Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, August 07, 1856, Image 1
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jamx^melton, }proprietore- An Independent Journal: For the Promotion of the Political, Social, Agricultural and Commercial Interests of the South. | lewis k. gbbt, fiimi?hm.
VOL^. YOEKYILLE, S. C., THURSDAY, A.XJG-TJST 7, 1856. 3^Q. 33./
(Lboirr |Votto.
THE 2LIND MAN.
"Jesus answered, and said unfn him, :
What wilt thou that I should do unto thee ?" |
The blind man saic1 unto hiin, Lord, that I
may receive my sight."
"What wilt tbou have ?" This question still
The Savior asks of every heart:
"What wilt tlion have ? all power is mine,
What'er thou wilt I can impart."
Answer, 0 heart, thou restless heart,
What is thine inmost desire ?
What oftenest stirs thy longings deeps?
What qnickens most thy hidden fire ?
Ah, is it not some bright, sweet dream
Of love or beauty, wealth or power?
Some fishing gleam of earthly joy?
Some fond enchantment of the hour ?
Yes, tee are blind : in midnight gloom
Are wrapt our souls, which should behold,
Trvsfonft nf hllV>tiU>? Slirdl <1S tlieSO.
- All heaven before our sight unrolled.
Well may we still repent the prayer
Of him who, veiled in earthly night,
Beforo the Saviour waiting stood?
'Lord, that I may receive my sight."
'Cfinjjfnmcc (tssaii.
AN ADDRESS
TO
THE PEOPLE OF YORK DISTRICT,
i
ON THE OBJECTS JtC.J OS THE
SONS OF TEMPERANCE.
Fellow Citizens :?
"We address you by instruction and I
authority of the York Division of the Sons
of Temperance. The objects of the society,
and the duty of the christian, the moral
man, the good citizen and lover of his country
in reference thereto, will constitute our
topics. The objects of the organization arc
readily expressed in a few general propositions.
They are, to encourage each other
in total abstinence from intoxicating drinks
?to reclaim the drunkard?to suppress by
counsel and example all drunkeuncss iu the j
land?to work for the eradication of all those !
condticements, by which intemperance is
sustained and promoted, and thus by necessary
consequence promote the best iuterests
of our people, and advance the welfare of
our State.
The first consideration is?is the use of
alcoholic drinks an evil iu our land ? Who
will stand up and affirm that it is not?is
not a mighty evil, the greatest of all the so- !
cial evils, which pollute our homes, and de-:
file our country ? Go where you may?wander
where you will?whether to the ballot-1
box, in the discharge of your duty as a citizen
of this free republic?or to the field of military
parade?or to the indispensable sale of
the effects of a neighbor, whose place on
earth shall know him no more?or to any
point of business or of pleasure?or even to
the sanctuary"of God, what fear broods over ;
your mind?what evil looms up before your 1
imagination, except the demoniac ravings ;
and consequents of the jruzzler? of whiokry i
and distilled spirits? Intemperance i- that '
feared evil?the only one usually realized, i
Clear of this blighting curse, our country j
would be a comparative Eden. Fathers and j
mothers could better hope for their sons, and !
rest in calmer security. The patriot could '
look forward with greater confidence to a i
bright career for his cherished State; and ;
the christian would exult in the enlivening I
prospect of a glorious ingathering of the
ransomed of the Ford. It is intemperance
mainly, which crowds your Sessions' dock- j
ets?fills your prisons?supplies your gallows?cuts
the throats of your citizens?
blights the happiness of the domestic fireside
?breaks the hearts of wives and children
/ _; i__ i r :i? _ .1: . i !
ana menus?ueggars rauuues?sowsuiscuiu s
among neighbors?induces beastliness?con-1
duces to almost every other vice?impedes J
the progress of all moral reforms?cripples 1
the labors of the sanctuary, and robs church,
State and society of what should be man's i
glory, duty, and destiny. It is an open,
glaring, wide-spread, and frightful evil. If
there be a single individual within the c 1-'
fines of our district, whose understanding is ;
'
so perverted, and whose conscience is in such 1
a condition of obliquity as to doubt the evil
of intemperance, we tell him, this address
is not designed fyr him. Such man lias i
our sympathy, but not that consociation even \
implied by a public address.
Admitted then to be an evil, an evil of j
deplorable magnitude, should not drunken- j
ness be opposed, suppressed and rooted out '
of the land ? Conscience?your conscience, j
reader, returns no uncertain answer. Fur-1
uished by your Creator with this inward
monitor?this "candle of the Lord," you
reply to the question with a full affirmative. j
No houest man can claim the privilege, to
compromise with evil. To seek and affect
the accomplishment of this noble work,
whose is the duty ? (t is yours as well as 1
ours. Who permits you to repose at Meroz ? ;
Not He, which lias pronounced a bitter curse '
against those who "came not to the help of
the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the
mighty." IIow and by what means is the ;
evil to be opposed?abolished? How else j
than "with ail thy heart, and with all thy j
soul, and with all thy mhuV*?by your
counsel, influence^ example and snha/a no? !
