Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1874-10-01

did not love caste among his professional breth-
rem, for certainly the dog wns yillianous- look
Moths I'm the Candle.
Every moth learns for itself that the candle
burns. Every night, while the candle lasts, the
slaughter goes on, and leaves its wingless and
dead around it. The light is beautiful, and warm
and attractive and, unscared by the dead, tho
foolish creatures rush into the flames, and drop,
hoplessly singed, their little lives despoiled.
1t has been supposed that men have rea-
son, and moral sonso. 1t has been sup
posed that they observe, draw conclu-
ssy s hsSs bssn sn in the sApesss's ssS e. ooss
downupon the animal world as a group Of infer
ior beings, and az subjects Of cOnmiseration on
account Of their Acknowledgement, yet there is
large class OF mon, reproduced by every passing
and die exactly az the moths die. They loar1,
nothing by observation or experience. They
draw no conclusions, save those which arc fatal
to themselves. Around q certain class Of bril-
liant Compilations they gather, night after night,
and with signed wings or lifeless bodies, they
strew tile ground around them, No instruc-
ton, no expostulation, no observation Of ruin,
no sense OF duty,no remonstrance Of conscience,
have any effect upon them. II they were moths
in fact they could not bo sillier or more
the domination Of their animal natures that
they act like animals, and sacrifice themselves
in flames that the worlds experience has shown
to be fatal. .-.
A single passion, which need not be named
further than to say that, when halowed by love
and legitimate gift Of life to life, it is n pure
asany passion Of the sou, ,-ia one OF the candles
around which the human moths lie in myriads
OF fdisgusting deaths. II anything has been proved
by the observation and experience Of the world
= and all lltNit
tion Of the passion involved in in it, arc killing
sins against q mans own nature.-that by It
tho wings are snged not only, but body and soul
are arc degraded and spoiled Out of ali
vcrted moral nature, degradation Of charaeter,
gross beastliness, benumbed sensibilities, . dis
gushing life, and disgraceful death. Before
II bAl1ful are the sanotity Of womanhood fades
.S s seiss n # & aaa as 81 Hsssssa Sesatsa
upon the rock pl ssnsuality Are streyns W every
direction. Again and again, with endless repeti-
ton, young mon yield to the song Of the siren
that beguiles them to their death. They learn
nothing, they SOC nothing, they know nothing
but their wild desire, and on they go to destruc-
ton and the devil.
Every young man who roads this article has
two lives before him. He may choose either. He
may throw himself away OH . few illegitimate
delights, which cover his brow with shame in
| the presence OF his mother, and become all old
man before his time, with all the wine drained
out OF his life or ho may grow up into pure,
strong manhood, held in healthy relations to all
the Joys that pertain to that high estate He may
be beast in his heart, or he may have wife
whom he worships, children whom he delights
| in, self-respect which enables him to meet una-
| bashed the noblest woman, and All undispnted
place in good society. He may. have dirty
imagination, or one that hates and spurns all i'm
purity as both disgusting and poisonous. In
brief, he may be man, with mans power and
| immunties,or sham Of q man-a whited sepul-
chre,-conscious that he carries with him his
own dead bones, and all uncleanness. 1t is q
| life is, and where it ends He knows the ossen-
tial quality and certain destiny of the other. The
man who says he cannot control himself not only
lies, but places his Maker in blame. He can con-
troll himself, and il he does not, he is both .
fool and q beast The sense Of security and pur-
ityand elf-respect that come Of confluence, en-
tertained for single day, is worth more than tho
illicit pleasures of world for all time The puro
in heart see God in everything, and 500 Him
| everywhere, and they are supremely blest.
Wine and strong drink form another candle in
which millions Of mon have singed themselves.
and destroyed both body and soul. Here the
| signs Of danger are more apparent than IN tho
other form OF sensualty, because there is less
| secrecy. The candle burns in open space, where
all men can SEQ it. Law sits behind and sane
tions its burning. Itpays princely revenue to
the government. Women faunt their causes in
it Clergymen sweep their robes through it.
Responsibility uses it to light its banquets. In
many regions Of this country it ia highly
respectable candle. Yet, every year, sixty
thousand persons in this country die Of intem-
perance and whom we think Of the blasted
lives tGat live in want and misery, Of wives in
despair, of loves bruised and blotted out, OF
| children disgraced, Of alms-houses filled, of
crimes committed through its influence, Of in
dustry extinguished, and Of disease engendered,
and remember that this has been going on for
thousands OF years, wherever. wine has been
dali f.F
still press into the fire : Have they any more
sense than the moths 2 It is almost enough to
shake mans faith in immortality to learn that
he belongs to race that manifests 30 little sense
and such hopeless rocklessness.
There ia just ono way Of safety, and only one,
and young man who stands at the beginning Of
his career can choose whether he will walk in il,
or in the way Of danger. There il . notion abroad
among mon that vino 10 good, when prop
ery used it has help in it-that in . certain way
it is food, or q help in the digestion Of food.
We believe that no greater or more fatal hal
lucinstion over possessed the world, and thai
none 30 great ever possessed it for long time.
Wine il a medicine, and men would take nc
more Of it than Of any other medicine il it were
not pleasant in its taste, and agreeable In it,
first effects. Tho men who drink it, daink 1t be-
cause they like it. The theories ~ to its health
fulneBs como afterwards. The world cheats it
self and tries to cheat itself in this thing ant
the priests who prate Of .'using this world q,
not abusing it," and the chemists who claim
sort Of nutritious property in alcohol which nev
or adds to tissue % and the men who make
Jest Of water-drinking, all know perfectly wei
that wine and strong drink always have don,
more harm than good in the world, end Away
will until that millennium comes, whose feet ar,
constantly tripped from under it by the drunk
ards that lie prone in itA path. The millennium
with grog-shop ut every corner is Just ~ i'm
possible as security with q burglar at every win
dow, or in every room of the house. All mol
know that drink is curse, yet young men spor
, around it as IL there were something very de
sirsble in it, and sport until they are hopelessl
, singed, and then Join the great, sad army that
i with undiminished numbers, presses on to it
/ certain death
, We do not like to become an exhorter in thes
columns, but il it were necessary, We woul
plead with young men upon weary knees t
K touch not the accursed thing. Total abstinence
now and forever, 10 the only guaranty In exis
I tence against drunkards life and death, an
y there in no good that can possibly come to
y man by drinking. Keep out Of the CANDLE
y will always singe your wings, or destroy you.-
/ d.. J. q. Holland; Scrib,ers for October.