The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-05-28
MISS CLEVELAND.
She Writes Letter In Reply to Rev How
ard Crosby's "Csim visw'' OF the
Temperance Question.

tnB morning communication from Misc
Elizabeth Cleveland, sister of President
Cleveland, in reply to Rev. DR.. Howard
C;osby, on the question OF total abstinence.
Miss Cleveland commences by quoting the
following from DIR. Crosby: 81 do not won
der that excellent women whose husbands or
Sons have become sots should advocate total
abstinence for every one. We have heard q
good woman whose boy had cut his finger
nearly Off with q knife, wish that there were
no knives in the world, aad II che could
have her way, che would have them all de-
stIoyed forthwith. It is natural, and wo-
mans cry on such an occasion excites our
tendsrest sympathy. But who will count
that an asgument?' Miss Cleveland then
says "The. above paragraph from "A Calm
View Of DR.. Nelson by Rev. Howard Crosby
in the Evangelist OF March II, has most
pertinaciously haunted me ever since the
perussl of the article last evening. That this
above any other paragraph; should most
impress itself upon the impressionable mind
OF one emotional woman in particular or Of
women ns en- emotional creature In general,
Will surprise no man. 1t is, as the Doctor
says, natural; and am certain that multi.
tudes Of women besides myself are to day
smsIting under these calm words. aaaiust
the imputAtion of which every 6oer of the
womanly nature rises up In revolt The
msle Oh imal ie very fierce, the female OF al
genera 10 very, comparatively and in gsner.
al, uDcombative Bat the same science
which tells rs this tells rs alec that the
mother, among all beasts in defense of her
young, is the fsIcsst of all living creatures.
The lioness under ordinary circumstances is
quite easy Of conquest; but the lioness.
robbed OF her whelps, no man or bsast cares
TO encounter. Then both the phases
OF the female nature are undoubt-
sdly 'pstural' They belong, as
Bishop Butler said OF certain so-cslled su-
pernatural phenomena to, the natural, Of
which there are two causes, the one ordina
", the other not supernatural, still less sd.
perhuman, but extraordinary. You see,
Mrs. Foster, that this mad dog you talk
about is to be put, by q calm view of tbs
thing as it is, into the same category with
cutlery. You have no more real right TO cry
about this embossed beast because it may
meet your children on their way to school,
and may bite one or two of them, than you
have to cry out against the manufacture and
sale OF knives because your boy cut himself
once. The perfectly clear thing is-if You
bad head enough to see it-that the
man ufac ture (by fermentation, not distiila-
tioD.) OF the mad dog mot very mad but
some mad ought 10 go on, and that one
mad dog (of the good kind for every one
thousand people ought to be protected by
r. -. H. l. Ia.
This calm view Oh the evil which, because
OF some, in tact several, cases of hydrophoba
among as, has CONS to be called by unthinS.
ing people mad dog is proved by the con-
current testimony of experience, science,
scholarship sound philosophy and, above all,
rightly-read Scripture, to be good creature
of God. The calmly Christian thing for you
to do on such An occasion is not to 20 up and
down crying but TO stay at home and
teach your little boys and big boys how q
little mad dogs bite is good for them, but a
big mad dogs bite is very bad for them.
You ought, IL you would only do the thing
you ought instead OF the thing you like
TO mix up little wine and water for your
little boys at dinner, so that they may
early learn the difference between true
temperance and this miserable parody OF
true temperance called total abstinence, and
may be prepared to make manly protest
against drunkenness when they shall be
grown up. 1t is simply silly, it is While
we feel the tenderest sympathy for your sor.
row, we must say it. 1t is silly for you to re-
fuse 10 see that knives and mad dogs are
equally dangerous. It Is as ridiculous for
you to demand that all alcohols shall be ban
ithed from the beverages OF mankind, be-
cause this fiery liquor is burning out the
manhood lin more ways than oy it's con.
sumption) OF the world, as 1t would be for
you TO demand that all the wells should De
dried up, because men lose their lives by
drowning. Alcohol and water are exactly
analogous II you could bat see 1t. You fool
ish woman, your cry is no argument. Ii
were better you should stop your crying.
DIR. Crosby We can not try we never so
hard. We can not defy or deny nature.
God has made Us crying genius. We csn
not understand how knives and mad dogs
are Just alike; we can not understand why's
mad dog should not be killed. We can not
! help crying If only one TO every one thou
| SAUDI human beings is let loose in our streets.
| These things are too high; we can not fad
| them out. 1t is not our blame. 1t Is our
nature, and we dare to say that through the
| pure and unsophisticated nature Of the hu.
| man mother, Gods argument against any
| use of alcohol, except as medicine, is given
TO the world to-day. When the young
| Queen OF Austria, pressed on every side by
| the ruthless oppression OF the great Prussian
King, fled to Hungary, and with her infant
| in her arms and her royal crown upon her
head, appealed for the, projection of
her kingdom TO her loyal subjects
| there, these stslwart Hungarian mobiles
rose III mass, AID laying their right hands
| upon the swords at their sides swore in q
shout whose heroic ring echoes down the
years. 'Moriamur pro rege n0stro, Maria
| Theresa And how they did die all the
world Knows. 1t is not for rhetorical effect,
| still less for the exoitation OF the 'tenderest
| sympathy that revert to this well known
incident. 1t Is that may call attention TO
| the argument in the cry OF those men, for
suppose mans cry may be counted as al
| argument 1 Wish to beg you to notice
| those words 'rege rostro.' That expressio1
of those Hungarian nobies. our king Maria