"yea, with what clearing of ourselves, yea, :
what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what
vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what
revenge ! '?and with that readiness and
zeal of Phinehas, bv which the ulao-ue of Ts
rael was stayed. To do loss is to trifle with
known duty. lie, who knows his Master's
will, and neglects it, cannot escape with impunity^
The detail of the means is not yet exhausted.
Mau is a social being. He has to do
with his fellow-man. The evil is abroad in
society. The question here arises, can the
greatest good be accomplished by individual
action, or by combined effort and orgauiza%:
,
tion? Without the possibility of a doubt,
reason itself cannot err from the correct conclusion.
Why do good men organize Bible
societies, Missionary societies, Tract societies,
and hundreds of other benevolent societies
why do individuals form associations
or organizations in every department and
concernment of life ? It is simply because
of the superior efficiency of organization.?
The experience of mankind speaks trumpcttongued
on this subject. But to close cavil:
the Spirit of divine truth has affixed his seal,
that organization is the preferable mode,
and is our reasonable duty. If not, why did
Christ require organization in TIis Church?
He never requires a vain thing. The conclusion
then is inevitable, that, to suppress
intemperance, organization is more efficient
?more in accordance with duty than individual
eifort; and it becomes your and our
duty, whether as christians, or as good citizens.
to resort to it To do less is nornin to
7 " -- O
trifle with duty.
But to what organization does our duty
point? Truth and conscience answer: to
that which is most efficient without transgressing
duty. This most effieicut organization
we are hold in avowing is the one
among us, known as the Soxs of Tempkuaxce.
Header, name the better and more
efficient organization, if you can, other than
that which we have named. Are you a member
of that other? Furnish us with it, and
we will discharge our duty in seeking membership
with it and you. The evil is upon
us, cutting down its thousands?our sands
of life are fast wearing away, and our accounts
hastening to a close. Shall you and
we stand here all the day idle, or, almost as
culpable, shall we play the part which was
played at Washington in 1814, when the
enemy.was rapidly advancing to pillage and
destroy the city : instead of throwing out
the flints by the bag-full, shall we proceed
to count them out one by one, and, fearing
some mistake, insist on counting them over
again ? The city was lost of course ; and
our cause Will be lost by adhering to a like
policy.
Where is the olden State Temperance Society
with its simple pledge, freedom from
control, and sometime meetings ? And echo
auswers, where. Imbued with no active
principle of cohesion, it passed away as the
morning cloud and the early dew. It soon
died; perhaps of atrophy?perhaps of catalepsy?or
perhaps, as a physician once said
of a patient, "of want of breath." We admif
1 f wnn o lnn/lohlrt PArtirtf TT onrl Knrl O lllro I
uiLb ib uaa a lauuauic syvicujj auu uau u. imv
glorious object with the Sous; but not striking
the proper chord in man's nature, it
expired so soon as the first ebullition of excitement
exhausted itself. The practice and
efficiency of such societies, generally, have
their counterpart in the conduct of those
chri.-tiuns, who once or twice a year come up
to the remembrance feast of their Lord and
Master, and never again think of duty, until
the return of a like occasion. Pretty christians,
say you. Almost useless society, say
we.
The records of the Sons of Temperance
exhibit a different histoiy. Dating its inception
from "sixteen noble hearted men" in
the city of New York, on the 29th September
1842, the progress of the organization
lias been onward, the steady tramp of the
disciplined phalanx. Planting thoir feet on
the rock of eternal truth, trebly armed with
the rectitude of their cause, fixing their eyes
on the glory of a mighty nation redeemed
from drink, and casting at their feet the reproaches
and sneers of the Tobiahs of the
dram shops and their panders, the Sons of
Temperance have unwaveringly advanced
from victory to victory. Although a mere
stripling in years, the Society has already relieved
its tens of thousands from the paws
of the lion and the bear. From the annual
report of the National Division for 1854,
made up to the commencement of this year,
we find there were in South Carolina fifty
Subordinate Divisions of the Sous. The
number is not given in the report for 1S55.
From the last named report, we learn that
the Subordinate Divisions under the jurisdiction
of the National Division, extending
avi.p tin* Tulin1r? nf t!?r? 1 tiifrwl Nhitf?s. tll(!
British Provinccsand England, number three
thousand nine hundred and sixty-four?England
receiving her charter from the United
States. The number of contributing members
is upwards of one hundred and fifty
thousand?a noble army truly, panoplied for
war with the Goliath of iniquity. Why
should not this army be estimated by millious?
