The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1874-06-11

", startled face, Il should almost lIaV
been tempted to fancy that all tn
events of that marvellous Novembe
midnight were the fragment of
!. / dream.
This was my adYenture-the frs
and last that ever crossed the path
q way of nay life,
LEGISLATING ON APPETITEs.
If the enactment of statuary lawi
intended to regulate or suppress tn
appetite,fever accomplished any per
manent good in that direction. W
have never discovered it. On the othe
hand, wherever it has been attempte'
there has been a regular failure
fSumptuary laws may answer the par
poses of asvluns where the inmates
| have lost their reason and become i'm
beetle, or for criminals who are to b
restrained in their appetites as par
of their punishment. But the yer,
moment you attempt to restrain tn,
personal liberties of men, where suel
liberties have ever been recognized
both by divine and civil law, you onl,
tempt men to watch every opportuni
ty to tFansgPess such restrictions. 1
q AAtACo fAft -AAOA4A 44OA 7SAAA
dren her sweet cakes and condiments
and doles it out in little titblts, tt
them now and then, you may rely OIL
it, that as soon as the mothers back il
turned or she is fonud absent, thC
children are mousing around to know
where the good things are kept; and
when once found how they guIp them
down; or, being in half.starved con-
dition, when eating at q neighbor's
table, how rapidly the vacuum which
nature abh0rs is filled up and the
starving stomach distended. We have
known the children of fparentsin good
| circumstances to actually purloin from
their neighbours tables and from their
cupbeards-so meanly have they been
fed. Parents in this way actually
tempt their children to steal.
We can conceive of nothing more
absurd than to dictate to men by law
what they shall eat, drink, or wear.
A reaction is sure to follow, and in
stead of such law having the effect
to produce a temperate living, it
tempts men to obtain what they want
by any means within their reach, and
drives them to the extreme of over in
dulgence, both in eating and drinking.
1t is this attempting to deprive think
ing and responsible men of their per-
sonal liberties that produces gluttons
and drunkards, and even goes SO far
as to excite civil revolutions 1t is
easy to pass sumptuary laws for reg
ulating the passions of the low class
of society, when at the. same time the
lawmakers and the lawzpFomoters,
will allow of no curtailment of their
own sensuous pleasures; SO that if
they do not run on as low plane of
as the vulgar, their
indulgence is of a sort that is more
certain to create disease and lay the
of premature death than
in coarser mode of living. This
thing of undertaking to make laws
for the suppression of vulgar vices, in
behalf of dow set of men, especially
where the lawmakers are not them
selves tempted, while at the same time
this supposed low set of men know
that their promoters of public morals
are indulging in refined and fashiona-
BILE vices, can never work. The fact
is sumptuaTy laws can not be made to
reach either party.
What then must we depend on in
order to subdue vice and elevate the
mind? 1t must be general system
of education that must reach and eff
feet the whole nature of man, in his
nature OF animal life, intel
Iectual and spiritual life. To under
stand the condition of these; how one
affects the other as acted upon, how
each one of these natures is influenced |
by the education of the others, how
by proper development they beauti-
fully and harmoniously balance each
other, and how they must be trained !
IN harmony with physical law, mental |
and spiritual illumination, |
IS to understand the question of all |
questions. 1t is the question of this !
age, as it has been the question of all |
lges. 1t is question with which all |
Christian philanthropists have been |
working. 1t goes deeper down than |
laman legislation, it transcends polit- |
cal economy, it goes far back. of all |
arbitrary enforcement. It begins in |
he family nursery and is chiefly in the |
hands of mothers. As is the family |
so is the State government. |
Family culture will indicate the char |
lcter of the government. If virtue |
md truth, and integrity, are found in
he home training, these will manifest |
themselves in all departments of State.
Parents must understand the laws of
heir own being, If they understand |
he general DAVIS of physiology; if i
hey know something of the art of
!; if they make hygine part
IF their daily study /; if they study the !
IaDitary conditions of life; if they |
the art of diatetics if |
-skI Iol hoI
highest standard of morality, both by |
1recept and example, and will not
)ervert the laws of nature themselves, /
f they will train their offspring in
he very highest virtues of filial obde-
Hence, patriotism, philanthropy, self
lenial, reverence for God and all SUI
perior powers; if all men will begin
o educate here, Won may then trace
t to the school room, to college halls,
o halls of legislation, and find its
intellectual, and moral inn
,rint upon the whole fabric of the
Iation. Buthere, we must pause, hav-
ng simply introduced this great sub
Argus.
e--s---------
GIANTS OF AUSTRALIAN FoRESTS.-
nhe Secretary of the land department
# Queensland, Australia, has receiv-
d a communication from Mr.. Walker
ill, the Government botonist, dated
DEC. 90, 1873, which shows that the
Vorld-famed mammoth trees of Cali
oFnia are eclipsed by those of that
ther golden land:
Since the Goth of November we
ave examined the banks of the Null
rave, Russell, Mossman, Daintree,
nd Hull rivers, and have been more
+ less successful in finding suitable
4 crx,, .r,aro,, a,,,l afho.