The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1879-04-17

TEMPERANCE LECTURE.-Probably the
finest temperance lecture ever heard In this
city was that delivered by VIM. L. Stokes,
State Lecturer of Virginia, last Saturday
night, In the hall of Mzpah Lodge.
Mr.. Stokes is an Englishman by birth,
very youthful in appearance, of fine pres
ence and address. AS speaker he is fluent
and graceful and exceedingly clear and for
chile, dealing with well established facts and
drawing therefrom logical deductions, and
eschewlng Incorporate declam atoms and
invectives. He treated the subject in an Ell.
tirely novel way, and during the entire dis
course spoke not one word that could In any
way give the lightest offence to any one.-
Though Mr.. Stokes is earnest and jealous
and extreme in his opinions, he is very far
from being fanatic.
He treated intemperance as folly in those
who indulge it, not as crime in those Vino
supply the means. His speech, exceedingly
able and argumentative, was interspersed
with classic quotations and illustrated with
rich anecdotes, and the audience, quite a
large one, exhibited the profoundest inter-
est and attention during the whole lectur
OF one hour and forty minut es duration.
After an eloquent exordium, the lecturer
stated that he would assume the part Of
plaintiffs counsel in the great cause Of ''The
People VS.. the Drinking Customs and that
ne would successfully call to the stand in
support OF his case, the three reliable and
unlmpeachable witnesses-Sclence, Expe-
rience and Religion. He argued and quoted
in support of his position from such emf
nent chemists as Turner, Fourcroy and Bar
on Liebig that alcohol is a production of;art,
the result of fermentation and decay, and
is no where found in state of nature, takes
no part in the processes of nature. and is
in no sense nourisher or supporter Of life,
but is, on the contrary, poison whose eff
fects can only be arrived at at the expense of
the constitution or vital force, by discount
on our bill of life, as it were.
In the examination of his second witness,
after reviewing at length Experience, both
personal and by observation, and citing the
opinions of many eminent physicians and
statesmen, including Thomas Jefferson and
Gen. X. =. Lee, as to the physical and NOR
al evils of intemperance, he discussed the
question as one Of great political and eco
nomical interest to the country, showing
from the reports of the United States Bn-
reau OF Statistics that the annual drink &C.
count of the country exceeded the cost OF
food or clothing and furniture by many mil
lions OF dollars, and that from 1910 to 1870,
the increase of population being taken as
comparative standard, the increase of the
production and consumption of spirits have
far exceeded the increase OF the agricultural
resources and breadstuff production of the
country, and argued that the present hard
times are as much if not more attributable
to the enormous expenditure for liquors
than to any other cause.
He then spoke eloquently and at length
of the great barrier which intemperance on.
poses to Religion, both in and out Of the
Church.
The lecture, as whole, was the most sen.
sible and reasonable we have ever heard and
we feel sorry that time and space do not ad-
NIT full report instead Of so meagre an
abstract of it