The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-04-17

great church which you represent, and
your confident and ingenious appeal TO
divine authority as the basis Of, and
warrant Tor, your views and opinions,
give your manifesto great significance,
and rear a formidable obstacle before
the ieet OF those who labor to win the
nation to sobriety, and destroy traffic
IN which crime, immortality, disease,
misery and death find their most re-
dundant fountain. / do not question
for a moment your sincerity, or the
purity OF your motives, but / believe
you have made great mistake-a mis-
take surcharged with danger to your
own people, to the country and the
world. / beg you not to deem q distant
stranger impertinent IL he regards you
as representative of large class of the
clergy, not only of your own, but of
other denominations, and undertakes to
show wherein that mistake lies.
or the women's Temperance Move
ment in the West know nothing, but
what ! find reported in the daily East
ern press. notice that 1t has been in
strumental in closing dram-shops, in
pledging multitudes to a life Of total alb
stineuce, in largely diminishing the
sale of intoxicating liquors at the man.
ufacturing eenters, and that these re-
suits are accompanied by a decided re-
vival of religious feeling, and the exhi-
bition of great deal of Christian hero
ism. / notice, too, even here at the
East, where we only catch the echoes of
the great commotion, that strong
moral influence Is felt, and that the
public conscience has been quickened
nightly with regard to the evils Of in
Temperance. So much seems plain, and
so much, / am sure, ought TO be cause
of rejoicing TO you and to all who love
men and their Master.
Besides, would it not be we'll for us to
remember that the women who engage
in this crusade are working in the only
way Providence has left open to them.
Who are they? They are the mothers,
wives, sisters and daughters Of men
whom they have seen, year after year,
dropping into the graves of drunkards.
They have suffered worse than death,
that the rum-seller might live. They
have seeh their loved ones become sots,
idiots, madmen. They have seen their
fortunes squandered, they have found
themselves disgraced, they have been
cursed, beaten, bruised; they have seen
their peaceful and happy homes turned
into places of fear and torment. Boys
that were nursed on the bosoms of some
Of them have been transformed by drink
into fiends. Men whose kiss of love
and loyalty honored them with WIFE
hood, have degenerated into beasts.
For these, through weary, suffering
years they have prayed. Nay, they
have knelt with them, and held up their
weak and imbecile hands while they
prayed for themselves. Day after day
they have done this, as men have gone
I to their business through temptations
Z that beset their path at every corner,
and have received them at night, only
I to cover them from sight with shame,
and sink back into their old despair.
The sOrrows through which these wom-
en- have walked have been simply i'm
measurable. No words of mine can
describe them; no words of any man
can exaggerate them.
They have looked to the leaders of the
/ Church for help; have they had IL 4?
They have looked TO the politicians for
help; have they received 1t? They
have asked for laws, which were easily
made to satisfy their clamOr; have they
been executed? They have been pure
and abstinent themselves; has their ex-
ample been of any avail? They have
pleaded with all the eloquence Of love
with those who have broken their vows
" " lDIbdhc
their vice, and have received only curses
or promises not worth straw. What
In Gods dear name was there left for
them to do, but just what they are do
ing, and what you condemn? Who
have driven these women to this great
necessity? WHO have forced them into
position from which all their natural
/ instincts dissuade them? Who have
made their crusade absolutely necessary,
| in order to save the men of the present
! generation from going TO ruin? Men,
and men of influence, with shame be 1t
saidl If the leaders of the Christian
Church had done their duty, and the
leaders of State and National politics
had done theirs, there would not be q
dram-shop to-day between Canada and
the Gulf of Mexico. The whole busi-
ness has thus been left to God and the
women; and the latter are praying in
churches and in the street, and pushing
on their divine and peaceful crusade, be-
cause the men of America have failed
to do their duty. Shall a Christian
man, in high station or low, lift his
voice against them? Rather let him
hide his head in shame and self-con-
tempt.