The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-01-12
Temperance Column.
GIFTED BY THE
W. @ T. u
Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson's Appeal TO
Her COuntrymen.
A plea fora Prohibitory Constitutional
Amendment.

My countrymen, il has been the en-
deavor of my life to relieve the misery |
and promote the happiness of humanity |
and have the satisfaction of knowing
that my efforts in individual cases have
not been altogether in vain. But after
| years of labor and no inconsderable
expenditure of means, | am appalled, at
the little | have been able to accomplish.
The woe and suffering of mankind seem
to increase rather than to grow less and
while the cause exists, efforts to effect
cure will be made in vain. 1t is like lop-
| ping off the leaves of atree that we wish
to destroy; they burst forth new life
every spring and we but waste our en-
ergy and time. If we would destroy it,
we must lay the AK to Its root. 1t may
require n greater effort, it may be more
difficult to accomplish, but it is the on
ly successful course to persue. Far be
1t from me to discourage individual be-
nevolence and the abundant charities of
heart and purse which adorn and ennoble
our civilization, and through thousand
channels appease the pangs of humani-
ty. Let not one throb of sympathy be
suppressed. Give abundantly Of your
love and treasure. wherever misfortune
and pain and want lift their despairing
wall. would plead with you, rather, for
for still greater sacrifices for suffering in
dividuals, who cry at your very door for
succor. The mournful music of SORROWS
will not cease, and God will not hold
him guiltiless who passes by on the
other side while wounded brother lies
grooming by the way. My object is to
emphasize the necessity for a radically
| different system of benevolence and ac-
tion If the next generation is to become
as whole better, happier, and nober
| its conditions of life pure and higher
than its predecessor. Let us remove
| causes. and consequences will disappear
1t would be matter of much consola-
ton, amid the sorrow which fills my
heart when think of the little that all
my efforts have been able to accomplish
to stem the tide Of want and pain and
crime, if | could out of my own expert
ence direct Others into the right channel
for the administration of their resour-
ces and benevolence. | stand aghast
when | reflect upon the wretchedness of
millions of my fellow creatures in a
country which ought to be the model
for the world, a flower of civilization
and joy The great end of law, of taxa
ton and the perpetual effort of the no
blest souls, is to insure conditions by
which the community may realize the
highest ideals of life, of progress, and
civilization of which the human soul is
capable. am convinced from long
observation and earnest endeavor to
effect reform that rum and ignorance
are cursing my countrymen and women
to their ruin. These molochs are our
household gods. They eat up the soul
and bodies of the noblest and best of our
national life; they riot in hamlet and
home; they fill the prisons, load the
gallows, shrek in the maniac's cell, and
gibber in the awful sounds of idiocy.
Industry staggers under their load
justice is weary of penalty which never
reforms and which seldom protects;
crime laughs in her face. Well may it.
sheer at the blindness of the goddess
Let us remove the bandage from her
eyes. that she may see where to strike.
Let her smite rum and ignorance, and
her courts will become cathedrals and
her prison-houses will disappear from
the face of the earth. You cannot know
how great an effort it has cost me to put
forth this public appeal, but, in the firm
| belief that my life was intended TO be
given without reservation to promote
the good of my felow-beings. | cannot.
| dare not. remain silent, if any word of
mine indicate escape from national
danger and calamity. The American
nation is threatened with destruction
through ignorance and the effect of
| alcoholic intemperance. These causes
of ruin must be removed by the enact
ment and enforcement of national law.
! Society must combine and by public law
and the memorable enforcement of its
penalty crush out the evils that curses it.
States and sections are not responsible
| for. and they never will protect. the
national happiness and life. OF this |
am sure; alas, too sure. Thus convinc-
ed, have sought for the embodiment of
my views in practical form. | realize
how indispensable to the success of any
great cause requiring the united action
of the people is the formal enunciation
of the remedial idea into a tangible
measure, in support of which public
efforts can be concentrated. | believe
that the amendment purposed to the
national constitution for the prohibi-
ton of the manufacture, sale, importa-
ton, expectation and transportation of
alcoholic liquors in the United States,
and the purpose temporary national aid
to common schools by Senate bill No.
l5l, both now pending in the Congress
of the nation. well calculated to remove
the evils OF intemperance and ignorance.
l cordially approve them, and earnestly
wish | could aid in procuring their en-
actment or measures of like character,
and | shall endeavor to pnt forth what
ever of energy and influence God has
given me to the contamination of that
end.
| If you are a lawyer, | beg of you that
you will give your thought and effort to
the eradication of these twin causes of
vice and crime. You administer the
law, and you are responsible for the law
which you administer. The people con-
fide the creation and enforcement of their
laws, which are their civil life, to your
noble profession. pray you to consid-
er your responsibility. No measure can
become law which the legal profession
as unit condemns. Listen to the cry
of our suffering cOuntrymen. Help us
in our distress. Do not betray the trust
we have placed in your hands. If these
measures ire Objectionable, rest not un
iii better mes are enacted into DatiOna