The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1902-08-27
THE REV. SAM SMALL.
From a Woman's Point of View
By One Who Heard Him
Friday Night.

OmaIt Ill MS duuTeSS IO IHe people OF
Montpelier the other night, cry
can hardly be withheld from those
who, he was pleased to say, would be
mos5 affected by the law he advo-
Gates, and to whom he made what he
intended to be a hattering appeal
though here, his eloquence faltered
apd the words seemed to stick in his
throa5 ti'l he TOOK rouge in a display
Of wit.
The gentleman who introduced Mr..
Small stated that tie lecturer under
stood human nature and his statement
proved correct, for we'll he knew how
to lead the mind through LADY finth-
inc maze, appearing now and then in
the guise of the charmer, Flattery,
ard again in the bluff joker who
laughs at human weaknesses, while
inwardly he sneers; creating a sud
den diversion, if a way oJt appeared,
by witty play on words. till the
average mind was well nigh lost in
the whirl of repartee, sharp if not
elegant and the meaningless high
sounding phrases of his vulgar oratory.
He assured his audience that it was
not necessary for missionaries from
New York to come to Vermont to
teach the freemen how to vote, but
he was careful, by every means he
knew, to impress them with his views
upon the subject.
In explanation OF his reason for
coming from his Southern home
away up here to Vermont" to inter
fere in local affairs, he said that some
years ago the South got an everlast-
ing licking for thinking that each
State had right to manage its own
affairs and Vermonters had their
share in it, consequently, he was here
to "get back at them. If at this
moment he felt there was any discrep-
ancy in his statement, he retreated at
once to the shelter of buffoonery
which he knew would divert atten-
ton. At any rate, he left his hearers
to draw their own conclusions as to
whether he meant to cheap Goals of
fire - on our heads, or hoped for the
vengeance of small natures-to draw
us down to his own level.
There are those now, however, who
stand in need of an everlasting lex
ing for thinking that a man has a
right to manage his own affairs, when
it comes to the adoption of an act or
system which he knows will bring
disaster and suffering to his neighbor /;
and, solely, that he may repose in the
lap OF luxury at the awful expense of
ruined lives, broken hearts, separa-
. ton of children ard parents-for
liquor does this, too--crime, hunger,
cruelty despair, wretchedness, want,
aud all that follows in the wake of
the saloon as surely as in the wake
of slavery.
Women of Vermont, if my memory
serves me Alright, you had your share
in the attendant circumstances o. the
aforesaid thrashing'' and should
you be called upon again as humble
instruments in the administering of
other lickirgs" you will not finch,
but do your part bravely.
Well, indeed, the reverend gentle
man knew that to pirate of political
bosses' seldom fails to rouse spirit
of opposition, yet he hesitated not at
all to acknowledge his share in the
management of affairs political in his
own State. To the feminine mind,
there was something confusing in his
explanation of his apparently changed
views, since he spoke in Vermont some
years ago, the maiu point of which
appeared to be that he believed eX-
actly as he did then, but he expressed
it differently He said he espoused
the cause of local option in the Legis-
lature of his own State, while a mem
Der, land here he took his audience
into his contidence) admitting candid
ly that at the time he was drinking
enough "to float an ocean liner. ="
This was another source of Devil
derment, for of course he would
want license local option law under
such conditions. He told them that
the local option law in Georgia,
Missouri and Texas had driven out
the liquor traffic in many codnties
and large proportion in each State
were prohibition counties without a
liquor dealer within their borders,
and when he said license local option
law does not necessarily mean the
opening of single saloon, the illogi-
cal asked herself, What do they want
it for?'
Mr.. Small asserted that if a town
wanted prohibition it should have it,
but no power under heaven had the
right to foist it on the citizens against
their will. This, he said is demo-
cracy, it is republicanism, American
ism, and freedom. But what about
the hopeless ones, whose votes must