The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1883-01-19
Temperance Reading.
Is Temperate Drinking Safep


At a certain town meeting in Penn
sylVania, the question arose whether
any persons should be licensed to sell
rum. The Clergyman, the deacon,
the physician, strange as it may
now appear, all favored it. One man
only spoke against it, because of the
mischief it did. The question was about
to be put, when there arose rom one
corner OF the room miserable looking
woman. She was thinly clad, and her
appearance indicated the utmost wretch
edness, and that her mortal career was
almost closed. After moments silence.
and all eyes being fixed upon her. she
stretched her attenuated body to its ut
most hight, and then her long arms to
their greatest length, and raising her
voice to shrill pitch, she called to all
to look upon her.
'Yesn' she said, "look upon me and
then hear me. All that the last speaker
has said relatiFe to temperate drinking
as being the father OF drunkenness, is
true. All practice, all experience, de-
clares its truth. All drinking of alco-
holic poison, as a beverage in health, is
excess. Look upon me You all know
me, or once dil. You all know [ was
once the mistress of the best farm
in the town; you all know, too, I ha /
one of the best-the most devoted of
husbands. You all know | had fine,
noble hearted, industrious boys. Where
are they nowp Doctor, where are they
now? You all know. You all know
they lie in a row, side by side in yonder
church-yard all-every one of them =
filling the drunkard's grave They were
all taught to believe that temperate
drinking was safe-that excess alone
ought to be avoided and they never
acknowledged excess. They quoted vou,
and you, and you pointing with her
shred of finger to the minister, deacon
and doctor, as authority. They thought
themselves safe under such teachers
But saw the gradual change coming
over my family and its prospects, with
dismay and horror. [ felt we were all
to be overwhelmed in one common ruin.
i tried to ward Of the blow; | tried to
break the spell, the delusive spell, in
which the idea of the benefits of tenn
perate drinking had involved my hus-
band and sons. | begged, l prayed
but the odds were against me.
'The minister said the poison that
was destroying my husband and boys
was good creature ofGod; the deacon
who sits under the pulpit there, and took
our farm to pay his rum bills, sold them
the poison; the doctor said little was
good, and the excess only ought to be
avoided My poor husband and my
dear boys fell into the snare, and they
could not escape; and, one after an
other, were conveyed to the sorrowful
grave of the drunkard. Now look at me
again. You probably see me for the
last time. My sands have almost run.
| have dragged my exhausted frame
from my present home-your poor
house-to warn you all; to warn you,
deacon! to warn you, false teacher of
God wordn' And with her arms flung
high, and her tall form stretched to its
utmost, and her voice raised to an I'M
earthly pitch, she exclaimed: 81
shall soon stand before the Judgment
seat of God. | shall meet you there,
you false guides, and be witness
against you all?'
The miserable woman vanished. A
dead silence pervaded the assembly;
the minister, the dea on and physician
hung their heads; and when the Presi-
dent of the meeting put the question:
"Shall any licenses be granted for the
sale of spirituous liquorsP" the unani-
nous response was: "Nom-Memoir OF
George ~ Briggs, late ea-GoUernor Of
Massachusetts,,