Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1878-07-31
Temperance Anecdotes.

At the Church of England's Temperance
Society meeting, May Sth, in Exeter Hall
London, Rev. Canon Wiberforce said
Let me tell you the reason why became a
bigot, Quixotic, an enthusiast. Simply
because have seen in my own experience
misery, crime, desolation, cruelty, and
tyranny such as | believe hardly any Other
nation at the present moment, certainly in
| Chrlstendom, can show as arising from in
toxicating drinks. Wife torture hope |
am patriotic, but | do not believe that anv
wives are tortured like the wives of English.
men are tortured this moment by drink.
An my lord, have many time had nv
heart melted in me with sorrow. | could tell
you here anecdote after anecdote where
have seen poor brave, long-suffering, stead
fast women ground down to the simple earth
by this drink on the part of their husbands.
1t has been my lot to put under the ground
in her last home one of the bravest, noblest
wives and mothers that | ever saw. Last
summer she came to me at an open air tenn
perance meeting in my grounds and she laid
her poor worn hand upon my arm and said,
Sir, for Gods sake try and turn nv hus-
bands heart ! and we did try all we knew.
but he had allowed the devil to get the upper
hand of him. His will was abnegated. He
had ceased to pray and so he went from bad
to worse; and one day he came home and
set the seal on years of cruelty and brutality
he raised his foot and kicked his poor wife
savagely, and in few hours she passed
away from earth to where the wicked cease
from troubling and the weary are at rest
And, my lord as we laid her in the grave,
and by her side the waxen form of her pre-
maturey born infant, we said, There lies
one more victim of England's curse there
lies one more victim of England's miserable
imperative legislation. There lies one more
victim of the apathy and the sleepiness, and
the carelessness of England's churches and
!, for one, and know others did so too, there
and then renewed our vow before Almighty
God that as long as he gives us tongues to
speak we will never cease to do so in this
battle against intemperance."
THE EVILS OF THE TRAFFIC.
The evils connected with liquor traffic be.
come more patent every day. While med
cal men are more and more clearly denying
the value of alcohol as support or even a
wholesome stimulant, self-indulgence in this
respect appears to be on the increase in all
classes. 1t is not only the staggering drunk
ard of st. Giles, but the muddled patrician
of ST. James, who is a reproach to our civ
| ilization. No lover of his country can take
| pride TO think how so many of the working
classes spend large part of their wages
upon adulterated and doubly poisonous
drink how business men, in the press and
stress of modern affairs, fall into the habit
OF seeking support from small doses of slim
ulant, which in the end are fatal TO health
and usefulness; how even, as is too credibly
asserted, young girls learn, in the giddy
whirl of society, to put deadly flush ON the
cheek, a false sparkle in the eye. Few of us
do not know some family in which what
was once careless and genial habit has be
come curse, too probably de. med to visit
the sins of the father upon his ,hildren':
children. No day passes but our newspapers
tell some new tale of crime and misery fol
which drink is to blame. The serious anC
perplexing problems connected with th,
regulation of this traffic cannot but presi
upon the attention of all thoughtful minds.
WHY Is ALL THIS
Because God inhicts it on man? No
But because man inflicts it on himself anC
the God who loves us, wishing us to see how
drunkenness blasts and scratches and de
bases and imbrutes, to save men from al
this horrible stain and agony and shame
eating drinks, exactly as, TO save us iron
handling fire, he causes fire to burn. Doe
God interfere No. But he says {" o m,
son, whom | have made, this is the sign
board of thy tippling-house, this is the goa
to which intemperance leads. AS thol
lowest me, as thou lowest thine own soul, Gu
off thy right hand, pluck out thy right eye
1t is better for thee TO enter into life blin,
E or manned, rather than cast thyself into tn
Gehenna of eonian fire, this depth of di,
grace and of corruption, where the worm o
, the drunkard dieth not, and his fire is no
quenched."
A STARTLING THOUGHT.
We spend in this country 500 900 fo
intoxicating drinks every year, All tn
J boards of missions spend for the salvation c
the world something under S6,000,000. Ther
is the solemn secret. More than ten dollar
{ given TO send men to hell, for every one t
: send them the gospel of life Yet this is
d Christian country. We boast our civil
= zation, our culture, our institutions "
think we are doing very well, and desery
the admiration of the world yet our bureau
, of statistics disclose awful facts TO our di
! grace. We have no excuse for these thing
-, They are wrong. The gospel can remed
j. | lltin II VIC VIII w oui uutls ~ udl lS COL
I ing when God will arise and terribly shab
! the earth. Give US as much money for mi
e sions as is used in the oancerous traffic
n liquor, and we will solve the problem of ii
!. reign of evil forever
l. SIGNED FOR ETERNITY.
- Some of our temperance societies hay
pledges running for series of years. one {
,- more Ms the sipner NAV prefer. Some yOuI
men were signing for one year, Others fl
two and three years, when another signir
his name exclaimed, " That is signed I,
IT, eternity If it il right to be temperate, an
ID pledge ones self to be 50, for one or Il
g years, il is right to be so for life and 10
+" ever" Good habits cannot last too long,