The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1885-04-09
INGERsoLL ON ALCOHOL.

Whenever Robert Ingersoll denounces
intemperance. it is surely time for those
who profess the love of God and respect
! for religion, to stop and consider,
Col. Ingersol was lately employed in a
case which involved the manufacture of
ardent spirits, and in his speech to the jury
he used the following language
II am aware that there is Il prejudice
against any man engaged IN the manufac-
ture Of alcohol. L believe from the time
it issues from the coiled and poisonous
worm in the distillery. until it empires into
| the hell Of death, dishonor and crime, that
it is demoralizing to everybody that
touches it, from the source to where it
ends. | do not believe that anybody can
| contemplate the subject without being
prejndiced against the crime. All we
have to do is to think of the wrecks on
either side of the stream sof death, of the
suicides, the insanity, of the poverty, of
the destruction, of the little children tug
ging at the breast of weeping and despair
ing wives, asking for bread, of men OF ge-
MUS 1t has wrecked, the men struggling
with imaginary serpents produced by this
devilish thing and when you think of the
jails, of the almshouses, of the asylums
OF the prisons and of the scaffOlds on
either hand, / do not wonder that every
thoughtful man is prejudiced against this
vile stuff called alcohol. Intemperance
cuts down youth in its vigor, manhood in
its.strength, and age in its weakness.
| 1t breaks the fathers heart, bereaves the
doting mother, extinguishes natural affec-
ton, grasses conJugal love, blots out filial
affection, and blights parental hope, and
| brings premature age in sorrow to the
grave. 1t produces weakness, not strength ];
sickness, net health death, not life. 1t
| makes wives widows, children orphans,
fathers tends, and all paupers. 1t feeds
rheumatism, nurses govt, welcomes cpl
denies. invites cholera, imports pestilence,
and embraces consumption. 1t covers the
land with misery, ldleness and crimes.
1t engenders controversies, fosters quar-
rels and cheriSheS riots. 1t crowds your
penitentiaries and furnishes victims to the
scaffold. 1t is the blood OF the gambler,
the element of the burglar, the prop of the
highwayman and the support of the incen-
diary. 1t countenances the liar, respects
the thief, esteems the blasphemer. 1t vio-
lates obligations, reverences fraud, honors
infamy. 1t defames benevolence, hates
love. scorns virtue and innocence. 1t in.
cites the father to butcher his helpless off
spring and the child to grind the parici-
dial axe. 1t burns up men, consumes wo-
men, detests life, curses God and despises
Heaven. 1t suborns witnesses, nurses
perfidy, deliles.the jury box, and stains the
judicial ermine. 1t brides voters and dis
qualities votes. corrupts elections pollutes
our institutions and endangers the gov
eminent. Itdegrades the citizen, debases
the legislator, dishonors the statesman
and dsarms the patriot. 1t brings shame.
not honor; terror, not safety despair. not
hope misery, not happiness ; and with
the malevolence of fiend, calmly SURVEYS
its frightful desolation, and unsatiated
with havoc. it poisons felicity, kills peace.
ruins morals, wipes out national honor,
then curses the world and laughs at it's
ruin. 1t does that and more-it murders
the soul. 1t is the sum of all yillainies,
the father of crimes the mother of all
abominasion, the devils best friend, and
Gods worst enemy
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