The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-10-23
Fair Play Lodge, 1. o. of g. 7.

ME-. EDITOR: Ibis Lodge mas Deen
numbered with the things of the past, or,
. in other words, like most similar socie-
ties, it has died q natural death. It was
organized with eighteen or twenty MEM
bers, and out of this number, strange to
say, there were only two church MEM
bers; but, however, the Lodge went to
work, and fought bravely for eight or ten
months, asking the old church members
in the neighborhoodlto join us and thus
swell our E.le band, in order that we
might better. contend against the great
army Of intemperance, which has 80
many men, aye! and women, too, in its
ranks, and which is daily growing larger
and larger. Let all this be as it may, I
contend that the members of the Lodge
ought to have worked the harder. There
was no reason why it should die out in
the manner it did. But, alasl some of
the members became disheartened, and,
consequently, became irregular in their
attendance, and the rest of the members
soon found that they were too weak to
accomplish any good, or rather they too
soon gave up the good work in which
they were engaged. Before they gave
up, feeling their weakness, and, being de-
sirous of awakening a new interest in the
community in behalf of their Lodge,
they called on the members of the church,
especially those living in and around
Fair Flay, to join the Lodge, but all in
vain. They merely evinced carelessness,
or rather indifference, to the cause, when
we thought that they should have rem
dered all Che aid they could in behalf of
our Lodge. When called on to join,
some of them, remarked that they had
been waiting to see whether the Lodge
would continue to hold up or not. This
was all the encouragement that we, few
worldly persons, received from them,
when we were doing our best to improve
the morals of our town and vicinity. Do
you suppose thatif the people of q neigh
borhood were to see fire, driven by a
bowling wind, approaching their fencing,
that they would stand back and say that
we will wait to see whether the FIRE will
reach the fencing or not? Mol You
would see no waiting, but the mind of
every one would be bent upon quenching
the flames before any damage could be
done them. There would soon be quite
IN army of persons arrayed to contend
against the flames, and they would fight
din earnest, too. Then is it not of much
more importance to contend against the
great flame of intemperance which is
sweeping over our land and destroying SO
many persons, both morally and socially
that aalne that is wrecking the happiness
and fortunes of so many of our fellow.
beings. 1t is a plain fact, which does
not require double glasses to behold. II
requires no deductive or inductive system
of reasoning to get at the truth of the
matter. We have the evils caused by in
temperance daily before our eyes, and
why will people not unite in its suppress.
sionf Has it taken such hold upon
our people at large, that it is too strong
to be overcome7 I answer, emphati.
cally, mol All that we need is unity OF
action and perseverance. We must cast
aside our indifference and supply its
place with energy. We must determine
to win, and we can win. Will we allow
our fellow-beings to throw themselves
away without struggle on our part to
save them? Will we allow them to give
themselves up to the demon, Intempe-
rance, that destroys 80 many, robs so
many, blights so many hopes, and wrecks
90 many brains, making persons totally
unfit for society or earth, or to enter the
kingdom of Heaven? Let every man
stand bravely to his post, and we can
prevent these direful effects-if not in
whole, we can in part. P.
Winnsboro' Neu,: Col. Rion, at the re-
z,oof of C3an TaDuc ITnitad StQtae