The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-04-18

OF successful contradiction, that a FAY
etteville man can obtain liquor when
eve he wants it with little or no diff
culty-in large quantities by express.
in physicians prescriptions, or. liz ne
is not afraid of 4 prison, from the
blind tiger" A correspondent of The
Fayetteville Observer, writing some
time ago as Citizen" who is said to
De a prominent clergyman of the city
represented Fayetteville as infested
with blind tigers" even walking
blind tigers" aud declared in effect
that drunkenness was here fragrant and
depiorable. The figures above given
show that the Charlotte morally stunt
ed have no need either to spit cotton
If they are athIrst
The truth is it is hard to see the
difference between arid Fayette vile
and Charlotte ON the one hand, ana
bibulous Wilmington ON the other, ex-
cept that in the last named wicked
seaport town, which is going along the
broad road TO destruction untouched
by the appeals OF the pure in heart,
the citizen steps into a saloon and
takes his grog, clearly and neatly sew
ed, with the accessories of ice, sugar.
lemons, etc. In Charlotte and Fayette-
vile the tippler steps into an alley be-
hind a chimney, draws a flask from
his pocket, and Jilts it IN his nose or,
al the best, takes an old bottle FROM
under the counter in his store or Of
flee, and measures three fingers in
a dingy, dirty glass.
| am an old man, and nave no right
to expect to see much more OF This
world, good or bad; but the time is
coming when the anti-saloon leaguers,
the i~ron-bound prohibitionists, the
drastic lawmakers, and all other radi-
Gals and extremists will be brought to
see the true inwardness of this great
question of the consumption of ardent
spirits, and to admit the true, broad
liberal solution OF the momentCuS
problem-a solution far away from the
empirical quackery which they have
devised for doctoring it.
The use of strong liquor is purely a
personal matter. The man who sees
that it is injuring him physically,
mentally or morally, and that he is
becoming too much addicted to itsindul-
gence, should cut It off totally, without
compromise, or he deserves to take the
middle of the road" on the highway
to ruin-and he probably will. 1t is
not his province to dictate to his neigh
Dor about the bottle, any more than it
is 20 interfere with his eating porter
house steak or wearing fine clothes,
but it is his business to see that his
own life, both in public and private,
is decently ordered.
When a healthy public sentiment
hall laorao that n roon no hifr1oIlV nl.II-
died and stupefed with strong drinks
is degrading his citizenship, and shall
make him pay for it by the withdrawal
Of it's c~ountenance; when the great
church organizations shall lay down
the immutable law that dram-drink-
ers cannot be o~ffice-bearers around the
altar of the Most High; when the So
cial circle shall invariably condemn
t o ostracism the nan who enters the
parlor or the ball room with whiskey
breath, bloodshot eyes or bloated
cheeks-then drunkenness will become
so rare that it will be notable. But
neither ant~i-saloOnist, with bands, ana
banners, and lecturers, nor prohlb1-
tionists, infesting the lObbies OF law
making assemblies and seeking the
enactment of class legislation; nor
local politicians, new clothed in Office,
and set to tinkering on the Stature
books, will ever bring about temper
ance in the use uf intoxicating drinks.
= y + y = 4 -
There is no county in all North Car
DINA more interesting than Baden
ancient, rich in old memories, tee1ning
in historic associations; grand old
mother of generations, lying in repose
on the banks Of the noble stream
which has carried with its murmuring
waters to the sea the story of her sols
and daughters who lived, and ioyed
and suffered and died.
About seventy-five years ago, in a
fine old county nome, about eight miles
from Elizabethtown, the county seat OF
Bladen, on the east side Of the Cape
Fear river, lived a prominent family
who owned a remarkable slave, and
North Carolina Conference wrote a
very entertaining article some time
since-in addition to which l have re-
Gently gathered some interesting incl
dents. This slave seems to have been
undoubtedly a prince or nobleman,
perhaps of the blood royal of his
W1IQ lCnQ, anu tIiOSc VIII hiCW AaALi =
garded him, from their geographical.
and chronological information as a Ma
lay; but his written and spoken tongue
flor he could use the pen in his own
was pronounced by schoiars
and ,inguists to be certainly Arabic.
He was probably captured in some
savage raid on thu tribe and dominlons
of his chief, like the cannibal expedi-
ton which finally landed Robinson
Crusoe's man Friday on the island OF
Juan Fernandez. Anyhow, he was Ii
of he living cargo in the hold or a
slave ship which put into the haroor
of Charleston, S. c., along about 1879;
but, before the wretched human
freight was put up on the block to be
sold off to the plantations, Omniroo,
the name he bore in his native n
managed 20 make his escape, and fed
to the swamps, where he lay hid tor
49, -,,11,cf,a n oc host he 2nIIt1