The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1886-01-28
For Whom Shall We Yote2

"EOr whom shall we voter IS
question that is agitating the minds
of the best people of our country,
and none are or should be more in
terested in this question than wo-
men and children, for while they
cannot exercise the right of suf-
frage, yet the condition Of none is
more affected by the vote than
theirs. Wives, mothers and sis
tiers, it is to you I appeal for aid.
1t is you who suffer, it is you who
are downtrodden. While some of
you have never drunk the cup of
sorrow caused by the use of vile
rum, yet there are others among you
who are suffering living death at
the hands of an inebriate husband,
father or son.
Think not that you have nothing
to do. "a place in the ranks awaits
you." Then be up and doing. /
mention Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Saxon,
Mrs. Meriwether and all such no
bic, generous, self-sacrificing wo-
men as these as models of imita-
ton. Oh, give US your attention,
your prayers and your influence in
this great cause. Use your pen in
behalf Of prohibition. If you are
not prohibitienist, let fancy paint
you as the wife of a drunkard or the
neither Of an inebriate son. Oh,
with what a feeling of fear, tremb-
ling and disgust do you mark his
approach at nightfall, Keeling, stag
gering and uttering invectives
against you. If you were thus sit
uated would you work for prohibi-
tionT Would you not send up your
petitions to God to abolish the ac-
cursed whisky? / think if there be
one spark of womanhood in your
nature you surely would. Then go
to work. Many man as noble as
your husband or son now occupies
felon's cell or fills a drunkard's
grave and endures q drunkard's
doom. Vile rum has caused them
all this woe and killed their joy
and peace.
"On with the work, on with the work,
Abk1uE 6OOb n61p each OhyS
On with the work, on with the work,
Driving runs blight away"
Yes, since its first Introduction
into this country in the. early part
of the seventeenth century by Hud-
son, the explorer, it has been a
whitening blight more to be dread
ed than a terrible African Simeon.
Oh, how can we get rid of it. There
is only one way. Shall we send
noble men to the legislature, men
who work for God and home and
native land, or shall we send men
whose hearts beat only in demi-
john, men who will corrupt the
morals of our youth, men who walk
hand in hand with his satanic maj
esty. Oh, God forbid! I ask the
voting people of the country to
search to the bottom of almost eve
ry murder, robbery and all other
sins known to the catalogue of crime
and they find that they have voted
it there by electlng men whose
character is a reproach to the po-
litical world. People blinded by
their party zeal elect men to the
highest and most honorable posi-
tions, men who without shame can
be seen staggering through the
streets reeling drunk, and without
fear profaning the word of God;
men who will go into the legisla-
tive halls with a whisky bottle in
one pocket, a bride in the other and
an oath on their lips, and enact
laws for the government, regardless
of consequences, and just so sure as
stream cannot rise above the
source, is it that we need not ex-
pect laws above the moral status of
our legislators. 1t is seldom that
we can pass through q town of a
hundred inhabitants without see
ing that odious, shameful word,
Saloon" over some door, and as
long as this continues, just so long
will eur jails and penitentiaries be
filed with criminals, our asylums
with raving maniacs, homes be
broken up and their inmates scat
tered far and wide, the. graves of
some, perhaps, in some distant
land, while the sea birds will chant
q requiem over others. How long,
how long, before we shall break
the chains of intemperancel just
so long as we have legislators who
pay homage TO a whisky barrel.
How long will the sober, intelligent
people of Tennessee submit to this2
"When the wicked rule the nation
mourns." Already the tocsin of
war is sounding and its echo is re-
verberating from ocean to ocean
and from the lakes to the gulf.
From the pulpit, the rostrum, the
educational halls, and frem the
family circle, wells up the cry,
Show long, oh Lord, how long"
"Hear, oh Israel, ye approach this
day into battle against your enc
mics; let not your hearts faint, fear
not and do not tremble, neither be
We terrified because of them. For
the Lord your God is he that goeth |
with you to fight for you against
your enemies to save you" Yes,
we are marching to the battle field
with faith for our armor, God as
our shield and the bible as our
chart, light to our pathway and
guide to our footsteps; and thus
for the greatest battle
eyer fought how can we fail? Alrea-
dy one by one the ranks Jof intern
perance are giving way. Already
they are deserving their ranks and
are filing into the ranks of temper
ance. Will it not be a glorious
day when the vast army of temper
ance workers reign-When there
shall be no saloons, but in their
stead churches and school houses,
and instead of impoverished homes
there shall be smiling plenty? Oh,
Is it not time you were up and do
ng? Can you sit and smile COM
and say 81 can do moth
ng," when hundreds are dying dali
y by this great enemy of manhood.