The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1886-06-25
a Glance ut temperance Reform and
temperance ~RefoFmers.

The following paper was read at the last
monthly meeting of the Young Womanss
Christian Temperance Union of German
town:
E~uripides. the old Greek poet, tells us that
Temperance is the noblest gift of
heaven, aud in every age we find that the
most able thinkers and leaders nave aimed
to elevate the people and to ineulcate self
control. Not in the matter of appetite
only, but of the passions, and all lower i'm
pulses, did they urge with Plato that self
conquest is the greatest Of victories" They
did not all see the serious danger of stimu-
lants to the human system; and yet we
find that nearly a thousand years ago
Mohammcd forbade to his followers the
use of wine: that in the 18Th century TEN
perance organizations Of some kind were
formed in Europe, and that men were be-
ginning to awaken to the enormity of the
evil. The idea of totW abstinence. how
ever, did not occur to these pioneers; they
merely insisted that excess be abandoned,
for they had not reached the higher level Of
DIR. Johnson, who, after years of c%ndeavor,
gave up stimulantS entirely, saying to Bos-
well Il can be abstinent. but | cannot be
temperate In this class we find DR.. Ben
jamin Rush, of Philadelphia, who a CEN
fury Q did much to overthrow the use of
distilled liquors, yet recommended light
wines and malt. His philanthropy and
zeal in thisg good work were such, however,
4lo+ 81, Nro4;D,,1 w ~ IT t-
sembied in our city last autumn. planted a
tree upon his grave as a tribute to his mem
Dry.
An era of Temperance Reform in our
country commenced in 1908, when Billy
Clark, NJ. D.. exclaimed to an eminent
minister, I'VE shall all become a nation
of ~drunkards. unless something be done,'
and forthwith formed THE Union Tenn
perate Society" in Saratoga county, N.
\. Forty-thrcc gentlemen signed their
names to its constitution and held regular
meetings for fourteen years. 1t was no
light matter in those days, when drinking
customs were almost universal, TO become
champions in a new and unpopular cause;
to appear fanatics. and to stem the cur
rent Of opposition-yet such is ever the
test of pioneers in works of reform, and
one by one among all sects and creeds
brave men became convinced that abst-
nance was the only safe course for them to
advocate. Sometimes they banded to-
gether; again We find them singly, work
ing to save then fellows from ruin. Such
was Father Mathew, a Roman Catholic
priest, whose attention was first called to
this subject by a member of the Society of
Friends. His success in Great Britain,
Ireland ana America was wonderful, and
his countrymen, regarding him as a Saint,
were swayed by his eloquence as a field
Of grain bends before the wind" Rich
and poor, learned and ignorant, were
reached by his arguments, and, it is said,
that 1000, 000 Of his hearers signed the
pledge, and most of these were true 10
their word. 1t is sad to know that after
habits of degradation, and her people now
may we'll long for another Father Mathew
to aid them again, in breaking their
chains.
The Washington Society originated IN
1910, when seven men, stronglyaddicted to
liquor, met in Baltimore for their usual
nightly revel, but o. separating, bomd
themselves that they would never again
touch the wine-cup. nor be its slaves, and
they kept their pledge. Foremost among
them was John Hawkins, and SO earnest
did his desire become that other drunk
ards might find the same liberty, that he
went from state to state, and city to city,
lecturing to large audiences, until the
Neutrality-suspicious. became a power in the
land.
Like strong saplings from a parent tree,
sprang up the Sons of Temperance, Good