The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1875-02-23

turn pale, and to cause the blood in ev
cry patriots veins, to rush in hurried cd
dies, back to the citadel Of life. But i
this dictum or assertion Of mine sheulC
be questioned, l appeal to the records o
Moyamenting and of Cherry Hill, if moi
to the hangman's gallows. But l need
not particularize, the daily papers have
chronicled the sad commentary which haI
been accessible to all, and venture the
assertion, that seven eighths Of these fla
grant crimes have been committed by
persons infuriated by rum.
Although less common than heretofore,
yet we are told that custom still exist
to some extent, in some portion Of India
when the ignorant are deluded people
think it the consummation Of a religion,
act or duty at one of their great annua
festivals, to throw themselves in front o.
a collosal machine or vehicle, called the
car of Juggernaught, and permit them
selves to be crushed beneath its ponder
GUS wheels, regarding it as necessary
sacrifice, to appease their offended gods
and insuring themselves immunity against
any farther anger of their deity, oil
deties, and securing their ultimate and
final peace and happiness. How many
there are, even in this our christian land
through course of intemperance and de-
bauchery, as effcctually, although not as
suddenly perhaps, sacrifice themselves be.
meath tho crushing and ponderous wheels
of this Juggernaught of rum, without
even the pretence Of these poor and de-
luded heathon, that they are expiating
their sins, or doing pcuance or sacriice,
before their Makers.
Many vices that are the legitimate Sc
quence of depravity, seem to spend their
force among or to be confined to a ccr-
tain class, or classes Of society, but the
the one we are considering seems to take
root, and nearly assume the character OF
an epidemic throughout almost every
phase and condition of society. How
many families suppose you, there are in
this city the present winter, who are suf.
fering for the want Of ordinary comforts
of life, when if the head and priest OF
those households had passed on the other
side from the dram shops the past sum-
mer, and had in other respects been fru-
gal and provident of their earnings, as ev-
cry good citizen should be, might now be
in comfortable circumstances, and them
selves, their wives and children, decently
clothed, fed and housed How many in
"Blockley Almshouse," can to-day say in
truth, this my present condition "means
glass Of rum" as truly and as pertinent.
ly as did the Rochester culprit, utter that
significant and pathetic sentence, as lie
stood on that fatal hangman's trap, and
turned his dying eye toward that passive
rope that was so soon to be to him the
swift winged messenger of death. How
often do we hear the remark, what a
skillful merchant or artizan, such an one
is, or would be, if he would but let liquor
alone. How many merchants or trades.
men, and even men of leisure have be-
come bankrupt both recuniarily and in
reputation, and have at last been con-
signed to some correction asylum, or por-
haps to an inebriates home of reforma-
tion, through the alluring and seductive
influence of the gilded saloon What
havoc has this arch demon made in the
ranks of the learned professions and of
letters Who does not remember that
imimitable poet, Edgar A. Poe, it is said
who virtually died in the cutters of the
Monumental city ?" Who does not re.
member that gifted, and most eloquent
orator, that the valley of the Mississippi
ever boasted of-Sargeant S. Prcntiss =
who now rests in an incbriates grave on
the banks of the Father of Waters? ? And
who does not well remember the Sage OF
Marsiield," The mighticst intellect that
New England ever gave birth to? Yea,
that this western hemisphere has yet pro.
duced; that statesman, that on the floor
of the United States Senate grapped and
intellectually throttled the shrewd AID
gifted Hayne, tnat prime minister of John
G. Calhoun in the dark work of the at.
tempted secession in South Carolina iu
1882. and who pronounced the most
thrilling encomium or panegyric on the
American Union ever yet uttered within
those walls, but | do not, and would not
class the once great "expoundcr of tat
constitution" with those | have alluded
to, yet it is well known that even in the
zenith of his fame, his friends and ad.
mirers who were legion, deeply regretted
that his massive intellect should at time.
be clouded and obscured, by the enemy
of all that is lovely and of good report
| only mention his eminent name to show
that no station or position of emincnce il
life is safe from the seductive wiles o
this foe of man. And there is another
class or profession that is or should be
the most sacred of all. which is occasion
ally marred and blackened by "lal
from grace" or something else. A pro
fession supposed to be called of God t.
preach repentance to man. Although
we are glad to be able to say, that sucl
an apostacy is rare among the minister
of the gospel; yet occasionally here ant
there our "steps down and out" from thi
same unfriendly cause. But turn from
this unpleasant category.
Bat sir, in view of all this, if there b
light in what we tenn instinct or truth i
the supposed revelation contained in tha
book, on your chaplains 8 desk, then thi
colossal evil is in the future to be abated
else the lion and the lamb will never Ii
down together, neither will the millennium
dawn ever break over this now 81
cursed earth. Bbt already l can imag
inc the hilltops rejecting back the tintc
dawn Of that morning, when moral su
will arise aud at length shed its eifulgenc
broadcast, and when fat Of the eterna
will go forth saying "peace be STILL" t
this troubled earth.
A great and noble auxiliary has az
peared among US within the last twelv
months Noble woman has stenoad in,