Year: 1874

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Encouraging Words to


those Laboring for its


Suppression.


Below, by the unanimous request of
the Temperance Mass Meeting, held at
Central Hall on last Saturday evening,
Miss Lide Hackinson furnishes us for
publication, a copy Of the Essay writ
ten by her for that occasion:


In submitting the following appeal
for publication, 1 desire to say that it
was never meant to be read in ''cold
blood;" not that 1 do not believe the
sentiment to be true, but because it was
so hastily written and merely intended
for an audience already so enthusiastic
that they would be sure to regard its
imperfections with a leniency not to be
expected from the general reader.
L.v.H.
1t has been suggested by the gentle
men who are interested in our work,
that some good may result from di-
rect personal appeal at this meeting
from the ladies to the ladies; and be-
cause am unwilling that we should
leave any duty unperformed, 1 have
accepted the task. Te those who have
faith only in private prayer for the re-
moval of this curse; to those who dis
believe in the permanency Of emotion
al effects; and to those who give as suf-
ficient reason for Withholding them
selves from this work, that they are not
personally concerned, having no friends
in danger, 1 make appeal tonight.


As regards private prayer alone, it is
hardly reasonable to suppose that the
prayers of the good, and of suffering
women everywhere, have not ascended
continually and without intermission.
We have tried the efficacy of faith with
cut works, and the result is, what you
see.


Can men net see that they require
miracle, when they ask that God shall
soften the hearts of all the liquor sellers
in the land, and cause them to desist
from their unholy traffic?


And we are told that the age of mira
cles is past. When seas are to be over
come when distance is to be annihilated,
when mountains are to be made to dis
appear, or when any physical result is
to be obtained, men do not retire into
their closets to pray to God to exert His
power, and save them the trouble of
using theirs; no, strong arms, and
stronger brains are set to work human
faculties are brought to bear upon these
seemingly insurmountable difficulties;
and steam and electricity are caught
and controlled by man to do his bidding
and annihilate space. And so. think,
it would be equally as absurd, to ask
God to accomplish moral results with
human agency, and the faithful exer-
else of human faculties, as it would
have been for the projectors of the
Mount Gents Tunnel, or for the inven-
tor of the electric telegraph, to ask Him
to accomplish physical and scientific re-
suits, without the active, and patient
labor of men, themselves. He has been
very lavish Of his gifts; and though
such qualities as courage, energy and
patient endurance, are latent in many
of us, it is only by their active use that
they attain their highest development;
and God has wisely ordained that it
should be so.


1 Lean conceive of no greater presump-
ton, than for men and women, when
they have a disagreeable duty before
them, one, like this, that involves an
amount of personal Inconvenience, or
fancied loss Of dignity, or that conflicts
with our notions of what is refined and
proper, to decorously withdraw them
selves into their closets, and request the
Lord to disarrange His eternal laws,
and to perform for them a miracle,
thereby sparing them from doing that
which is not only distasteful, but diff
cult. God never meant to encourage
such sloth, and inaction, and such I'M
christian refinement. When we have
that to do that requires some patient
work, and some unpleasant duties, 1
would suggest that We try what human
hearts, tender with love and charity,
and strong with faith, hope and fixed
determination can do, assisted to be sure,
and guided and controlled by Him who
is always ready to help those who help
themselves; to strengthen those who
strive for strength; and to inspire with
a fresher faith, the falrering in a good
work. He has been always with us in
this cause. 1t is the hearts of men that
we want to touch; men, whose ears
cannot hear us when we pray in secret,
and whose eyes are unaccustomed to
see the tears of unhappy women they
have wronged. No doubt these men
know that such things are; that men
are ruined, and that the hearts of wo-
men are broken, and their homes made
desolate, every day. They could not
live and not know that these things are
true but they must be made to feel their
truth. And when they are brought
face to face with the weeping women
that they have wronged, when they see
the tears, and hear the prayers of which
they have heretofore only been dimly
conscious, tears and prayers will have
for them deeper significance-a fuller
meaning.


To those who deplore the emotional
character of this movement; who
doubt the permanency of its effects