Let your conscieuce, reader, answer for one
niau. The tlag of Prohibition already waves
in triumph over nine States of this Union.
Even our old fashioned sister, North Carolina,
is far ahead of our State iu the good
cause of Temperance. On the 1st of January
1855, she had 185 Divisions of the
Sons of Temperance. With all her bad
whiskey it seems slm prefers, that South
Carolina shall drink it, sleep out the sleepof
the swill, and awake years hence the inheritor
of the title of liip Van Winkle of the
South, it is the banner of the Sons, which
occupies the van in the temperance battlefield.
No battle-cry but their? now rings
and reverberates through the length and
breadth of the land. The demon of intern
perauce dreads no liuman foe but their serried
ranks. If it be the heart's desire of any
man, who looks not. upon this earth as his
continuing city, and who has solemnly resolved
to show himself a good soldier in the
cause of Temperance, as the cause of (?oil
?if lie have determined to gird on his harness,
and fight a good light until lie shall be
required by his great Captain to put it off,
where can he find efficient co-workers?the
multitude of tlieni who speak often one to
another in counsel, and aid in the time of
need, except in the marshaled columns of
the 150 thousand of the Sons of Temperance
'' Cau any number of men by disunited
and desultory efforts drive the destroyerfroni
the land Such idle expectation is thesong
of the syren luring to destruction.
It is written : "Whosoever shall confess
me before men, him shall the Son of Man
also confess before the angels of God." Some
of ns have heard from the pulpit, that this
confession is two-fold : to wit, visible connexion,
and practice in the life. The man,
who piofcsscs to he a christian is expected to
seek and exhibit this visible connexion, and
not merely to practice in his closet the obligations
of duty. Why should not this prinj
ciplc apply to the professors of temperance ?
In our view it has direct application. If
you regard the language of Isaiah as truth :
"Wo unto them that arc mighty to drink
wine, and men of strength to mingle strong
drink which iust.ifv the wicked for reward.
and take away the righteousness of the
righteous from him"?if it be your duty to
abolish, by all the means in your power,
the use and evil of strong drink?if you
claim the distinction and title of fiicnd of
temperance, how do you excuse and exonerate
yourself from this visible connexion?
this principle of confession ? "I know thy
works, said the faithful and true witness to
the church of the Laodiceans, that thou art
neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert
cold or hot. So then, because thou art luke
warm, and neither cold nor hot, T will spew
thee out of my mouth." Obedience to the
injunction of Piul is your duty : "Quit you
like men, be strong."
It may be you have a reason for avoiding
this connexion with the Sons. Is the reason
valid? Have you examined the whole
ground carefully?prayerfully? In extremely
rare instances this may he true. In a
multitude of cases we in candor doubt it.?
The great majority, we imagine, have engaged
in little thought on the matter. Some,
we fenr hnvotnkon their selfishness?others
their prejudices?and a few, perhaps both
to the examination. We hold that the remarks
of the pious Wilberforce, respecting
the course of skeptics, are in a great degree
applicable to many objectors to the society
of the Sons of Temperance. "Can the skeptic
in general say with truth, that he has
either prosecuted an examination into the
evidences of revelation at all, or at least with
a seriousness and diligence in any degree
proportioned to the importance of the subject
? The fact is, and it is a fact which
redounds to the honor of Christianity, that
inPdelity is not the result of sober inquiry
and deliberate preference. It is rather the
slow production of a careless and * * * life,
operating together with prejudices and erroneous
conceptions concerning the nature
of the leading doctrines and fundamental
tenets of Christianity * * * * a confused
sense, for such it is, rather than a formed
idea of its being desirable that their doubts
should prove well founded, lends them
much secret aid * * * AVo.vo//. and tJaaa/ht,
and iimnirif had little or nothing to do with
it * * i: ft may therefore he laid down as
an axiom, that infidelity is in general a disease
of the heart more than of the understanding."
fcfo far Wilberforce. We call
upon tlie objector to examine himself in the
light of Tlivine truth, whether his present
position in the Temperance Cause he the
result of "an examination prosecuted with a
jcooV/om.'sji and liifh/ener proportioned to the
importance of the subject"?whether that
position be "the result of oher inquiry and
(Jell1 u rate /iref mire"?or is it "rather the
produ -'ion of eare/,.<.< and xef/ish life, operaj
ting together with prrjutlicea and rrroin:oii.<
I ennerjitioux concerning the nature" of the so*
cictv?or is <;a conftisnl sruse rather than a
formed idea"?or is it "" disease <>/ the.
heart more than of the understanding ?"
The responsibility of the examination is w ith
i j/nit, and not with us. We leave its settlement
between t!od and your conscience.
