The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1875-08-25
THEyIcrIM or INTEMPERANcE.


Ifany creatureupon the face of our globe
Is TO be pitied, II IL the drunkard; 0ne,whO
drinksto excess; one who Ii gradually
sinking under that terrible appetite for
strong drink, 50 haslly acquired, 50 difficult
70 overcome, 50 runious tobody, mindand
soul. Men become flitemierits because
they love excitement because by liquor
they think todrown sorrow They drink
moderately at first, but as illeffafpetite
increases they drink excessively, and
grow prematurely old, weak, and poor.
The waters which forms this rnnious
whirlpool come in from every direction.
they come not rushing and foamfng, but
with q gradual or gentle flow. smoothly
do they glide, that those who are riding
upon their waves are scarcely aware tnat
they are moving toward The fearful vortex.
The waters lireak intoscarcely apercep-
tiblr ripple long before they reach the
s'opng chasm into which they plunge
with awful fury.
There are thousand currents leading
in; some, il is true, are more rapid than
others; some rush III quickly, and bear
down all who ride upon their waters to
swift and certain ruin; Others glide more
slowly, but none the less surely, to tile
same sad fate. ! would ask the young
man who is just forming the habits oflife
TO look around him aud mark theex-
amples OF those fortunes he would covert,
or whose fate he would abhor.
Even as we walk The streets, we meet
with examples 0f each extreme. Here be-
hold a patriarch-his erect form, his firm
step, his elastic limbs, are so many certi-
ticates Of good conduct; his pure breath,
that he never yielded his digestive ap-
paratus 10 abuse: his exact language and
keen apprehension, that his brain. has
never drugged or stupefied I,y the l.oisons
of the distiller or tol,acconist. Faitlessly
as the candle burns down in It's socket, so
will he expire .s-.
But look at the opposite eStreme, where
anopposite history is recorded. What
wreck so shocking 10 behold as the wreck
Of the dissolnte man, tile vigor of life ex-
hausted, aud yetthe first step Ia an honest
career not taken, Over tile whole body
Iofthe inebriate the marks of public dis
grace are written. Nature brands him
with 81 isgn.a and shame, to testify her dis
gust at his existence, and ~ abmonish
others 10 beware of his example.
Now let the young man rejoicing In No
strength, look on these pictures, aud then
say after which fiodel he intends his own
erect form and manly countenance shall
he shaped. The victims Ofthis terrible
vice are far too numerous. They include
many whowcrc once young men Of great
promise. but who, an an evil hour, tempt
ed to take that first glass, which beyond
all probability. was the means ofleading
them TO certain ruin. II + not necessary
to remind YOU that we refer to those stag
gering monuments of shame that are self
erected They have sold their hirthright
for tile poisoned cup. Aud how many OF
these monuments Of ruined energy are
there sustained by tlie law oftfFe land' in
which this unholy traffic Is continually
going on! The time has surely come
when, rs a nation, IL behooves Us to look
10 the hest interests Of our country. and do
all in our power to drive this terrible
curse fiom ntIr land, to cln~e these dens OF
vice-tllese helIs on earth az they are litly
rallrtl-and save their victims from the
drunkar,i's doom. wayerly Magazine.