Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1880-04-29
Fayetteville Locals.


>t%it Vic UcNOtoU t(
promotion of temperance. Ii il
not requisite 10 show the pre-
velcnce- of intemperance-ihat
Its victims annually amount to
upwards Of 100,OO0--to ATTEMPT
To picture the scenes of vice
misery and degradation that fol-
low IN It's train, or to recount
the thousand instances of rob.
Dcry and murder committed un.
der its influence. The heart of
the philanthropist is too often
sickencd at the exhibition of de-
graded and disgusting objects.
Our alms-houses contain too
many bloated paupers. Our
bills of mortality too many cas-
esof maina-potu, and our prison
doors are closed upon too many
wre'ches sinking in infamy, be-
meath the blighting effects of the
intoxicating draught, to render
at necessary to say one word in
behalf Of any effort, that may
haze a tendency to remove or TO
alleviate an evil ofsuch immense
magnitude. Notwithstanding
the opposition which--strange
to tell--has been made to the
cause OF temperance, it has pros
pered and will go OH prospecting,
in proportion as the advocates
of individual happiness. Ma
tional prosperity and the friends
of humanity outnunber the
cold. and selfish. Thousands OF
beggared families--of wretched
parents-of heart-broken wives
and helpless children, have al
ready had reason to bless the
formation of temperance socie-
ties. To aid in SO glorious a
reformation is the end proposed
by all philanthropists. The great
interest l feel for those who
cannot stay the inebriatc hand
of himself, prompts me to ask
attention while / offer him my
sympaty, and point his erring
feet to some temperance tenn
pie of reform for relief. Culos-
sal as may appear the task, and
disparaging as may be my abil-
ity, | shall speak in the interest
of the doubling, hesitating to-
per, and those are wildly and
unthoughtedly becoming the
victims of that fell destroyer,
and those who have lost the ear
ly recollections of innocent
childhood in the evening of dis
sipation, and whose mind is
clouded by the dark smoke of
intemperance. Would that one
so lost to society could brush
the dark clouds that overcast his
intellectual horizon, and for one
brief moment behold the depths
of that darkness that overhangs
the future Of himself, and those
dear to him as life's blood: whose
tender tendrils hang about him
likes the arms of a fond mother
over the sleeping couch OF her
innocent babe. Would that.
some fallen intellect, which once
lifted its ambitious eyes to the
fountains of intellectual truth,
who vowed that up the rugged
path of fame they would climb
till their intellectual eye would
flash over the fields of science,
and the mind hold converse
with natures God, could once
more be reclaimed that they
might use the sword -of temper
ance, and make reformation in
the ranks of those dissipated
lives and wasted fortunes that
arc SO many imperishable mon
uments of the folly, degradation,
infamy and external ruin that
are mseparabIy attached TO the
deyotes and votaries of Bacchus.
There are some who are truly
to be pilied, those who have
becu made to relish the flavor
of ardent spirits in this way
from the cradle to the grave
accustomed in their pap-taught
in their childhood to set up to
the table and throw off a glass
of wine, ike man. Let every
father and mother bewarel No
human creature ever loved the
open, perceptible, undisguised
favor Of rum, brandy ortobac-
co. But he is led to 8 relish
for them, while a child; worried
or shamed into liking for them,
till he has overcome the loathing
and horror, the penalty ofhimthat
loyeth his creatures, and goes
down to the chambers Of death
n drunkard and q beast. Its
baleful influence does not stop
at the grave, but follows him
beyond the silent portals of the
tomb to the destruction of his,
immortal soul. Do you recoil
at the charge? 1t is true, new
erthcless. Would every parent
do as they ought-were they 10
stand forth in purity and power
we're they to- forbid the use
of the wine cup at home, were
- ,,,a,.n thu, fhox-