St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1882-03-10

from this door which opened to us
would leave us scattered and incapable
of cooperation. Even the most hest
tant accepted the necessity, and adopt
ed the pledge, not as a general princi-
pie, applicable in other communities,
but as a practical method of relief, of
which we must make fair trial. We
felt that the interests of the multitude
of young men drawn here to the col
lege, of whose welfare the community
becomes the guardian, would Justify
even an extreme position, provided it
could Ice made effective. This was
the chief test of reasonableness.
The three other parties concerned i'll
the sale-one firm of druggists and two
saloonists induced to sign the
pledge, and thus from the first of Sep
TENDER until the recent turn in affairs
it was impossible to purchase any in
toxicating liquor i'll Oberlin. Physi-
clans could and did administer it in
their own practice and 1t was easy to
procure it in any ncighboring town.
No appreciate Inconvenience resulted
from the arrangement and the advan-
tages were very marked. With the
exception of very limited portion of
the community, who desired better IA
cilities for procuring drink, and three
or four men, who wished to make mon
ey by the sale of liquor, the people
were wholly satisfied with the arrange
ment and were united in settled pur-
pose to maintain 1t.
\ few days since the proprietor of
the notorious drugstore, who had put
forward the pledge and announced
himself i'll the papers as ready to stand
by it to the last, that Obcrlin might
he known throughout the world as ii
strictly tal-abstincncc town." pro-
posed to sell out his establishment, and
professcd to do so to il young man, ii
stranger from a neighboring town,
who should carry on the business with
out respect to the pledge. The gen
uineness of the sale il not generally
credited. The original proprietor
seems to have the same interest there
as formerly. OF course, the reputed
purchaser announces that he shall car
~ on il Legitimate business" as he
would interpret it, selling for medicinal
and mechanical purposes, but, as our
experience and the whole history of
that establishment interpret it, selling
all that can be sold without exposing
himself To legal penalties. He has
never proposed to restrict himself to
selling on physicians prescription.
The present anxiety and effort of the
people of Oberlin is to hold to the ar
rangement of last summer in reference
to the sale of liquors. The entire NOR
al conviction of the community Sustains
it and we can concentrate our force up
] hlt linz nj
most conservative among us and the
most radical are at one in the position,
and it is this harmony in the work that
has enabled us to keep the open sa-
| loon from Obcrlin for almost fifty years.
! If the position taken may seem extreme
to some who look on from IL distance.
they will still accord to us the right,
which we have fairly earned, of using
our best Judgment as to the method by
which we shall maintain the conflict.
We are not fanatics, but we are in
earnest, and it is only by this earnest
ness that the enemy has been kept at
bay. Towns near us, with Il pOpula-
ton not larger than that of Oberlin, have
each from ten to twenty saloons. We
propose to have neither il saloon nor IL
dubious drugstore. This result can
he accomplished only by vigorous use
of concentrated public sentiment. We
cannot afford to consult either our ease
or our dignity. We propose nothing
illegal or unchristian. We shall make
Use of such laws as we have, made
quate as they are, and address our
selves to that principle of human ma
ture, brought out in the parable of the
Judge who feared not God nor regard
ed man, but who, by continual COM
ing. could be troubled and wearied in
to the practice of righteousness. Mean
while, we shall pray and work for a
law which will secure to lis tie privi-
lege of roting the nuisance out of towns.
There seemed no briefer answer to
your brief question: Independent.