American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1874-03-21


learn that our article entitled The
Whisky Crusadersr has given Of
Tense to several of our citizens,
male and female, and subjected us
to severe critical animadversion.
Indeed, it has been said that our
Btrictures were grossly insulting to
the female sex, and unworthy the
c.,lumns of q respectable Journal.
This is quite a serious accusation,
and if it rested upon the slightest
Foundation, We might feel annoyed
and perplexed at our presumI ton
In opposing a movement that seems
% have found favor in the eyes OF
some of our people. The charge,
however, is not supported by fact,
md, therefore, gives us no concern
whatever. What we said in the ar
ticle referred to was the result of
d conscientious conviction of its
truth, aud after a careful examine
tion of every paragraph and SEN
tence in that article, we are con-
strained to say that it does not con-
tain single line that, "dying, we
Wouid wish to blot" AS a defence
of that offensive article, We take up
the subject again, and respectfully
request those persons who have
been 80 quick to censure us, to step
aside from the bewildering mists OF
Their Cwn prejudices-brush away
the dust that obscures their mental
vision-and With honest hearts and
open eyes, view the picture from our
standpoint, and then say who is
bright.
Before entering upon an investi-
|gatiOn of this delicate question we
win advert to one of the charges
preferred against us, not because it
merits serious consideration-for it
lie simply absurd-but merely to
show how utterly incompetent some
persons are to pass correct judg
ments on the simplest propositions,
and yet who set themselves up as
|censors Of the press. 1t has been
|said that we questioned the rirtue
|of the-women engaged in this dis
|gustiDg crusade, in the sense in
which that word is generally I'M
|dsrstood. We deny it. What we
|aaid, and what we still maintain, is
this: 1--WE seriously question the
|piety and purity Of the woman who
lends herself to such q disreputable
mode Of checking popular vice.
Now, is it POSSIBLE that any man of
ordinary intelligence, and the least
pretensions to scholarship, could be
20 stupidity ignorant of the true
meaning Of Euglish terms as to
suppose that by the use of the word
purity in the above sentence We
necessarily meant female chastity
II 20, we can but pity his ignorance
and mental imbecility. Every logi-
clan and rhetorician will see at
glance that by the conjunction of
the terms "piety and purity" an
entirely different idea was intended
to DO conveyed. If, as we contend
ed, and still believe, that this whis-
Ky war is the result of religious
fanaticism, then it cannot be said
to have emanated from a principle
Of genuine christian piety, and,
consequently, the mOtire that
prompted these misguided women
TO step aside from their legitimate
sphere Of life to give to it the aid
Of their personal influence, was
necessarily impure, and. therefore,
Objectionable. This was the idea
conveyed by us, and we defy the
most astute critic to show how the
word as above used could be SO
distorted as to apply to that princi-
pie of vivtMe which is the shield
and ornament of q wOman's honor.
The only true test of this temper
ance crusade is to bring it home to
Onr own hearths and hearts. Is
there a man in Canton, or in the
State of Mississippi, who, with a
proper conception of the true dig
nifty and destiny of woman, would
be willing for his wife, daughter, or
sister, to throw aside the mantle of
modesty, and, unbidden and unwel.
coined, enter saloons where Bacchus
was holding his internal orgies, and
there. surrounded by vice, depravi
IS and debauchery, with the coarse
jest and vulgar laugh ringing in their
sensitive ears, sing psalms and Of
fer up prayers for the debased and
wretches who mingled
their blasphemOus maledictions with
the songs of Zion? If so, these
are not for him.
What Is not proper for the proud
est and most >ariStocratic woman in
the State to do, as a religious SER
vice, would not be proper for any