The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1877-05-24
BRISTOL, May 18th 1877,

BRISTOL, May 18th 1877.
EDITOR OF THE KENoSIA TELE-
GRAPH: Sir will you please to insert
in your columns a few remarks made by
me on the subject of
TEMPERANCE.
/ do not expect that can add but
little to the much that has already been
said on this great and important theme;
but perhaps that little may have it's
influence onthe mind of some individu-
al who may chance to read it, for good.
Perhaps some one who is about to
plunge into the vortex Of ruin, by sip
ping from the sparkling glass, may be
persuaded from taking the fearful and
dangerous step, by something [ may
say, some argument may produce. AS
for temperance it may range in respect
of time, from daily moderation of
wine, to a single annual glass dropped
into the diet; and as to quantity also,
instinct, and experience are it's compass.
But whatever the natural regime, the
practice of temperance is a DjUi7ae
blessing second only to the use of9eason.
Temperance is the milestone of our
faculties Of observation, and the AK of
reform, which is to heW away at one
vice or another; and is nowhere SO we'll
sharpened, as on it's square and eager
sides. 1t is the home Of the powers
and virtues, which shelters them in
their nenage; and which they enlarge
and furnish in their maturity, until it
includes the images, pictures, and
tastes of them all. To speak without
figure; temperance--inclu eating, as
well as drinking-is the foundation of
our refinement, as involving constant
acts of physical Judgment, or bodily
wisdom; while intemperance is the
demon opposite, dulling as it were every
sense, burning out prematurely every
passion, and turning the mild light of
intelligence, as it flickers towards ex-
tinction into horrid reproach against
a sWine-hood which is reeling down to
disciplines of which total abstinence is
but shadow 1t fosters and aggra-
Yates nearly every disease that flesh is
heir to, and sharpens the power and
sting of every sin; nay more, is is con-
stG7atly calling out fresh legions of
INTERVALS; the ghostly troops of malady
and Wickedness deplOy before it, and
muster, as on the battlefield of death
where excess Of wine is a prevalent
vice among the people. In the year Of
1867 it was estimated that there were
about IA 900 drm-shops on this Amer
lean Continent. Now we will suppose
that each dram-shop has only four
daily customers; there would be 564,-
|0C0 drunkardS ON the continent. What
q fearful number! Then suppose again
that one half of these have families
dependent on them for their daily food.
There would be $4,000 families with
none of the luXuries, and scarcely any
of the necessar1es, of life; besides being
subjected to all the brutalit1es of an
inebriated husband and father. What
horid picture is this; and yet it is as
it were-but drop in the bucket"
when compared with the actual num-
Der that are now suffering from the
evils of intemperance. People who
reside in the country have but a faint
idea Of the disgracefulness of bar-room
life in the city. Go ifyou please to the |
city of New York, that great metrop-
oils of the State, and you will find men
who make Of course some pretensions
to responsibility, who pass at least half
of their waking hours in bar-rooms,
who prefer to live in an atmosphere
Initiated with the fumes of alcohol, beer
and cigars-to stand on floors difiled !
with tobacco juice-to listen to and
participate i'll ribaldry. and profanity,
and, through their mouths, ears, eyes,
and nostrils, to drink, hear, see and
inhale pollution. Representative of
every class of society are included in
this degraded category. Young men yet
in their novitiate of Generalization
old and seasoned vessels SO completely
liquor-logged that they can sink no
fn1 4hn,. oIr e