The ingenuity of the human mind can
suggest diilieultics in every thing. The Will
of Heaven, as revealed to us, is itself not
free front them. We are free to admit, that
every human institution?and. ours is 110
i more?is in a certain sense, sinful, or in other
j words, that every human work is imperfect
> But we dare to maintain boldly, that tbe or|
ganization of tbc Sons is built upon principles
recognized by the apostles and prophets,
(not covering, by any pretensions, the whole
foundation")?that its cause, in great and
| leading objects, is the cause of find?and
i that it recognizes no sinful principle or practice,
and transgresses no precept or injunction
of the Divine Law. However, let us
for a while cuino and reason together. It is
a plain and undeniable proposition, that the
Soeiety is either laudable and ought to be
I supported, or sinful and should bo opposed.
If it contain the evil which debars you as a
professing christian from entrance, we tell
you, that as a faithful follower of Christ, you
are bound to oppose the S'i cioty openly and
fearless'}*. It becomes your duty to sound
the trumpet of alarm?to assemble the people,
and proclaim its sinfulness from the
' house-tops. By whom will you or your orator
be sustained? Of every conceivable
1 shade of character in this community, from
; the most devout to the most debased and vile.
on what shade can you calculate for support
with the more perfect faith and assurance ?
Dare you answer to your Cod'{ Prompt to
the call, they conic. \\ hat an assemblage ?
i The sight would turn a good man pale. To
' escape from the slabbering embraces of bis
i drunken allies, the orator mounts the rostrum.
'My noble and most worthy peers:
my order-loving and virtue-sustaining com'
panions: my estimable associates in the
! cause of morality and of happy firesides:?
| Xo good man ought to have any thing to
: do with that atrocious set, the Sons of Tem'
pcraneo," proclaims the orator. "Iloo-raw,
! go it, my hearty?true as prwhin;'/," rc'
echoes the motley crew. As all earthly
scones must have an end, this one too would
: end somehow. Can any man deny, that the
chief support in opposition to the Sons, for
such an occasion, would have to he congregated
from the guzzlers of whiskey and their
| interested supporters ? This should be a
startling fact. The swillers of whiskey sinic,
, as the Society rises?theswillers rise, as that
j neglected, contemned, betrayed Society sinks.
| This is an awful fact. Let the good man
| "ponder the path of his feet," and pause in
his opposition. .i.s it possible that principle
can confound the christian, the moral man,
and decent citizen with such clan ? "Be not
among wine-bibbers" is a divine command.
How comes it that the objector is among
them ? Your sentiments and action somehow
place you there. Account for the fact,
if }*ou can, why you and they should so peculiarly
coalesce in sentiment and conduct
on this particular subject, and agree most
probably on not a single other moral question
within the whole range of ethical philosophy.
Mistrust the principle and reasoning,
which leads you to such aid, counsel,
and fellowship. Can you doubt in other cases,
when yoff behold (rod and Mammon
check by jowl ? "What fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness ? What
concord hath Christ with Reliel ?" Are you
not persuaded, "ye cannot drink the cup of
the Lord, and the cup of devils." The cup
of opposition is, by nature, by principle, by
taste, and by interest, peculiarly theirs.?
Whether from your position you are to be
regarded as drinking the dregs of that cup
with them, is for you to decide.*
In the language of Israel's great lawgiver,
we say, "Come thou with us, and we will do
thee good : for the Lord has spoken good
concerning" us as well as "Israel." We
have good spoken by God himself of a total
abstinence society, established 900 years before
the birth of Christ. Although dwellers
in Israel, its members were not of Israel;
yet they were prefcred before the house of
Israel itself. Jehovah employs their obedient
conduct, {obedience. to temperance or rather
to total abstinence,) to convict his chosen
people of ingratitude and rebellion. The
Rechabites hid existed for three hundred
years when these words were spoken :?"And
I set before the sons of the house of the
Rechabites pots full of wiue, and cups; and
I said unto them, Brink ye wine.
But they said, We will drink no wine: for
Jonadab the son ofIlechab. our father, commanded
us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine,
neither ye nor your sous forever * *
And Jeremiah said unto the house of the
Rechabites, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the
God of Israel, Because ye have obeyed the
commandment of Jonadab your father, and
kept all his precepts, and done according
unto all that he hath commanded you ;
Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, Jonadab the son of Rechab
shall not want a man to stand before me
"forever."
Scott, the commentator, remarks : "It was
doubtless well known that they (the llechab;
ites) had rules of conduct peculiar to themselves
* * * they were never incorporated
with the Jews * * * they were worshipers
of the true God, though they were not circumcised
* * * and it was proper that God
should avow his readiness to reward every
degree of good, when lie determined to puni
ish his apostate people. Accordingly he
promised, thai the family of the Rechabites
should be very durably continued, and upheld
in the practice of piety and righteousness
before him, as his accepted worshipers'
even when the Jews were cast out ofhissight.',
The objector will have to erase from the volume
of the Word the doth chapter of Jeremiah,
before lie can deny that total abstinence
has peculiarly the approving sanction of the
Lord of the earth. ' Will you come, and go
with us ?
