Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1885-09-05
-7ENS' CHRISTIAN
temperance Union Column
EDITED BY THE W. 7. UNION
IngersolI on Temperance.

In speaking to jury in case in
voIving the manufacture OF alcohol,
Col. Ingersoll used the following elo-
quent language:
II am aware that there 10 a preiu-
dice against any man engaged in the
manufacture OF alcohol believe
that from the time it issues from the
coiled and poisonous worm-in the
distiIIery-until itempties into the hell
OF death, dishonor and crime, it de-
moralizes everybody that touches it
from its source to where it ends. 1
do not believe anybody can contem-
plate the subject without becoming
preiuiiced to the liquor crime. ALI
we have to do gentlemen, is to think
of the wreck ON either bank OF the
stream OF death, OF the suicides, OF the
insanity, of the destruction, OF the lit
tie children tugging at the weary fad
ed breasts, of weeping and despairing
wives asking for bread; OF the talented
men OF genius that it has wrecked, the
men struggling with imaginary SER
penis produced by this devilish thing;
and when YOU think of the jails, of the
alms-houses, of the asylums, of the
prisons, OF the scaffolds upon either
bank, I do not wondur that every
thoughtful man is prejudiced against
this damnable stuff called alcohol.
incompetence cuts down youth in
its vigor, manhood in its strength, and
old age in its weakness. 1t breaks the
fathers heart, bereaves the doting
mother, extinguishes natural affection,
grasses conjugal love, and blows out
tilial attachments, blasts parental afiec-
ton and brings down mourning age
in sorrow to the grave. IL produces
weakness, not strength; death not life.
1t makes wives widows, children or
phans; parents childless; all of them
paupers and beggars. 1t leeds rheu-
matism, invites govt, imparts pestlence
and embraces consumption. Itcoyers
the land with idleness, misery and
crime. 1t fills your nlls, supplies
your almshouses, and demands your
asylums. If engenders controversies,
fosters quarrels and cherishes riots. 1t
is the life blood of the gambler, the
element of the burglar, the prop OF the
highwayman and the support Of the
midnight incendiary. 1t violates obi
CATIONS, reNerences ITduu anu nOhoTs
infamy. Itdefames benevolence, hates
love, scorns virture and SANDERS inno-
cence. Ii incites the father to butcher
the helpless offspring, helps the hus-
band to massacre his wife and the
child to grind the parricidal AK. 1t
burns up men, consumes women, de-
tests life, curses God and denies Heav-
en-. 1t suborns witnesses, nurses per-
jury, denies the jury box, and stains
judicial ermine. II degrades the citi-
zen, debases the legislator, dishonors
the statesmen and disarms the patriot.
1t brings shame, not honor; terror, not
safety; despair, not hopper misery, not
happiness; and with the malevolence
of fiend it calmly surveys its fright
full desolation, and unsatisiied with its
havoc, it .poisons felicity, kills peace,
RUNS mortals, blights confidence, Stays
reputation, and wipes out national hon.
or, then curses the world and laughs
at its ruin. II does all that, and more
it murders the soul. 1t is the sum
of vilIainies, the father of all crime,
the mother OF denominations, the devils
best friend and Gods worst enemy"