The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1878-09-19
A REPLY TO MURPHY.
NIIDpLEToN. TENN..


the BULLETIN to speak for itself.
"With malice toward none and charity
for all, - I am respectfully your friend and
brother Murphy, AT. FooTE.
Mr.. PRESIDENT LADIES AND GENTLE
MEN 1t is useless for me to come before
you offering any excuse or apology whatev-
er Most of you, if not all, are aware that
am temperance man; have enlisted in
the temperance cause, and ought to be
willing to say something in support of the
same. I have few thoughts written down
that will present to you for consideration
and reflection regarding this great evil, in
temperance.
1t does seem to the reasonable mind that
enough has been said and done in the past,
to have entirely done away with the sale OF
ardent spirits throughout our land, but much
remains to be said and a great deal to be
done, in order TO suppress the sale Of intoxi-
eating liquors, and wipe out that great
curse, intemperance from among us as a
nation, The question now arises, what then
shall be done to cure this evil? If reason
will not avail, if kind entreaty and friendly
ren1onstrance will have no effect, if sighs,
and tears, and prayers, and groans move not
the finty heart of the rum-seller, what then
remains fop Us to do? Plainly one of two
things we must either submit to be robbed
of our substance by enormous taxes imposed
from year to year for the support of pau
pers or criminals, made such by the vile
traffic, and see muItitudes of our friends and
neighbors annually lie down in drunkard's
grave or else we must lift the strong arm of
the law, and lay its iron clutches fast hold
on every man who Is so lost to every re-
straint of virtue, honor or religion as to con-
tinue the vile traffic. I am aware that some
good temperance men have hesitated about
resorting to legal means in order to suppress
it, but the more the subject has been dis
cussed and examined in all its bearings, the
more convinced do they become of its abso-
lutte necessity. The truth is, there is no
other alternative.
There is no mere reason why moral sua-
sion alone should be relied on to suppress
this vice than any other. It is beyond dis
pute, the master vice of the age. Slavery
| imposed upon us rs n nation, not half the
woes intemperance docs; and how does
theft and robbery compare with that of
vending Intoxicating drinks? The thief in
the dead hour of night enters my dwelling
and appropriates my property to his use to
/ the amount of $500; / obtain a warrant
/ for him, he is convicted and sent to the Pen
itentiary for-perhaps two years well
what great harm has been done? lie has
killed no one, he has destroyed no ones
health, ruined no ones constitution, black
ened nor destroyed no ones character, ruin
ed the peace of no ones domestic circle,
broken the heart of no cCnfding wife, nor
beggared and ruined her defenceless chill
dren. Twenty-Five dollars have changed
hands; the loss can soon be made up, soon
forgotten and all is peace and happiness as
usual But not so as to the results of this
rum-traffic 1t is the perpetual source OF
woes beyond computation. The immense
amount of property squandered and often
destroyed by intemperance alone, bears nc
comparison to its domestic and social evils
! L
passage from the pen Of a great temperance
divine:
Back of all these visible ravages of in
temperance, and deeper than all these, there
lies a field of devastation which has never
been fully exposed. 1t is the wasted realm
OF the social affections, the violated sanctua
ry of domestic peace. From the unde
world ofsuppressed wretchedness there come
up to the ear of human pity many pierc
ing cry from those who writhe under tn
slow torments of desOlate heart and a dy
+ ing hope. Yet all this that meets the ey
t and pains the ear is but the overflow O
2 misery. This is what inadvertently escape
| through chasms violently rent open, and
tells sadly Of the sea of anguish that
stihed forever III It's secret recesses"
REV. MR.. KIrCHEI.
l Really fellow citizens, who can say tina
the crime of theft and robbery bear an
: comparison in enormity of guilt to that {
;. alcoholic drinks? 1 know that the run
: seller will plead certain things as abat'
IS ments or palliations of his crime, and
e know too, that not one of them can stand
5. moment before enlightened reason; who
E, brought in contact with righteousness an
d truth, they pass away like the mornir
e cloud, and like the early dew. That leg
rs suasion is orr only hope, Is evident from Il
/, fact that ultimate success can be secured
no other way. It is one thing to convin
a man he is pursuing 4 wrong course, al
quite another thing to persuade him
or abandon It.
- Do you not suppose the robbcr, the mu
ad derer, know they are doing wrong? and W
IL moral suasion cure such evils? Alas, NOR
IS and legal combined will not do it. Meth
~ do I expect they will entirely remove (
nc evils of intemperapce so long as sin aboun
ro- Many, doubtless viii continue to use into.
-, ,oI eating drinks, and Of course men viii
we found who will sell them. And ! also
lie, pect the time will come and that not VI
ice far in the future, when men viii just as &c
think Of putting up sign that robbery a
les murder were committed within, as to
di- up a sign that spirituous liquors were =
he there After much Thought and investi
lis, ton, l have arrived ut the conclusion t
ial this traffic was incomparably worse Il
lck robbery, and far worse than ordinary II
to der, for that murders the soul as well as
our body; and the distance Of that day W
by nnne can be found 20 acknowledge til
selves GUILTY OF such an offence depends