The Portland daily press., 1897-10-06

who held us to himself by hands more
delicate than silk and more firm than
steel. Let the idlers among us be aroused
and melted by his incessant activity. o
well might the last words be, 'I am
weary" Who than he had a better right
to be weary, not of, but in his work
Again, II long to be freel" Ay, his was
the eagles upward gaze and flight, and
as the bird escaped from the cage in
which he had been imprisoned his soul
would fain mount upwards to heavenly
heights, fly away and be at rest
| REV. A. II. WRIGHT,
of st. Lawrence church, followed DIR.
Dalton, speaking as follows:
Fellow Citizens-Gratitude and glad
ness mingle with the sorrow of this hour.
We are deeply thankful that the long and
benificent life our departed fellow citizen
| has been lived in our city from the cradle
| TO the grave We are thankful for the lus-
ire his noble life, grand achievements and
| illustrious name have shed upon our city
and commonwealth We are glad that he
was spared in marvellous vigor of mind
and health of body to extreme old age.
We rejoice over the great moral and pol1t'
| ical results of his life work.
| The story of his life has often been
| told it need not be rehearsed here. 1t is
indeed a most remarkable achievement
when man succeeds in go blending his
name and his personality with great
moral cause that the man and the cause
become inseparable in the popular mind.
The two grand results of his life work
| trafflo IN Maine in 1851 and constitutions
al prohibition of that traffic by a sweep
ing popular vote in 1885.
| Both these results were in SO large q de-
| gree que to Gen. BOWS personal effort, 1t
is safe to affirm that without his able ad-
yocacy and inspiring leadership they had
never been achieved
BACK OF these epochal events in the pol
ltlcai history of our commonwealth there
We're certain moral factors in the charaot-
or or our venerable and now departed
citizen. would speak of them as the
| underlying element and determining
causes OF his success in life; and as I
speak am aware that our departed
friends would disapproye Of any fulsome
or appreciation of his service to human
ity.
FIST OF oil and fundamental to all, was
Gen. BOWS youthful sympathy for and
interest in the tempted and imperilled
classes of our city. In those early days Of
his career, as q temper Ance worker, when
he lifted up his voice in behalf of suffer-
1hE humanity dtttt dEdlnSU lu6 ptTllUuS
power OF the licensed saloon he was moved
by that noble passion for human we'll
being which has created tine world s
grandeSt characters and greatest reform
ers. The spectacle of ruined homes, de-
based manhood, woeful womanhood and
wrctched children excited the sympathies
and inspired the energies of this youthful
temperance champion and orator. Anoth-
er factor of his moral power, which had
much to do with the grand results of his
life work, was his thorough conservation
Of himself to the cause of the tempted and
suffering.
There came day in his early man.
hood, when his great life which has gone
out from our presence, WAS consciously
given to the work of temperance reform;
an hour when he said to the rumseller in
sisting on his personal rights as legally
licensed liquor dealer: "God helping
inc will change all this Then the high
purpose of his life was formed, then he
elected his mission. then he consecrated
his heart, his intellect, his energies and
his inspiring personality to the task of
depriving the licensed saloon keeper of
his legal right to ruin homes and destroy
human happiness.
Apart from this noble conservation of
self to the work, prohibition had never
been an accomplished fact nor would
Neal Dow have immortalized his name as
the Trainer and father of the Maine law.
This consecrated purpose was formed as
early as 1880 or 1881 when Mr.. Dow was
not more than 81 years of age He deter
mined to devote himself to the advocacy
OF the principle of legislative prohibition
some four or five years later. In his
earlier efforts Mr.. Dow had no intention
of devoting his life to the cause, much
less to become professional reformer.
He was man OF business, devoting his
leisure time to temperance work, but now
began more earnest and exactino labors
in this cause. While interested in indus
trial. educational and philanthropic in
terestF, notably the anti-slavery cause, he
was more and more personally identified
with that of temperance reform and legis-
lation. His concentrated purpose made
him, unconsciously, professional refor-
mer.
Still another important factor in the
great achievements of this remarkable
man was the strength of his personal con-
victions respecting the prohibitive prirci-
pie as right and sound, and as entirely
practicable. Neal ID w was no dreamer;
no wild visionary seeking to achieve the
impossible. He never expected bad men
and women could be made by legislative
enactment.
may be made mora, and temperate by
statute. But he did believe in, and he
never ceased to believe in the possible,
reasonable suppression of the rum traffic
by legal prohibition. He did believe I'M
til the.day of his death that tho possible
and practical enfoI cement of the Maine
law would Danish liquor saloons from our
streets and drive the infamous traffic into
darkness. rob it of Its glamour of respect
ability. its alluring and glaring t4mpta-
lions and its insidious perils. This was
his aim, this he studied and toiled to ac-
complish, to remove from those weak or
diseased men and women, in whom appe-
title for strong drink, hereditary or ao-
quired, held its sway over their will, con-
science and reason. the open, visible, pub
lie temptation Of the licensed saloon.
That this ought to be done and could be
done, Neal Dow never for moment
doubted. In his own experience as mayor
of Portland he had proved the law of pro-
hibition to be practically efficient. He
believed the majesty and the might of
the law, when welded by its strong, he
rojc. faithful servants was amply suffioi-
ent to deliver the city and the State from
the curse of open rumshops
This was Neal Dow's contention. Not
that men may be made moral and
temperate by statute" but that they
could be delivered from temptation, and
thai this would be most imDortant and