The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1876-12-30
What shall the Harvest Be ?


The raw material on which the drunk
ardmaker expends his fatal Ingenuity
comes from the cradle, from the freside,
from the home where peace, and love, and
concord dwell. That little babe nesting
in your bosom. that child that filings his
chubby arms around your neck; those
bright-oy ed, black.eyed, blue.eyed boys
aud girls. who gather around you and
shed the sunshine of their joy in your
path; those children for whom You toll
carly and late, and whose smilo are an
ample reward for all your labor; those
babies the fruit Of the tendercst love,
brought forth as the pledges Of mutual
affection. and the stroDgest-bonds Of social
life /; these constitute the "raw material"
from which tho rumseler selects his vic
Tins. Those young men, fresh with their
manhood and strength and radiant with
the dew of their youth /; those young wo,
men, full Of grace and life and beauty,
these are materials that are consumed in
this manufacture,
The places whore this work ia carried
on are numerous and various. From the
gilded saloon, at the door OF which the
landlord stands saying; "Walk 10, gen.
tlemen, walk in, and make yourselves at
home !" down to the lowest dens Of shame
and infamy, where riot, robbery, and vii.
lainy hold high carnival; through all
varied circumstances and scenes, the pro.
cesses of this manufacture are continually
going CD. Men pass up the steps of the
fashionable drinking saloon or the first.
class hotel, gentlemanly, sober, intelli-
gent and honorable, Fair ladies smile
upon them, and all is respectability and
courtesy; but after comparativel. brief
period, as the process of manufacture ad-
vanccs, health gives place to sickness, re-
spectability to dishonor, wealth aud posi.
sion to poverty and disgrace, until at last,
rude, Incorporate, boisterous, and penui-
less, the victim is kicked from the steps
Of low groggcry, and driven away from
the haunts and fellowship even of those
who themselves arc unfit companions for
deceut men. The process still goes on.
Lower and lower sinks the wretched slave
Of appetite and passion the vilest hauuts
are his; hope dies within his heart
friends forsakc him wife and children
plume down in the darkness Of the grave,
or abandon the wretched drunkard to his
fate; and SO, dragging his weary way
along, at last ho comes where demons
haunt and hellish fanoies fll bis brain.
where serpent forms are twining in his
hair. and where he once stood noble and
upright in tho image of his Maker, lies
scnseless as log, or raves in fury Ike
madman, and hastens headlong to his
doom,
Surely the drunkard- maker might give
us an exhibit of few of the choicest Pre-.
ducts Of his toll. There is no lack of
them drunken, bruised, blear. eyed and
half crazed victims are on every hand.
Within sight Of the splendid structures
where the worlds industry is represented,
prisons and almshouses stand which could
yield their quota of thousands of drunk.
ards, and robbers. and murdercrs; of dc.
bauched diseased, and ruined men aud
women, out of whom the manhood has
died-poor wrecks scattered on ever
hand as the fruit of this iniernaltoil
Will the drunkard-maker show Us his
work ? Will he bring us the raw mater
ial, bright and beautiful, sunny faced aud
throbbing, and thrilling with life, and JOY
and gladness Will he show US the half
finished specimens of his work? VIII be
show US in the hospital, the prison. the
madhouse in the desolate homes of ruin.
cd families, and in the drunkards graves
that crown the potter's field; specimens
Of his completed work His business il
said to be legitimate it is transacted for
the public good; it claims privileges
which no other business asks or receives;
it commences earlier in the morning aud
continues later at night than any other
business seven days in week are not
thought too many for the prosecution of
this work; now who will have the kind.
ness to stand up and exhibit its rcsults2
Who will gather from hospitals, and
prisons, and the drunkard's graves and
the gates of hell, men who have gono
down beLeath this baleful power? Who
will bring those men whose genus has
been quenched in drink, whose noble
ambitions have sunk into degraded aud
Abhorrent sonsuality7 Who will show
US husbands red with blood from the mur-
der Of their wives? Who will show US
children crippled and deiormed from blows
received at parents hands? Will the
drunkard makers prepare their ezhibit2
Are they afraid to look their work in the
face? Let them remember then that
they arc sowing seed for time to come,
and that "Whatsoever man sowe,h, tha:
shall he also reap;" and let them inquire
in solemn, earnest way, what shall tho