Martinsburg statesman. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1869-1906, 1905-12-15
TEMPERANCE IN AN ON NEW M
GLAND Town.


New Hampton was settled the year
tue "shot was fixed, hcsrd round the
world.n
What gives the place seine impor-
lance is not the spsrsity Of it's ropula-
tion ts00l nor its peculiar shape, being
sixteen miles long to four broad, but
Is being the seat Of the New Hampton
Literary and Biblical Institution, which
was founded IN 1921. Its temperance
condition a century ago and its TEN
perance condition today Is a fair index
of temperance progress throughout
the State and perhaps ofNew England
during the ninteenth century.
I In 1898 the town voted 10 build A
meeting house, After the necessary
preliminary arrangements, Il was voted
to"haye beefa nd mutton to raise the
meeting house. The next vote was"to
have cider with the vietuals.n
| am fortunate TO have in my po,-
session an old ledger which was oi.cs
the property of one, Daniel Smith. lie
kept grocery store.
! He was man of much influence i'm
official and business circles. At the
time this ledger was begun, Jan l,lsi2
he was first selectman and clerk of the
town. He sold rum with his groceries.
If his ledger is correct he sold more
rum than he did groceries. 1t was no
disgrace to sell rum in those days, or
TO bny it. The best people in town
bought 1t. Levi Robinson, the great
grandfather of the late DIR. A. j. Cor
don, a stiff old calvinist, who Is de-
scrbed as walking to church Sunday
mornings seven miles or more ain his
powdered wig and with IA huge silver
topped stick" has twenty-eight entries
in this ledger, and fourteen are for
rum.
The widow Kelley has twenty-four
entries, and ten of them are for liquor.
DR.. Thomos Roberts has ninety-two
entries and sixty-three are for rum.
Not a name found it's way upon these
pages but some entries are made agains
II in favor of the ardent.
An average of the sales compared
with the entries for other goods tells
the story that over sixty per cent Of
the sales is for purposes OF inhibition.
A gill Of New England rum cost
eight Gems or about II per gallon. West
India rum cost somewhat more than
the New England brand.
The want and Indebtedness of those
days can hardly be described. 1t was
thirteen years before DIR. Lyman
Beecher preached his six tremendous
temperance sermons which so aroused
the whole country to the evils of strong
drink; twenty-eight years before the
| Washingtonlan movement which eff
fectsd SO great things in the reforma-
ton OF drunkards. Old men have told
me that the condition Of the town six
ty years ago was deplorable. Everybody
drank. The houses were imprinted, d.
lapidated. The men frequented the tav-
ern, and staggered about with battered
hats and in old shoes, while the women
fought the gaunt wolf OF poverty that
pursued them like fiend. Families suf-
fered for proper food and clothing. No
money found its way into savings
banks. The people were poor.
The men were drinking themselves
t. death. could tell harassing tales Of
fine, promising youth going out Of this
town only to make ship-wreck Of
themselves.
The change that has been wrought
is marvelsus. Not drunkard in town
today. Even moderate drinking is on
the wane. Those who drink moderate
Iy can be counted on the fingers Of one
hand. There has been the usual amounl
of moral suasion used by the clergy Of
the town. But moral suasion does not
account wholly for the change. The
school laws are practically prohibition
and have been for the eighty-four years
Of it's existence. When the late move
ment was on to turn the state to loca}
option, this town voted so to IA in ia
vor of no license. The towns surround
ing it are no-license towns. 1t Is Sec
ton among the White Hills, compar-
atively free from the deadly influences
of strong drink. People Of ability are
making their summer homes in New
Hampton. Three men connected with
the universities,of this country, one
with one of its most famous theologi-
c ii schools, have tarried here this sum
All hail the day when this whole coun-
try shall be as clean as is the present
condition OF this town.
From the New Voice.
w. T. Siler.