News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-10-25
Remarks on Temperance.

The following is Il substance of re-
marks made at the Sunday evening
temperance meeting at Morrisville,
October II, by Mrs. William A.
Bushee:
A noted physician once said to a very
sick patient, IF physician had been
called in time you might have been
cured" The sick man expressed sur
prise, and said, "Iow long ago ought he
70 have been calIed?" "Well, in your
case, about 200 years ago"
There are several phases of this tenn
perance question to which this point
would apply. When saw boy, hardly
i'm his teens. sauntering along the street
with cigar in his mouth, thought sure
w. the physician is not called IN time
We do not begin far enough back IN our
temperance work. | wish to make no
personal illusions here tonight. Inc
personal hits and filings" that are
sometimes thrown ont in these meetings
are distasteful, and God forbid that on so
serious a question | should Intentionally
give Offense. \ mother said to me the
other dav, MY boy is not WE'LL ''Ah
What is the trOuble?'' 1t is not that he
is very sick now. but his symptoms are
bad; they are all typhoid symptoms.
and | am very anxious about him. and
as she left me | thought, how true 1t IS
that many of the boys in our village have
typhoid symptoms, and if not promptly
broken up may lead to fatal results. Said
a gentleman to me, as well cared for
boy was passing along. There is boy
who is taking the fast train us 1t pos
sible?" Yes. he is using tobacco, and
his mother will not believe it, and what
is worse he lies to her when she ques-
lions him. Now" said he, when boy
uses tobacco and can lie to his mother,
you may be pretty sure he has started on
the down track" Now, | do not say
that every person who uses tobacco will
inevitably become drinking man, any
more than that all who have typhoid
symptoms have typhoid fever, but upon
inquiry | hear of only one instance where
a drunkard had not first used tobacco.
and | venture to say that if all the boys
in our village would never touch the first
cigar or the first quid of tobacco, the
mothers would have far less anxiety over
the terrible curse of intemperance.
Let us suppose that the youth in this
place should see all the different stages
of drink from the silly, staggering stage
to the horrible sight of deltrium tremenS.
With such sights before their eyes and
such shrieks sounding in their ears,
would it be any temptation to them to
touch the Intoxicating cup? We all know
this is not Satan's method. He does not
want the young to see. that sin, when 1t
is finished. bringeth forth Death. He
knows that he would have no followers
if they should see sin in its true light.
Satan is shrewd and wants everything to
look pleasant and respectable, and it is
because public sentiment is such that our
most highly respected men can walk our
streets with cigars between their lips OIL
their mouths filled with tobacco, with no
detraction from their high standing, that
the danger is so great to our boys. \
moderate drinker, who prides himself on
never being drunk. may use an amount
of liquor which would prove the ruin OF
another, and so a man may use tobacco
for years without seeming harmed, {?
but that same amount may be the ruin Of
another. Now the point | wish to make
is this. If all the Christian men in these
churches say men. because such have
Gods help, and with that can do al
things.-whO use tobacco in any form
would tonight make a solemn VOW be
fore God, that from this time forth, amC
forever, they would give it up and usC
their influence against it; and if these
same persons would come to our next
meeting with clean mouths, pure lip:
and consecrated hearts, l believe they
would be a tremendous power in thi;
work, and out of the depths of their ex
perience God would show through then
some method of dealing with this deli
cate and terrible question with more sat
isfactory results than we have yet seen
and more than this, our boys, owe
whose symptoms many tears have beer
shed and many prayers offered, may bt
saved from the dangerous pitfalls tina
beset the pathway of youth, and be titteC
in body, mind and heart for the great re
! spOnsibilities OF life.