St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1874-05-08
ST. Sohmshlrn Galedonian.
st. Johnsnury. Vt. Friday. May s. 1874.
The Great Temperance Movement.
BY DIR. J. q. HOLLAND

have the women of America waited to
see that traffic destroyed which annual
ly sends sixty thousand of their sons.
brothers. fathers aud husbands into the
drunkard'S grave. They have been i'm
poveriShcd, di>griced. tortured in mind
and body. beaten. murdered. lndeI
the impulse of maddening liquors. the
hands that were pledged before heaven
to provide for, and protect them. have
Withdrawn from them the means of life.
or smitten them in the dust. Sons
whom they have nrrSed upon their ho-
SONS with tcnderest love and countless
PRAYERS. have grown into beasts. of
whom they We're afraid. or have sunk
into helpless and pitiful slavery. They
have been compelled to cover their
eyes with shame in the presence of
father whom ii would have been bliss
foI them to hold in honor. They have
been compelled to bear children to men
whose habits had untitled them for pa
rentIgc-chldrcn not only tainted by
disease. but endowed with dtbaScd ap-
pctitcS. They have seen themselves
aud their precious families thrust into
social degradation. and cut off forever
from all social life by the vice of the
men they loved. What the women of
this country have suffered from drunk
cincSS. no mind. however sympathetic.
can measure. and no pen, however
graphic. can describe. 1t has been the
unfathomable black gulf into which ill.,
tatuated multitules of men have thrown
their fortunes. their health and their
industry, and out of which have come
unly-in fire and Standardization dis
ease. crime. misery. despair and death.
Ii is the ahomInation of denominations,
the curse of cuI>eS. the hell of hellS
For weary, dc>rairing Years they
waited to see the reform that should
protect them from further harm. They
have listened to lectures, they have en-
couragcd temperance societies. they
have asked for and secured legislation.
and all To no practical good end. The
politicians have played them false the
officers of the law are uni;lithfIl
government revenue thrlVc> on the
thriftimeSS of their curse; multitudcS of
the clergy are not only apathetic in their
pulpils. but Self-imdu!gcut III their So
cial habits newspapers do not help.
but rather hinder them-the liquor in
tercst. armed with the money that
should have bought them prosperity.
organizes against them fashion oppn-
SEES them million fierce appctitcS are
arraycd against them and losing all
faith i'll men. what can they do ! There
is but one thing for them to do. There
is but one direction i'll which they can
look, and that is upward, The wo-
mans temperance movement. begun
and carried nu hy prayer. is a. natural
in its birth and growth H. the oak that
springs from the acorn. Ii God aud the
god-like element in the women cannot
help. there i no help. If the pulpit.
the press, the Politicians. the rcformrrs.
the law, canuot hlin" reform. who is
left to do it hut God and the women
We bow To this movement with rcNrl-
ence. We Ito not stop To question
methods we dn not PAUSE To query
about permanent results. We simply
say tn the glorious women engaged in
this marvellous crusade: MAY tiOd
hel p and prosper Nou and givc.yOu the
desire of your hearts in the fruit of your
laborS -
1t becomes men 10 he either humbly
helpful or dumb We who have ,lalli,d
with this question: we who have dis
passionately drawn the line between
tcmpcrancraud total abstinence: we who
have dcplorcd drunkenness with wine
glasses in our hands we who have con
scented to involve great moral reform
in politics, we who have beer political
~ afraid of the power of the brutal clc-
ment associated with the liquor traffic.;
we who have split hairs in our discus
sions of public policy: we Who have
given social sanction to habits that iii
great elite, have made drunkard> of
their s0nS and ours into Il li>>olutc life
we who have shown either our unwill-
inguess or or impotence to save the
country from the gulf that yawns before
it. can only step aside with shame
faced humility while the great crusade
goes on, or heartily give t" it our APP
prevail and our aid.
This is not Il crusade of professional
agitat"r-, ciamurin% for an abstract
right. but an enterprise of suffering
pure and devoted women. lahuring for
the overthrow al Il concrete wrong. 1t
is no pleasant holid;,., business in which
these women are engaged. but one of
seIt-dcnymg hardship, pregnant in eve
~ part with Il SENSE of duty. 1t is the
offspring of grand religious impulse
which gives to our time its one superb
touch of her"i>m and rcdccm> it from
its political dcbaScmcnt and the dcgra-
datInn of its mItcrialism. 1t is Il shame
To manhood that i necessary it is Il
glory to womIuhuOd that il Is impoS>-
BILE
II the experience of the last century
has demonstrated anything, it is that to-
talabstincnce is the only ground on which
any well-wiShcr of society can stand.
The liquor traffic has been bolStrrcd up
for years and Is strong to-day simply
through influence which is deemed re-
spectacle. 1t must lie made infamous
10y the combination of all the rcSpccta-
BILE elements against it. 1t must cease
to he respectable to drink at all. 1t
must cease to he respectable to rent
building in which liquors are sold
There is no practicable middle ground
So long as men drink tcmpclately. men
will drink intemperatcly, whether it
ought to he 50 or not and it is with
reference to the development of Il
healthy public opinion on this subject.
that we particularly rejoice in the wo-
mans crusade. Our own vision is 80
blinded and perverted that we can only
see the dctormty of the monster which
OppreSSes us through woman'S eyes. up
lifted in prayer. fearful in shame and
suffering. OF bright in triumph us the
strongholdS of her lifelong enemy fail
before her Scribners for May
The Bird of Two Songs.
| was standing in the garden with II
stranger one cloudy, chilly. unsummer-
like afternoon in June. Near lis was Il