The notion, that u man is relieved from
this duty which w'e urge, because he is a
member jf Christ's visible church, we regard
fallacious and unsound, and unsnstaincd by
any christian precept or deduction of fair
i reason. The benevolent institutions of the
' country, sustained by the Church itself, arc
a standing refutation of the position. It is
J the philosophy of monies, and of an age en*
| vcloped in Cimmerian darkness. Tt vanishI
es in the blaze of gospel light. No man can
: relieve himself from the obligations of society.
The-christian dare not do it. "Love
j thy neighbor as thyself"?and "to do good
i and to communicate, forget not," are as imperative
and binding, as "Love thy God."?
To obey one command does not justify a dis:
regard of any other equally explicit. In
| Christianity there is noplace for the practice
of a decent selfishness. Every man is in a
measure his "brother's keeper." Absolute
inability and want alone would prevent, you
I from aiding a liiblo society. Your name,
your money, your counsel, your influence,
your example, all the means with which you
arc entrusted by your Creator would be given
in hearty co-operation. "Why not aid by like
means to suppress the particular evil and
blighting sin of intemperance ? "There is
indeed, says Smith, in his Theory of Moral
Sentiments, no surer mark of a false and hol!
low heart, than a disposition thus to quibble
j away the clear injunctions of duty and conJ
science." We accuse no one specially of
! such conduct?we feel free however to dej
dare the truth as we find it, and would endeavor
to excite reflection. lie, who admits
; his obligations to bis fellow-man, and would
i restrict the exercise of benevolence to the
! domain of the Church, is forced to approve
i and sanction the desecration of the pulpit
I and ministerial functions now every where
prevalent in the Eastern States of this Union.
This is the inevitable result of the principle.
It leads the minister and church to the political
hustings. It transforms them into
stump orators.
Civil government should ever he made to
conform to the dictates of Christianity. To
this every christian assents. When government
transgresses, or falls short of this re!
quircment, political action is necessary to
* " it has pleased God so to establish the
constitution of nil things, that perplexing cliflij
cultics ami plausible objections may he adduced
; against the most established truths: such, for
I instance, as the being of a God, and in a 113' others
I both j'lu/xira! and nigral. In all cases, therefore,
! it becomes u-, not on a partial view to reject any
! proposition, because it is attended with difliculj
ties; but to compare the difficulties which it ini
volves, with those that attend the alternative propj
ositioii which must be embraced on its rejection.
I We should put to the proof the alternative propj
osition in its turn, and tee whether it he not still
! less tenable than that which wo arc summoned to
I abandon."?Wilberforce.
reform, or bring the government up to the
correct standard. No enlightened christian
or well-informed temperance man believes,
that our State is where she ought to be on
the License system, and the Temperance
cause. If the use f alcoholic drink be an
evil in the State, can the State be justified
in its connexion and participation with the
evil'! It is its duty to cast down the polluting
thirty pieces of silver. It should touch
not?taste not?handle not the uuclean
thing. Political agitation is necessary to effect
a remedy. Must the church and pulpit
alone come down from their great work,
and meet "in the plain of Ono" to do battle
with the political demagogues and bacchanals
of the land ? The Church should do its
duty in the premises; but let her do it from
the sanctuary, and the other high positions
with which she is favored. There is need
therefore for another and a distinct organization
to operate in the capacity of citizens,
and fight the political battle. Church members
have both rights and duties as citizens.
Will you, reader, enlist with us for the war
?or will you rather, when the Sons, like
(Gideon,say: "Give, I pray you, loaves of
hread unto the people that follow nie; for
they be faint," reply, like the princes of
Succoth : "Are tho hands of Zebah and
Zalmunna now in thy hands, that we should
give bread unto thine army ?" Remember
the sequel : "And Gideon took the elders
of the city, and thorns of the wilderness, and
briars, and with them he taught the men of
Succoth, and slew the men of the city."
A consideration of duty, having reference
to a visible connexion with a temperance organization,
which appeals strongly to the
christian especially, is that you perhaps are
made?it is certainly true of some of you?
a stumbling-block to those whose temporal
and eternal welfare is, to human view, in
greater jeopardy than your own. To the
question addressed to many : "Will you
join the Sons?"?the reply is often heard:
"Mr. A., or B., or C. has not joined you?
he belongs to the Church?get. him?it is
more his duty than ours." Can any man
deny the truth of the answer, as far as it
goes ? The truth however is, that the christian's
neglect of duty will not justify neglect
in any other individual. Each will have
to answer for his own neglect. A failure
to obtain a recruit is the consequence. The
responsibility does not attach to the Sons
"Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, 0 God,
thou God of my salvation."
