Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1910-10-04
oId.Tlme Temperance Work.

d When was child, and all throns
i. my girlhood nearly up To the time OF tn
civil war, temperance was the subjec
most talked on. My father, Col. Oriso
Ripley, then man of middle age, was
very jealous worker in the temperate
cause, and alike interested in religion
and loved to argue on either Questio
better than TO come to the table whel
hungry.
| was born in 1S47, and from m
earliest remembrance we had temper
ance for breakfast; temperance with re
ligion for dinner; religion for supper
and for lunch any time of day all tn
good apples We could eat. Those tire,
things, temperance, religion and goot
apples, were what was brought up on
and that is why remain SO we'll filled
out at this late day.
My father belonged to paris Hill
Division" of the "Order" OF the "Son.
Of Temperance" organized 10 1852, wa.
active in its formation, and held first tn,
office OF "Worthy Associate" to the "Wor
thy Patriarch" Col. Ebsnezsr Thayer
lie signed temperance pledge when b.
was a young man, one written out anG
circulated by DIR. Cyrus Hamiin, which
pledged only against the stronges,
liquors. Wine, beer and cider, were moi
Included. But few men signed il, bu,
several years after, think in 1912, wher
the Washingtonian temperance move
ment swept the country like cyclone,
Paris awoke, and great enthusiasm pre-
vailed; many, my father with the rest
signed the total abstinence pledge.
| DIR. Thomas II. Brown aud George r.
Emery held tenn perance meetings ali
about town in school houses, and with
their stirring speeches, and my father
to join with them in the then new tenn.
perance songs, they made a team fol-
such work seldom out done. A great
good was accomplished; many drinking
men saved from ruin, and their families
made comfortable and happy.
The town of Paris should be as proud
of DR.. Brown as of Hannibal Hamlin, for
he did An immense amount of good, both
with his temperance work and in his
generous treatment of the suffering
poor whom he often doctored without
pay in the long years of his practice;
and though no lettered stone rests on
he Common for him, there is an endur-
ing monument of love in the hearts of
the people who remember his life. My
father, in his old age, used to relate to
me many anecdotes of the old-time tenn
perance work in Paris, also comical in.
cidents of rum times" My own men,
DRY runs back to 1850 and this way as
the years passed. My father had seven
brothers, of which three took the side
of temperance with him; three took the
side of free rum, and one sat on the
fence; but he was such good uncle that
We did not disturb his roost.
Pity is always due to the man with an
appetite for strong drink; because we
never can know how much of it is due to
heredity, or to environment Our eldest
uncle was born with the love for liquor
in his makeup from a misfortune that
came to his mother before his birth; and
drink as he would, never got drunk, but
would get excited sometimes and be
very sociable and entertaining. Always
when he came over Paris Hill on his
way TO our house he would stop and get
a drink, then eat "a raw onion tn deaden
the smell, which only made it more pro-
nounced to our lively senses. Dear old
uncle. Next to our own father In the
love of US children, We delighted in his
visits.
remember, especially, one hilarious
4th of July when father had TO leave his
work to attend some military gathering,
somewhere, and hired uncle to fill his
place hoeing potatoes with the "bUys,"
my brothers. The field where they
worked was not far from the house, and
several times heard the call, Come,
Alice, bring up some ciderr' SO mother
would draw my little dinner pail nearly
full and | would trudge off with it.
Cider wasn't accounted an intoxicant by
many in those times, you know. Nearly
every farmer bad barrels of it in the eel
lar and some, of course used ii intern
perately, but al our cellar the greater
part usually turned to vinegar. When
urcle picked up my littl- pail to drink
he would always offer this toast, Here's
to liberty and free rightsn I never
understood quite what he meant, but he
seemed imbued with "the spirit of '76"
all day, talked of Washington and
Thomas Paine. of Ethan Allen, Israel
Putnam, whom he called odd Put" and
other Revolutionary heroes, discoursed
on Liberty" and the "Rights of Man"
aud made it day of instruction for
''the boys" never to be forgotten.
In those days neighbors were more
social than at this time, | think, visited
more. When the farm work was not
driving there were always dinner parties
about the neighborhood, or evening
visits with supper at nine O'clock; Occa-
sions for bOuntiful spreads, and IL. use
CT :ue 1sst China Ware. aud great
were the arguments on temperance at
those gatherings! Sometimes faces flush
ed with excitement, eyes flashed, voices
rang loud and denunciatory, but when
the call to the table came all was pleas
ant again. They never seemed to hold
any hard feelings toward one another
after those bouts.
NV favorte among the neighboring
women in my girlhoOd was Betty Ryer-
son, probably owing to her having a
pretty flower garden and oft-time giving
me roots and seeds from it. One day in
winter Job Ryerson ard wife Betty,
Asa Woodbury. and wife (Tacy) came to
our house on invitation to dinner, came
at ten and departed about four, as the
custom then was. The talk was all On
Neal Dow and his lectures, prohibitory
laws, town license. ETC., and somehow
father aud Mr.. Woodbury. fell ou;, can't
think how it happened, for Mr.. Wood
bury was a good temperance E.an him
self, but they got awfully excited, talk
ed louder and louder until the women
folks struck in and stopped it.
Betty said, "Folks that didn't want
liquor needn't have it," but she "didn't
see why they wanted to interfere with
other folks rights. She didn't care il
Job did drink, but she hoped he
wouldn't drink enough to make fool OF
himself. Tacy said she "Didn't care ii
Ase did make fool of himself, he had a
right to if he wanted to, but | know lie
won'tr' she ended. Then father got
out his old bass viol, and with much
scraping tuned it up, and they went to
singing "pennyrial tunes" as harmonious
as could be. What were called "penny-
rails" at that time were hymns with very
doctrinal words, and you often heard
among a group of singers this expires,
sion, "Now let us have some good old
'pennyrisls'r Perhaps there was some
puugent aroma of sauctity about both
words and music that caused them to be
likeued to that fervent herb, pennyroyal
Tacy Woodbury's favorite "pennyrial'
was
| "a poor.way faring man of grief
| Hath often met me on nv way
Il hn tanh umhly fnr relief