Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-10-07

gradual failing of week.
Gen. Dow was in his 93d year. He
came from long-lived Quaker family.
His father lived to be 95 years old and
his mother was a centenarian. Tn to
the time of his late illness he was in
the habit of rising at 5 o'clock every
morning and taking a long walk. He
would often drive twenty miles of an
afternoon and was remarkably active
! for a man of his age. Gen Dow
achieved national fame as the father of
| the Maine prohibition law. Since 1910
he has been the leader o. the prohibit
ticnists in this state, and has often
times been their champion In other
commemorative. He was perhaps the
! most influential temperance advocate
| in the United States. Twice he was
called upon to go to England in the
| interests of the temperance cause. and
he spoke in all of the large cities of
Great Britain. He had been mayor of
Portland several times, and served two
terms in the state legislature. His
bravery in the civil war won him the
rank of brigadier general.
Neal Dow was born in Portland,
March 20. 1904 Just across the way
from his later residence on Congress
street. His father was a Well-to-do
tanner. After being educated in the
academy, the son engaged in business
with his father. Young Dow had al
ways been taught to abhOr liquor. On
every occasion he used his influence
against the traffic, but it is said that
only by accident he was led to take
the field in an open fight for prohlbl-
ton. A woman whom he knew asked
that he use his influence to keep her
husband from drinking, as he was
about to lose his position on that &c-
count He was in the habit of getting
his liquor from certain place, and
she thought that if the saloon keeper
could be persuaded not to sell to him
he would reform. Dow made the re-
quest for her, but was rebuffed by the
saloon keeper. This treatment led
him to begin a war on the traffic which
resulted in driving every liquor dealer
from the state. In 1S41 he gave up his
business and started on campaigning
tour through the state. He Travelled
in carriage ir summer and in sleigh
in winter, visiting every section Of the
state, delivering speeches and leaving
a wide trail of temperance tracts be-
hind. When he had saturated the
state with prohibition sentiment he
prepared a bill for the legislature
which prohibited the manufacture and
sale of liquor in Maine. 1t was passed
in 1851 and every saloon was driven
out of the state. Mr.. Dow was serving
his second term as mayor Of Portland
when the law was passed. When the
war broke out he, at the age of SO,
raised a regiment and went into the
field as colonel of the thirteenth Maine
volunteers. He rose to the rank Of
brigadier general. During a whole
winter he was confined in Libby prison
and in 1864 was exchanged for Gen.
Fitzhugh Lee. He was twice wounded
in battle. In 1866 he spent some time
in England working for the abolition
=
hal been much at home attending to
his business affairs, reading ntucn and
/ writing some.
In a recent interview he sand Mine
was a long lived race, several of my
ancestors passed by ten or twenty
! years the three score and ten limit,
two reached 100, one passing 104, while
my honored father lived 70 within
! thee months of So, with hardly q sick
day in his life. For the last lice
generations my progenitors lived he
! frugal quiet, well-ordered lives H.
| friends. and they transmitted to Lie
the family tendency Of longevity, IN
imLaired by dissipation and excess. In
youth, being fond of athletic sports
and having opportunity for reasonable
indulgence in them, | thereby added
to my inheritance of health and
strength. | have been particular in
the matter of diet, SO far, at least, as to
avoid eating to safety of meats, and
altogether as to what | have found
hurtful. l have always abstained from
intoxicating liquors and tobacco. and
am convinced that such abstinence has
greatly contributed 20 my health. [
have borne physical and mental strain
under which associates as strong nat
urally have failed, because. as | be-
lieve, they resorted to stimulants. This
has been due in part to prudence in
diet, but more in my trying to bear in
mind that 'sufficientfto the day is the
evil thereof In wasting nc regrets
on the inevitable, in trying to endure
what could not be cured, and in bor-
rowing no trouble, l have saved the
great waste to health and strength
which always attends useless anxiety
You ask what advice I would give to
the young as essential to success in
life. Ideas of success vary. | can con-
ceive of no higher standard than the
full discharge OF ones duty to God
and his fellow men. No higher re-
ward can come to man than the con-
tent attending a consciousness of that
duty well and faithfully done"