The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-04-20

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very large audience.
Alter the usual religious exercises, job
Mcclure, ESQ, introduced Judge Jane
Ferguson, Of Cabell county, to the meet
Ing, who spoke as !ollows.
JUDGE FERGUsoN's Address.
Ladies and Gentlemen! am under III
necessity Of making an apology. / am no
10 q condition 10 do justice TO the subjec
which am about to discuss. The speake
then referred 10 the condition Of hi
throat, which rendered 1t difficult for hin
10 speak long; he would, however, speal
as long as he could make himself hearC
with distinctness He continued l shall
speak with great difficulty, and there
fore ] shall have 10 BIO lelib.
crate. propose to give you plain,
smooth, unvarnished talk on the subject
which now involves tho public mind
How well l will talk 10 you, l do moi
know. II may be proper 10 say that this
iSa now field 10 me. am temperance
man In theory and In practice, but l have
not always been SO. Some years ago
held q temperance meeting ali by myself
and unanimously resolved that from thai
time onward l would bG temperance
man. The subject OF temperance Is ono
well worth the attention Of everybody,
and am sorry that l have not done more
TO help 1t along. was in Gallipolis, Ohio,
some time ago, now l think OF It, and |
was drafted into making specch-and
that was my first effort In this movement,
During the campaign here the subject has
probably been pretty well discussed, but
any one having the temperance cause at
heart can always find something 10 saw,
1t Is grand subject, and only
wish that were more competent 10 talk
upon 1t. l know practically something
otthe curse oil intemperanCe. Inever had
misfortune in my lie that did not date
back 10 intemperanceas the cause l re.
peat, then, it Is great subject. Next to
the gospel Of the Lord Jesus Christ il ia
the grandest theme on earth. l do not
intend to occupy my time in talking 10
you oil the evils OF intemperance. Not
because that subject has been completely
exhausted. The evils Of iutemperance
cover such field that q man might talk
from now until next week without telling
all the facts. 1t blights the fairest pros.
poets; 1t destroys the brightest ntellects;it
breaks up pleasant homes; 60 where you
will, turn where you will, and in some
way or other whatever you look up-
on Is marred by the blight of iniemper-
ance. 1t intCrieres with the commercial
pursuits oil the country. A young man
who has nothing but his daily labor TO
depend upon does not stop to think Of the
consequences OF taking glass Of liquor.
II he takes one, he will soon take more.
1t takes time to drink. II man loses
but one hour day, and he is a common
la6orer, that hour, at the end of ten years,
will cost him between $500 and $500. Ill
this man Is engaged in productive labor,
there Is also corresponding loss to the
country. II he were to save his fifteen
cents every day, at the end of ten years
he would have 5000 in the bank. Now l |
believe that VIC make for ourselves nine
hundred and nincty.Dine out OF every
thousand of the mistOrtunes we suffer,
and niae.tenths Of them arise solely from
the habit OF drinking intoxicating LIQUORS,
Why, wher q man looks at 1t carefully, he
can hardly realize the extent to which his
appetite will take him. II man drank
bat gill of whisky every day, he would |
drink over eleven gallons in a year. I'll
you figure up the value-no, will not saw |
value, because it would DO impossible 10 |
realize the real value OF health and happi.
ness-it you figure up the cash cost of
drinking that gill every day, you will find
that 1t will cost more than $50 per
year. But then, how many stop
at gill day? 1t may seem
incredible, but there are many peo-
pie who drink hall gallon per day;
persons whose stomachs are copper
lined, and they can drink any quantity Of
anything. Laughter We will sup
pose, however, that man drinks but
two gills per day; in a year he would drink |
twenty-five gallons, and il he drank a |
pint day he would drink barrel in
year, which would cost him about $3.50 |
But l think it very doubtful If man
can drink pint day and live ten years.
When man gets that far he does not
last very long.
Then, besides the cash cost, the habit
Is Just as certain to destroy his happiness
through life; and If he gets married it will
also destroy the happiness Of his family. |
II also effects the health oil everybody
who engages in tit is a poison. Il |
renders the person who INDUCES in it |
more susceptible TO heat and cold, or to |
sickness; it renders him less able TO re-
siSt the attack Of any disease.
This great blight effects not only the
human body and tho industrial and com.
mercial affairs OF the country, but also
the body polite. The man who in
dulges in the vice Of drinking is
not fit man to perform the part assigned |
him In the government Of the nation. |
Why, I take 1t that the man who gets |
drunk Is not capable Of exercising the |
elective franchise. It 10 sad 10 think OF
the fearful and alarming extent to which |
drunkenness exists in high places-uot |
only In the Church but In the State. Il |
is melancholy fact that the noblest |
and grandest intellects Of the land are |
more In the habit oil indulgipg In intoxi-
eating liquors than are their interiors. |
You may think 1t strange expression |
to make In temperance lecture, but ! |
want to say that there are some people in |
this world who are too stiDgy to get
drunk. Laughter. These persons, If |
they could get drunk at anybody else's |
expense, would In all probability do so. |
These people don't deserve any credit for
being emperate-they are too mean 10
be otherwise They would turn aside
from tina prayers Of widows and orphans
who suffered for want Of bread. But
there arc lGrge.hearted, noble men-men
who are ready to relieve suffering at all
times-men whose only fault is that they
have not the nerve to resist the influence
OF liquor. I say they have not
the nerve, because l know how
1t Is myself. l can talk understandingly
upon this subject. claim that anybody
can quit if they will. A man who Is con