IT'M . ?1 . .1 1.1
\\ un great similarity to trie case last aii
ludcd to, and differing only in degree, the
! use?no matter how prudent?of intoxicating
drink by the christian is found to furnish
another stumbling-block in the effort
of the Sons to mitigate the sin of drunkeni
hops, and advance temperance. "Mortify
j the flesh, with its affections and lusts," is
I the Christian^m-ey//, says Wilbcrforce, but a
; soft luxurious course of habitual indulgence
is the practice of the bulk of modern Christians?*
* * and it may at least he urged
against them, that they discourage the laws
of temperance, and fatally betray others into
the breach of them, by affording an instance
of their being transgressed with impunity."
Ts Paul's language forgotten ??"Whcrej
fore, if meat make my brother to offend, I
! will eat no flesh while the world standeth,
i lest, I make my brother to offend." The
j principle here is clear. "Abstain from all
i appearance of evil" is a positive injunction.
"And ho (Christ) said to tliern all, If any
man will come after nie, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross daily, and follow
me"?deny himself that dram, and take up
that cross or mortification of appetite in abstaining
from that dram, "flow readest
j thou ?"
Relieving that the use of intoxicating
; drink is an appalling evil in our country?
j that it should oe suppressed?that it is the
duty of every man to aid in its suppression
by every means in his power?that organization
is more efficient than individual and desultory
efforts?that the Sons of Temperance
j are now the head and front of opposition to
i the demon of Intemperance?that the So;
ciety is worthy of the co-operation of the sinj
cere christian, the moral man, the good cit
| tzcn, and every well-wisher of his country?
j that every citizen, who claims the title of
j Friend of Temperance should idcutify himself
with the organization?that candid inquiry
in the proper direction would dispel
the mists of error, which now becloud a
portion of the public mind in reference to
the Society?that uo man is justified in refusing
to discharge his lawful duty as a citizen,
because he has membership with Christ's
j visible Church?that the time is at hand,
I even now, when every friend of temperance
; should stand girt with his harness to do batj
tie against the destroyer for his God, his
J country and his fellow?that there is no
need nor permission granted to any effective
I and hale soldier to "tarry by the4stuff"?
i impressed with the truth of these several
j propositions, and "exercising ourselves to
have a conscience void of offence toward
God and toward men," we have addressed
l you freely, frankly, and, we hope, rcspcct;
fully; and in conclusion, by author it.y of the
| Division we represent, we repeat to you the
! invitation: "Come thou with us, and we
will do th?e good."
W. C. B FATTY, ^
JAMES JEFFREYS, I Q
ELI MEEK, 0
J. H. ADAMS, j *
W. W. CAROTIIERS, | ?r
.ti ihv n f.vt.nw
? '
Yorkville, July 81st, 1856.
A Rf.liel.?The geutlest task-master we
ever heard of was a blacksmith, who used to
say every evening to his apprentices:?
"Come, hoys, let's leave work and go to sawing
wood." That blacksmith must be a
brother of the farmer down east, who, one
season when he was building a new house,
used to try to get his hired men out with him
to play "dig cellar by moonlight."
What is it that causes a cold, cures
a cold and pays the doctor 1 A draft.
. v..
| Select liltstf(Iaiii).
THE FIRST STATE PRISONER.
BY ORANT THORBURN.
I landed in New York, June, 1784, by
trade a rough nailruaker, in the 22d year of
luy age. In October following, I went up
to the Park to see a man hung, (at that time
the Park was out of town, and only 50,000
inhabitants). With ten thousand fools, some
bigger and some smaller than myself, we
stood watching the vibrations of the rope and
the iron hook, during two long hours. Then
the sheriff stood on the scaffold and read a
reprieve. I confess I was very much disappointed
; I expected to see a hanging, but
no hanging was there.
The man was Noah Gardner. He kept a
large shoe store in New York. He committed
forgery, which, at that time, was death
by the laws of the United States. The State
prison in New York was building at this time;
this was the first prison erected in the world
for reform, instead of hanging. The Society
of Friends were the chief promoters of
this humane system. Onaroom in the prisnn
Ttro o v\r\rtr vnnrlTT in rnonlro nriminolc TllO
VU IV .VVV..TV
Friends procured from the governor a commutation
from death to the State prison for
life.
Being a shoemaker by trade, they gave
him a stool, lasts and awls, and here commenced
the State prison manufactory. Next
court, six vagabonds were sent to keep him
company ; them he learned to make shoes.
I visited the prison three years after this.?
In one large room sat three hundred shoemakers.
Noah was prevost marshall, walking
through the ranks with cane in hand,
punishing evil-doers and praising them that
did well. Seven years having passed over
him, the Friends waited on the governor.?
