Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1880-02-06
TEMPERANCE CORNER.

By arrangement with the press commit
tee Of the W. C. T. Union of Ashtabula
County, for the city of Ashtabula, and the
editors of the TELEGRAPH, l assume the re-
sponsibility of sustaining a temperance
column in this paper until further notice.
do this the more readily from the fact
that | have positive convictions on all the
great questions of the day, moral and re-
ligious, as well as political. One Of these
great questions that demand our attention
in this last quarter of the nineteenth cen
tury is inteD perance. We are not called
upon to prove that intemperance is evil
and only evil continually, but we can dis
cuss what We believe to be the best, or
among the best, plans to check this great
evil, and finally eradicate it from our midst.
I do not like the idea that some of our
workers in the temperance ranks would
like to see prevail, that is, to eliminate the
word Christian from our county organiZa-
ton. The reason they assign for this is,
that this would prevent our county unions
from coming under the control of sectarian
influence. do not want to see the day
when the christian religion is not looked
upon as a great faction in the temperance
reform. 1t is true that a man may live
moral and temperate life without being a
christian, yet no man can be a christian
without morality and temperance, for the
greater always includes the less. You may
use all the morEl suasion you are master of
to win drunkard back to sobriety and yir-
tue, vet experience shows that large ma
iority of the drunkards reclaimed within
the last three years who undertook in their
own strength, without the sustaining grace
Of God, to lead life of sobriety and tenn
L
ally have gone back to their cups again.
The christian religion, firmly implanted in
the heart of reformed inebrlate, will do
more to keep mans feet in the paths of
purity and virtue than all the lectures on
finance that have eyer been deli vered. In
saving this l do not wish to be understood
as being opposed to financial arguments.
by no means. They are good in their place,
and in many cases are the right thing in
the right place. But what | mean is that
temperance is the handmade of religion
and not the mistress, and that IN building
up mans character for time and eternity
if pure religion is the corner stone, and the
whole frame work, imbued with its spirit,
whether young or old, whether reclaimed
inebriate or always abstemious, he is better
prepared to resist the Satanic influences
that may be brought to bear upon him all
along the journey of life. Again, it is said
by some that nothing new can be said on
the subject of temperance-tha it must be
always the same old story. dissent from
this opinion. New fields of labor for tenn
perance workers are opening up every year,
for not only are the Sunday schools of our
land and nation Legitimate fields of labor
for temperance as well as religion, but
some of the irrepressible workers in the
cause are bringing the subject up in our
common schools from a purely moral and
financial standpoint.
I.haye only indicated some of the lead
ing topics that will come up for discussion
from time to time i'll the temperance col |
umn of the TELEGRAPH. There never was
a time in our nations history when earnest |
temperance work was more impeFitiyely |
the pressing need of the hour, and every
avenue of influence and usefulness opening |
up before US should be occupied to its full |
est extent.
There is a lack of hearty sympathy in |
the temperance movement in some portions |
of the christian church, which we must la |
bor to overcome, for when the whole moral |
power of the church Of Christ upon earth |
is massed and brought to bear with all its |
force upon this great evil, the battle will |
be half won.
Theoutlook over our State in many re-
spects is more cheering than it has been for
years before. In our own county the tenn
peranee element is gaining strength every |
day, and Idoubt not if local option liquor |
law were to be voted upon next spring, all |
but two or three Of the townships voting |
would ratify the same. At this writing l |
do not know how many signatures were OBJ
tained on the petition for local option law
in any town except Say ybroOk. In this town
there were 720 for it, to 80 or 60against it.
1 should be glad to get the number of sig
natures in every township of the county,
for from these returns | think we can get
something Of an idea Of our real strength
]. W. ].