Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1881-08-10
A Scathing Denunciation Of Intemperance.

Colonel r. G. Ingersoll, in speaking to
jury in a case which involved the manufac-
ture of alcohol, uses the following eloquent
language " am aware that there is pre-
judice against any man engaged in the man
ufacture Of alcohol. / believe that after it
issues from the coiled and poisonous worm
in the distillery until it empties into the pit
of death, dshonor and crime, that it demon
allies everybody that touches it, from its
source to where it ends. do not believe
anybody can contemplate the subject with
out becoming prejudiced against the liquor
crime. All we have to do, gentlemen, is
to think of the wreck on either bank of the
stream of death of the suicides, of the in
sanity, Of the ignorance, of the restitution ;
Of the little children Juggling at the faded
and weary breasts of weeping and despair
ing wives, asking for bread; of the talented
men of genius that it has wrecked, the men
struggling with imaginary serpents, pro-
duced by this devilish thing and when you
think of the jails, of the almshouses of the
asylums, Of the prisons, of the scaffods upon
either bank, I do not wonder that every
thoughtful man is prejudiced against this
stuff that is called alcohol. Intemperance
cuts down youth in its vigor, manhood in its
strength, and age in its weakness. II breaks
the fathers heart, bereaves the doting
mother, extiDguishes natural affections,
grasses conjugal loves, blots out filial at
tachments, blights parental hope, and brings
| down mourning age in sorrow to the
grave. 1t produces weakness, not strength
sickness, not health; death, not life. 1t
makes wives widows; children orphans (;
fathers fiends, and all of them paupers and
beggars. 1t feeds rheumatism, nurses govt,
/ Ualpnmaa api1amirl tpuifao rholara inn,
ports pestilence and embraces consumption.
1t covers the land with misery and crime.
It fills your jails supplies your almshouses
and demands your asylums. 1t engenders
controversies, fosters quarrels and cherishes
riots 1t crowds your penitentiaries and
furnishes victims to your scatfolds. 1t is
the life-blood Of the gambler, the element of
the burglar, the prop of the highwayman
and the support of the midnight incendiary
1t countenances the liar, respects the thief
esteems the basphemer. 1t violates obliga
tions, reverences fraud and honors infamy
1t defames benevolence, hates love, scorns
virtue and ISLANDERS innocence. 1t incites
the father to deliberately butch ar his help
less offspring, helps the husband to massacre
his wife, and the child TO grind the parri-
cidal axe. 1t burns up men, consumes wo-
men, detests life, curses God, and despises
heaven. Itsuborns witnesses nurses perjury,
defiles the jury box and stains the Judicial
ermine. 1t degrades the citizen, debases
the legislator, dshonors statesmen and dis
arms the patriot. 1t brings shame, not
honor terror, not safety despair, not hope
misery, not happiness and with the malev
olence of a fiend, it calmly surveys its fright
full desolation, and, unsatisfied with its
havoc, it poisons felicity, kills peace, ruins
morals blights confidence, Stays reputation,
and wipes out national honor, then curse.
the world and laughs at its ruin. 1t doe;
all that and more-it murders the soul. II
is the son of vilainies, the father of al
crimes, the mother of denominations, the
DEVILS best friend and Gods worst enemy