The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1882-06-24
Tne Cur.e Of Insemperance.
National View, Washington City.


- We have received the following
letter from that most noble woman,
Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson, whose
name is dear to all who suffer
throughout the land to whom she
has given so much, and for whose
welfare her heart yearns as does
the mother-hcart over bruised and
wounded children.
The letter is a private one, put
speaks in such earnest tones the
desire of great heart that we are
justified in laying it before those
for whom she feels SO deeply.
WASHINGTON, ID. c., MAYI3, 1881.
DEAR Miss ST. PIERRE: My
| heart is so sad over tho one most
awful curse that broods like q
shadow of death over men, women
and children, that | must give II
expression in words of warning.
Would to God | might, by laying
down life and fortune, remove II
from them foreverl That, | know,
will not do it; the reform must
come from themselves; it will not
end till it reaches the nights oil
heaven.
/ have for years dived into eel
lars and climbed crcaking stair
ways seeking out the poor, the suf-
fering, and everywhere, eUeryUhere
| find linked with it as an awful
promoter, the curse of drunkenness,
and the demoniac influence of IL
quors that are like the burning
lake of the Apocalypse.
What we shall we do to save these
people? Diving into filthy cellars,
beyond all the other sordid smells
| found the deadly alcohlic stencil.
| have been in the council cham
bers of the Capitol, and its sick
ening wreck was there on the
hearth of Legislators. In Gods
name tell me what is to be done
for a people SO given over to the
deadly instincts of suicidal indul-
gence2
There is but one answer. They
must reform themselves, they
must be brought face to face with
their individual responsibility, they
must be forced to know that for
every crime, and every hideous
death and mismatic life, for every
murdered child and every slaugh-
tered woman, for every man made
a hell in himself incarnate, every
Il 10
sponsibIe. No man lives to him
self alone and tho crime against
himself is crime against his
neighbor, and these be the days of
judgments, the going out of thun
ders of the law, and mercy and
softness must wait to do their office
when that law has been fulfilled
Charities private or public, are not
the weapons to use against this evil.
Charity is for the afflicted, iudg-
ment is for the transgressor, and
he who breaks the law.
In sorrow of heart [ speak these
words God knows / bad far rather
soothe a wound than abrade It; but
for healing must come first the
cleansing, and if that is full OF
pangs the man will grow strong by
their healing efficacy. The going
from death to lite is always a way
of pain, and TO him who keepetb
not the law the return is set with
the thorns he has sown In his pas
sage from il; but be must return;
there is no way and he must return
by his own recovered will, to find
in each thornprick a renewal of
life; or he must return through that
black path OF baffled soul. warped
bodies and reasonless hell where
turks at every step a demon, and
whose waters taste always of death.
| incIose plain statement,
which is not yet one half the
truth of even the money side OF
this aceursed growth Will you
give it place and call attention
TO its hard facts? Would that
could keep all the terrible truth
before the eyes OF the people until
it is burned into all hearts and ex>
emplified in the REIMBURSEMENT of
this one most awful agent in the
destruction of all that is good and
God like among us.
Yours in sorrow of heart,
MRS. E. THOMPSON.