"Friend," said they, "seven years ago you
would have hung this man ; now here is a
reformed member saved to society "
He received an unconditional pardon, and
came out. The Friends found him a store on
Pearl Street, found him money, endorsed
his notes, and gave him their custom. Immediately
he was in a thriving way. He
joined the Society ot Friends, and said thee
and thou with the best of them. He had a
wife, and, children arrived at maturity.
His journeymen were chiefly men of families,
and wrought in-their own houses. One
day he gave a man a pair of boots. "Now,
friend," says he "thee must bring home these
boots on fourth day evening." Says the
man, "You shall have them." The boots
did not come home till fifth day evening.?
Noah was wroth. He gave the man a long
lecture on the evils of disappointment and
want of punctuality. When he drew up to
breathe, themau replied.
"Sir, I am a poor man; have a wife aud
three children, the youngest only forty-eight
hours old. I had to tend to my wife and
cook for my children. It was not in my
power to fiuish the boots sooner. Noah still
continued to magnify the horrors of disappointment.
The man grew angry ; his Scotch
blood boiled in his veins ; he struck the
counter with his fist like a sledge-hammer.
'I know," says he "it's a terrible thing to be
disappointed. I remember going to the Park
to see you hung, and I never was so disappointed
in my life when I saw the reprieve!"
Now this was a knock-down argument, as
an Irish ma u would say. It was a ease in
point, as they say in court; and a fact beyond
all controversy, as they say in Cougress.
Noah was dumb; lie opened not his mouth,
lie gave the man another pair to make, kept
liiiu in employment, treated him kiudly, but
as the man said lie never heard the word<7o>appoint
from his lips thereafter.
Noah went on prospering and to prosper.
One day he borrowed various sums of money,
and obtained a number of endorsements.
The hills he changed for gold; the endorsements
he got shaved in Wall street. That
night he was off for parts unknown, taking
with him a dear sister, the wife of a young
Friend, to'cheerhirn on the way. This story
is true to the letter, and being the first subject
of State prison reform, the day dreamers
of the present time may settle the question
whether hanging or State prison is the
surest way of curing a consummate villian.
Ilis familvand friends never heard from liirn.
Ware rip Mnguzine.
Wiio is a Gentleman ??A gentleman
is not merely a person acquainted with certain
forms and etiquettes of life, easy and
self-possessed in society, able to speak and
act, and move in the world without awkwardness,
and free from habits which are vulgar
and in bad taste. A geutleman issomething
much beyond this; that which lies at the
root of all ease, and refinement and tact, and
power of ptensing is the same spirit which
lies at the root of every Christain virtue. It
is the thoughtful desire of doing in every
instance as he would that others should do i
unto him. He is constantly thinking not
indeed how he may give pleasure to others
for the mere sense of pleasing, but how he
can show respect for others?how he may
avoid hurting their feelings. When he is
in society he scrupulously ascertains the position
and relation of every one with whom
he is brought into contact, that he may give
to each his due honor, his proper position.?
He studies how he may avoid touching in
conversation upon any subject which may
needlessly hurt their feelings, how he may
abstain from any allusion which may call up
a disagreeable or offensive association. A
gentleman never alludes to, never even appears
conscious of any personal defect, bodilv
deformity. inferiority of talent, of rank.
J J, J ? , - ,
of reputation, in the persons in whose society
ho is placed. He never assumes any superiority
to himself?never ridicules, never
sueors, never boasts, never makes a display
of his own power, or rank or advantages-'5
such as is implied in ridicule or sarcasm, or
abuse?as he never indulges in habits, or
tricks, or inclinations which may be offensive
to others. .
Louisville Journal.
-
- JE& /
T- "TS;
\
t 1
HOW MANY MABBY AND LOVE.
A young man meets a pretty face in the
ball-room, falls in love with it, courts it, marries
it, goes to house-keeping with it, and
boasts of having a home, and a wife to grace
it. The chances are nine to one he has
neither. Her pretty face gets to be an old
story?or becomes faded, freckled, or fretted?and
as the face was all he wanted, and
all he paid attention to, all he set hp with,
all he bargained for, all he swore to love,
houor, and protect, he gets sick of his trade,
knows a dozen faces which he likes better,
gives up staying at home evenings, consoles' .
himself with cigars, oysters and politics,
and looks upon his home as a rery indifferent
boarding-house. A family of children.
