News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-04-24
Temperance.
CONDUCTED BY THE LAMOILLE COUNTY
GOOD TEMPLARs' UNION.
An Essay on temperance.

BY MISS WINNIE FITCH.
The word essay means trial, and
we, as members of the l. o. of G. T..
have been trying tenn perance for some
time. but the writing of an essay upon
the subject is different matter, and to
me it is rather more difficult than trying
temperance itself.
Intemperance! The word is suggest
i've of passion. In temper, or the state
of being in temper, or passion. and a
person addicted to intemperance is usual
ly one who Is, as we say, sometimes.
''tempery." But temperance, the sub
ject upon which / am essaying to write,
means the opposite. Temperance, in its
original meaning, moderation, was diff
ferent thing Ole hundred years ago. 1t
meant simply moderation in the use of
alcoholic beverages, as in other things.
The very first of the temperance move
ment was in America, where intemper-
ance seems to have reached most alarm
ing stage. In 1903 society of forty
three members was organized in SaratO-
ga county. New York, and in its consti-
tutiOn was this article: mo member
shall drink rum. gin, whlskey, wine or
any distilled spirit, or composition of the
same, or any of them, except by the ad-
vice of physician, or in case of actual
disease. also excepting at public dinners.
under the penalty of twenty-five cents,
provided that this article shall not in
fringe upon any religious rite" There
were other rules and penalties, but all of
them seem to have been as liberal as this
one, and but little good was accom-
plished. However, ministers and other
public men at last took up the work. and
in 1926 the American Temperance Socie-
ty was formed in Boston. and 1929 one in
New York. and before the close of that
year 1000 local societies with 100000
members were in existence. Rumors of
the movement reached the Old World,
and she. also, organized societies to pro-
mote temperance, the first one being in
Wexford county. Ireland. After time,
total abstinence was found to be the only
thing that could effectually cure the evil
of intemperance. In 1888 the word tee
totar' was first used. A certain Dickey
Turner, who, i'll the Lancashire district,
often held forth at meetings of a certain
temperance society, happened to say I'm
hev naught to do with this moderation.
botheration pledge. I'll be rect down
tee-tee-total. for and ever" "Well done,
Dickey," said one of the leaders. THAT
shall be the name of the new pledge"
and tee-total it was. This origin of the
word from Dickey's stammering pronun-
citation has been disputed, and some say
it is the word in the Lancashire dialect
meaning thorough, and thoroughness in
reform is certainly what teetotalers want.
Leaving out the minor points, the total
argument is this: LIST, alcohol is never
produced spontaneously by nature. and
never was intended for the food of man.
In the body, too, in health, food is never
converted into alcohol. The body of
man treats it as an interloper and ribs it
self of it as rapidly as it can. Alcohol
diminishes the oxygen of the body and
thus lowers the vitality, vitiates the
blood and prevents the production of
healthy fibre, and though, for the time it
stimulates, it is always followed by a re-
action, and to produce the same effect the
quantity must be continually increased.
The social arguments in favor of total
abstinence, too, are very weighty. The
use of alcoholic drinks is said to be at the
foot of all the misfortunes of the poorest
class. In fact, that is the cause fpauper-
ism, crime and immortality, destroys
health, shortens life, and makes homes
wretched, while the money spent for
drink would go far to promote the COM
fort of the poorer classes.
Sir Garnet Wolscley, the hero of the
Egyptian campaign. it is said is a total
abstainer. something remarkable in the
higher classes of English society, even at
the present day, and to this fact his ''lev-
ell head" his promptness and clever
sighted forethought that were of such
service to him in the struggle, may be
due. Admiral Farragut, called "Old
Salamander," from his ability to stand
fire, said he should have been nothing
but common sailor, miserable drunk
ard, kicked and cuffed about the world,
if, in his boyhood, when cabin boy Oh
Ais aEst-xayage, he-had not -nlaIle three
promises: Il win never utter an oath,
never drink another drop of Intoxicating
liquor and never gamble" Henry Ward
Beecher says mo man has a right to be
neutral in the great work of temperance
in this age and in this country" Every
one ought TO take sides in the matter. and
his position should be known to all men.
We must not let the administration of our
government spring from the ooze and
mud of drinking holes and grog shops,
nor from the more tempting fluids of the
wine cup and champagne suppers. There
must be radical change i'll public Senti-
ment upon this vital question. When a
President is followed to the tomb it
should not be made the occasion of
drinking bout, and if our President is
proudly boastful of the number of kinds
of wine upon his table, public sentiment
should condemn the use. Mr.. HAYES in
augurated the temperance reform in the
White House and started good work.
Shame only can come from again placing
the example of wine drinking rulers be-
fore our youth. Perhaps we, of the tenn
perance army, may do little service to
the cause by beseeching Heayen in be-
half OF the Gallive, Lord, that they
NAV receive their rivht ,, and avar1, Kind
of alcoholic beverage be banished from
the table of all ranks in our land. MAY
the day soon come when this shall be.
and we, as an entire nation. can say we
are temperance people, and our homes
are homes of total abstinence.
POLISHING THE WRONG END.-Manv