestic bliss, and the
ultimate ruin of the soul. The cool,
determined blow of the midnight as
sassin, the insinuating arts of the I'M
holy seducer, aud the diabolical hypoc-
ricy Of the venal calumniator, all COM
bined, are not so much to be depreca-
ted, as the stealthy steps of this licensed
foe to man, advancing upon his victim.
The old man upon his staff, the con-
Meeting link between past and present
generations, the middle-aged engrossed
with the cares of business, and the yigo-
rOus young man just passing the TIRES
hold of his majority, have, alike, seen
and felt the whitening influence of the
truculent oppressOr-palsied age, nor
pride of manhood, nor virtuous
beauty, has a charm to stay his cruel
blows; but, each in turn, is sacrificed
at his rude, unchristian shrine.
The young man of fortune, gifted
and praised by all, with moral es-
cutcheon-unblotted = falls in with
convivial friends, drinks to be social,
and drinks to excess-and this, per-
haps, proves to be a beginning of a
life of profigacy and dissipation in
which the dawning light of mighty
intellect is extinguished forever. For
tune, ever varying, speedily follows in
the wake of folly's triumph over the
mind. Friends and enemies pass by
with feeling akin to scorn, for the
object that SO recently elected their
most devoted homage Thus forsaken
and degraded, the once high minded
and talented boy abandons himself a
pray to a vicious, depraved appetite,
and, is led step by step to the very
hatch-way of poverty and disgrace:
until his inglorious life is ended in in
fanny, and his sins are hidden from the
world 10y the folds of his cerements.
The maiden at the altar, little suspects
that he, to whom her vows are plight
ed, is morally diseased-that she is
destined alas too soon to see her
bEghted hopes crushed, and the pride
of her heart, the manly form-whose
arm is her shield of protection-pur-
suing his zlgzag course through the
mazes of temptation and revelry, to
the InebrlateS grave, around which,
no fond memories cluster. She reasons,
she demonstrates; but, in vain-the
foils of the tempter are about him
his unresisting will is the sport of in
fatuation, and himself the spell bound
victim of an engrOssing passiOn-a
mormie thirst Her admonitions are
impotent as the babbling of idiocy to
restrain him-she must suffer In silence
under all the ills of life, until death
shall have told the finale ofthe sad story.
In taking a view of society, the eye
naturally rests upon some gloomy pie
ture of human woe, that traces its
origin to the intoxicating bowl there
is scarce village or hamlet In all the
land, where the DEMON of intern
perance has not reared an altar for the
immOlation of his deluded victims !;
there is hardly cottage in the west,
whose domestic altar has not been
descrated by the poluting touch of the
Shiny serpent: and, the household
goods of manyruined families, lie shiv-
cred around the hearth stone. where
once the bright blaze of the winters
evening fire attested the peace and con-
tent of those who fingered around it.
The ashes are now cold upon that
hearthstone, and the pallid, emacia-
ted face of the widowed wife, the tat
tered rags that cling about her, and
the wild shrieks of her furnishing lit
tie ones, constitute the wreck of
once peaceful and happy family.
How long shall this state of things
exist? Can it be that the world is
destined to be the theatre of man 5
moral humiliation? and, there be no
where reserveda recuperative energy
"a power TO retorm-a power to pull
down, and power to build up again {?
This, certainly, cannot bei-there
must be (there undoubtedly is! } a
power-a moral force, equal to the
task of correcting this great evil. This
power is to be found in the organlza-
zion of Sons OF TEMPERANCE; TO
them is cOnfded the fostering care and
the preservation of the virtue the in
telligence and moral freedom Of man
kind. for ages to come. They occupy
an elevated position, independent of
church and state; and supervising the
interests of both, they hold the ground
between the evil that exists and the
good that is to be accomplished; their
principles constitute an impregnable
defence against the attack of those
who would demolish the temples of
Justice, and abrogate all dintlnction
between the virtuous and the vicious
that they might be proclaimed the mag
mates of the land
The means hitherto used for the ac
complishment of the ends contemplate
ed by its intuition, have been of
mild. persuasive sort; and, no one
dare assume that much permanent good
has not already crowned the efforts Of
those self-sacrafcing philanthropists,
who are struggling in the common
cause of humanity. But, experience
demonstrates the necessity of adopt
ing more stringent measures than any,
as yet, reSorted TO for the purpose of
restraining the Incorporate use of ar
dent spirits. by the abandoned tippler,
whose habits are so firmly fixed that
no influence of society, friends nor of
those whose fortunes are IndlsOlubiy
connected with his, can change or re-
form. While the manufacture and
traffic of ardent spirits in Tennessee,
is permitted by the Legislature, drunk
enness will continue In our midst, the
orgies of bacchanalian jewellers will, as
from time immemorial. present spec
tacle revolving TO the refined sense of
mankind; and the din of mid night
rioters will break in upon the repose
of society, and then untutored minds
of generations to come, will grow ia
miiiar with the proclamation Of things
sacred, and blasphemy will fall from
the lips of rude urchins, whose con-
duct will bring the gray hairs of doting