2Tow nn about him : but neither he nor his
"face" knows anything about training thfem,
so they come up helter skelter; made toys
of when babies, dolls when boys and girls, "
drudges when young men and women; and
so passes year after year, and not one quiet,
happy, homely hour is known throughout
the whole household. . vAnother
young man becomes enamored*
of a "fortune." He waits upon it to parties,
dances the polka with it, exchanges **
billet doux with it, pops the question to it)
gets "yes" from it, takes it to the parson's,"
weds it, calls it "wife," carries it home, sits
up an establishment with it, introduces it to 3*
his friends, and says (poor fellow !);that he V
too, is married and got a home. And he Bhon *' *
finds it out. He's in the wrong box; but it's . >
too late to get out of. He might as. itell
hope to escape from his coffin. Friends con.;
gratulate him, and he has to grin and "bear it.
They praise the house, the furniture,'* ,
the cradle, the new bible, the new babjr~ ,
and then bid the "furniture" and he who - ^ i
husbands it, good morning 1" Asifhe ancT
that gilded fortune were falsely declared to' v
be one! .
Take another case. A young woman
smitten with a pair of whiskers. CoflfclK
hair never before had such charms.- She'
sets her cap for them; they take. - The 4?^
lighted whiskers makes an offer, proffering
themselves both in exchange for one heart.
The dear Miss is overcome with, magnainimity,
closes the bargain, carries home the pnxe,
shows it to pa and ma, and calls herself en- *
gaged to it, thinks there never was such a
pair of whiskers before, and in a few weeks'
they are married! Yes, the world calls it
so, and we will. What is the-result?, A
short honey-moon, and the unludqtitiipoye-, .
ry that they are unlike as chalk uuf-cheese,
and not to be made one though all the piiests; <
in Christendom pronounce them sn> _ 1^'^"
Washington's Last Moments.?Gav.j
Wise, of Virginia, delivered an oration on
the 4th, in which he thus described the "last
moments of Washington.: _ ', '.]%
"He died as he lived, and what a beauti-,*
ful economy there was in his death ! Not
a faculty was impaired, not an error marred*
j the moral of his life. . At sixty-six, not
j quite three score years and ten," he was ta-^
! ken away, whilst his example was perfect.?
He took cold, slighted the symptoms, say- ing
'let it go as it came.' In the morning
of the 14th of December, 1799, he felt sc- *
vere illness; called in his overseer, Mr. Rawlings,
to bleed him. He was agitated, and
Washington said to him, 'don't be afraid:'
When about to tie up his arm, he said with
difficulty, 'more.' After all efforts had faiK
ed, he designated the paper he meant for
his will, then turned to Tobias Lear, and
said, 'I find I am going; my breath cannot
continue long. I believed from the first it *
would be fatal. Do you arrange my. accounts
and settle my books, as you know more about
them than any one else, , and let-Mr. ?
nwlin finioL rr? *r Afltnw IaH-aIm
jLianiiu^o uuicu ittuiuiug UJJ utuci ICVVCIO
which he has begun.' Between five and
six o'clock he said to his physician, Dr.
Craik, 'I feel myself going; you had better
not take any more trouble about me, but let
me go off quietly, I cannot last long.' Shortly
after, again he said, 'Doctor, I die hard;
but I am not afraid to go; I believed from
my first attack I should not survive ity mybreath
cannot last long.' About 10 o'clock** *
he made several attempts 'to speak to Mr.
Lear, and at last said, 'I am just going.?
Have me decently buried, and do - not let
my body be put into the vault in less than
two days after I am dead.' ' Lear says, 'J
bowed assent.' He looked at me again and
said, 'do you understand me ?' I replied
'yes, sir.' ''Tis well,' said he. And these
were his last words, and 'tis well his-last
words were ''tis well.' Just before he.expired
he felt his own pulse, his hand fell
from his wrist, and George Washington was
no more."
Tiie First Steamboat.?The Annapolis
Republican says:
"We have an extraordinary genius in this
city, in the person of a colored young man,
named Ben, a slave of John T. Hammond,
-r~1 1 1 _ 1 1_ _ T _ 1 A 1 1 A A 1_ _ XT.
hsq., employed in ine ljaooraiory at me ivaval
Academy, who has recently planned and
built a"small steamboat, and on 'Wednesday
afternoon last made a trial trip, to the great
satisfaction of Captain Q-oldsborough and
others who witnessed the working of the engine.
ITe came into the dock from the Academy,
with six passengers, at the rate ofvSeYen
miles an hour, much ?b the surprise and
delight of a number of citizens, who had assembled
there to witness the operations of
the first steamboat built in the ancient city.
He is an unpretending colored man, and has
labored under many disadvantages in endeavoring
to accomplish that which he,- has
had for several years so much at heart, and
he deserves great credit for his perseverance
and final success. He is of opinion, that.hf
will be able in a short time to make important
improvements upon steamboat engines.
We wish him success. s
JB?*. An old-cynic, at a concert the other .
night, read in the programme the title of a
song, via: "Oh give mc a cot in the valley
I love." Reading it over attentively, the
old fellow finally growled?"Well, if I had
my choice, J should ask for a bedstead
J