The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1885-11-12
A THRILLING TEMPERANCE AP-
PEAL TO ALL MEN.
The Doctor, the Pastor and the Deacon are
Clothed in RemoTse-An End of
Woe.

AT q town meeting in Pennsylva-
MIA, the question came up whether
any person should be licensed to
sell rum. The clergyman, the dea-
con and the physician, strange as it
may now appear, all favored it; one
man only spoke against it, because
of the mischief it did. The qucs-
lion was about to be put, when
there arose from one corner of the
room miserable woman. She was
thinly clad and her appearance in
dictated the utmost Indebtedness,
and that her mortal career was al
most closed. After a moments 81
lence, and all eyes being fixed on
her, she stretched her attenuated
body to its utmost height, and then
her long arms to their greatest
length, and then raising her voice
to shrill pitch, she called all to
look upon her. Yes" she said
'1oOk upon me and then hear me.
All that the last speaker has said
relative to temperate drinking as
being the father Of drunkedness is
true. All practice, all experience
declare its truth. All drinking of
alcoholic poison as a beverage in
health is excess. Look upon me!
You all do know me, or once did.
You all know I was once mistress
Of the best farm in the town; you
all know, too, l had one of the best,
the most devoted, of husbands; you
ali know l had five noble hearted,
industrious boys. Where are they
now? Doctor, where are they now?
You all know. You all know they
lie in 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 tenn
perate drinking was safe-that ex-
cess alone ought to be avoided; and
they never acknowledged excess.
They quoted you, and you, and you
(pointihg with her shred of finger
to the minister, deacon and doctor)
as authority. They thought them
selves safe under such teachers.
But l saw the gradual change com
ing over my family and its pros
poets with dismay and horror. 1
felt we were all to be overwhelmed
in one common ruin. l tried to
ward off the blow. / tried to break
the spell, the delusive spell, in
which the idea of the benefits of
temperate drinking had involved my
husband and sons. l begged,
prayed, but the odds were against
me. The minister said the poison
that was destroying my husband
and my boys was a good creature of
God. 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
another they were conveyed to the
sorrowful grave Of the drunkard.
Now look at me again. You prob
ably see me for the last time. My
sands have almost run. 1 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 Gods wordr" And with her
arms flung high, and her tall form
stretched to it's utmost, and her
voice raised to an unearthly pitch,
she exclaimed: Il shall soon stand
before the judgement seat of God; l
shall meet you there, you false
guides, and be witness against you
allI'
The miserable woman vanished.
A dead silence pervaded the assem-
bly,; the minister, the deacon and
the physician hung their heads; and
when the president of the meeting
put the question, shall any licenses
be granted for the sale of spiritu
Gus liquorsY' the unanimous re
| SpOnse was, "NOp'