Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1897-07-30
y. %. o. Q. Column.
!. o. G. T. DlREC OF ADOl-
SON COUNTY.
GOOD TEMPLARS' COURSE OF
STUDY.
WHAT 1T is AND WHAT 1T DOES.
bessie Forsyth, r. W. G. J.T.I

bessie Forsyth, r. w. G. SIT
1t may be taken for granted that the
large majority of Good Templars have
learned what they know about the
temperance question as a result, directly
or indirectly, of their connection with
the Order. If they have made use of
their opportunities, they will have ac-
quired, almost unconsciouslv and at
very little cost, some knowledge of the
dangers of the drink habit and of the
traffic, some idea of the enormous pro-
portions of the evil, and some belief in
the necessity for earnest efforts in oppo-
sitlon to its encroachments. These ac-
quirements, with an ever growing con-
viction as to their own individual re-
sponsibllity in the matter, should be a
natural consequence of their membership
in our progressive and aggressive or
ganization.
But the true Good Templar who has
reached this point will not stop there.
His eyes once opened to the evil, his
soul will be filled with desire to ''be
hero in the strife" and he will look
around for some means by which he
may help the good cause. Then is the
time when he will realize his lack of
knowledge and feel himself as many a
great and good man has felt himself in
past days, to be "fettered and hampered
by his own ignorance The Good
Templar's course of study is an outcome
of the rapidly growing conviction that
temperance workers require to be edu-
Gated for their work. 1t is based upon
plan similar to that Of the far famed
Chautauqua course, except that instead
of being devoted to general topics it
deals with the temperance question and
matters relating to it. And lest the OBJ
lection be raised that such a system of
education must be narrow, let me say
/ first, that in one sense it is necessary
that it should be so. We temperance
workers have a larger task before us
than many of US fully realize. We have
set ourselves to wage war against one
of the greatest evils the world has ever
known; and to fit ourselves for the war
fare we need to be equipped with the
arms best calculated to deal death to our
enemy. And as
"Tbe tongue and the pen
Are the swords OF our men,
our need is for something which will
make these weapons elective. The tenn
peIance worker, in common with all
who devote themselves to any special
pursuit, requires what may be called a
technical education. His study having
a special object in view, he cannot afford
to waste time upon matters which have
no bearing upon the end. He must aim
straight for the mark and train himself
for his work, so that he may be able to
say, like the apostle, $50 run |, not as
uncertainty; so fight |, not as one that
beateth the air." Every step he takes
must have the goal in view; every blow
he strikes must be given with definite
purpose.
But while all this is true, we are
nevertheless able to claim with reason
that our course ofstudy is not narrow.
and on the same ground which enables
us to maintain that the work of our or
|. der is not narrow, and that in fact the
temperance reform covers broader
field than all other movements put to-
gether. Are YOU interested in the
= economic questions of the day, In the
, strife between labor and capital, in the
equitable adius tment of work and wages,
demand and supply? Then you cannot
; fail to recognize how large a factor the
liquor traffic is in all that pertains to
these problems. Do you study the
questions affecting the home and social
= life of the nation? Here again the ter
rible drink fiend stands revealed. largely
responsible for the awful developments
of heredty, for the revelations of the
police courts, for the crimes, the wrongs,
? the miseres, and the sorrows of life.
5 Nor is this all, for as we study more
deeply we realize that "man's inhuman-
ity to man." which makes counties
thousands mourn" is the result of the
= long continued use of the cup, which
f very likely had its part in hardening
Il, Ir, Of h