The Ohio organ, of the temperance reform., September 02, 1853, Page 258, Image 2

About The Ohio organ, of the temperance reform. (Cincinnati, [Ohio]) 1853-1854

Image provided by: Ohio History Connection, Columbus, OH

                
THE OHIO ORGAN OF THE TEMPERANCE REFORM.
258
fro tha Weil tn Ennjclut,
-iwa TTivma.
Ky Co'
6V
r saown.
I immei a irea tha other aight, '
1 (taught I hi mf cotUgi whit
Uaoa yoa lloVry hill
Xfce fraaa-plot greea belor the floor,
Tha porch with viaea o'erprowa,
Were tajtfj u they were Wore,
When that noma waa ray ow.
Oh I HnntaUer,
That homo, that home of thi na.
That pleaaaat homo, that happy home j
That cottage homa in nine. , ,
The graveled walk, to white 4 atraijht.
With Dowar hanki on each aide,
, That led down to the wickat ata
Where Willie tted to ride
The kMoata e'er the path that grew,.
Tha willow bongha that ivaved.
All told me with a tongue e'er true,
That there my Utrj played.
. Oaf &mseUr,ao.
The silver take, ao ealm and clear.
Along whoae banki I've atrayed
So at tea with my Lucy dear,
Towatehtheaunlightlade; '
The brook that, purling, aweetly ran
The garden toot along,
And murmuring fount, aa bright ai then,
Still aung the tame loved aong.
Ohl Rurateiler.kc
The window toward the garden gate
That looked out on the weat,
Where that tov'd being need to wait,
Who made my home to bleat, '
Wu eloaed the eombre curtaini hung,
And no loved lace wu there -,
Nor voice, the evening aong that lung.
Or breathed the morning prayer.
Oh I Jtumaeller, lie.
Silence hung round that huppy home,
Where once 10 light and tree,
My laughing children ueed to come
And dance upon my knee ;
Where ahe who wu that home'a dear light,
In oonatant beauty ahono
Around that cheerful hearthatona bright,
All now waa atiU and lone,
Oh I Rumadler, dec.
Tea, that loved wife haa gone to reat.
In death her heart ia bound s
Her babea are alerping on her breaat,
Beneath yon grauy mound;
And I am wandering lone and etranged,
Nor muter of my will,
My home, my cottage home ia changed
To a hut behind the atiU .
Oh 1 Rumael'.er, dec.
A Man Buried in a Well.
Ia readies; recently an excellent article
from the pen of Mrs. Gaze, entitled, " A
man in the well," we were reminded of a
startling incident that occurred in this city
a few1 months since, and that we had made
a minute of at the time, with the design of
fanner comment.
We were passing from our office to our
residence, and noticing a few people gath
ered in a yard on Main street, out suppos
ing the cause matter of ordinary interest,
mad mo stop. A hand from the office soon
"came in With the Btartliug intelligence that
f a man was boried in a well. We shall
never forget the sensations that crept over
us like a freesing chill, and then Into the
heart, with a choking, almost suffocating
force. Twelve feet of aandy earth upon the
victim ! Hone died within us. and we in
voluntarily shut our eyes upon the scene
which flashed across the mind. Buried
alive 1 The tale was too horrible, and yet
clung like a nightmare to every thought.
The news spend with lightning speed, and
on our return, dark masses of people were
wedged around the spot And still the
brief but terrible words flashed from lip to
up, ana me wiiaiy excited living mats
poured into the yard and broke like waves
around the dense crowd. We leaned upon
the fence and watched them aa they came,
for we have not the brass to run over men,
women and Children, when we can accom
push no good by such rudeness. Old and
young, the officer and the citizen, the cold
featured land-shark and the laborer moth
ers, wives and children, gatered with a
startled look. Little was said, but the
compressed lip and the eager eye told how
much all felt. A son of the buried man was
walking the yard in restless agony. It waa
a scene which we never wish to look upon
again.
In the mean time, strongr arms were plv
tag the shovels with that energy which ever
honors our common humanity on such oc
casions. The hot sun beat fiercely down,
and the sweat rolled from the bronzed fea
tures, but hundreds of hands were ready to
relieve, and every man's soul throbbin? in
the blade. The yielding; sand would often
break in, and an audible sigh would stir
me silent crowd. limbers were put in
and the work continued unceasingly. So
eager were the frenzied and foolish people
to obtain a view of the spot, there there was
constant danger of filling up faster than
the shovels could throw out, and no efforts
could beat them back.
After hours of hard digging, there was a
low, yet strangely distinct murmur ran
. through the crowd, and the dense mass
swayed like waves lilted by some magic
power, we snail never torget tbe moment.
, " tie's alive they hear Aim tpeak!" We lu
voluntarily straightened op from tbe fence
where we were leaning, and with a glance
heavenward, drew a deep, long breath.
"He' alive!" The excitement waa still
more intense. The son wept afresh as he
strode backward and forward acroHa tits
yard, and we found warm tears fa.' ling upisn
our own hand. v
And so the scene continued until the mass
pave back ani a shout rent the air. "lie's
out kt'i alive!" That excited crowd would
have borne that saved man with wild and
frantic joy in triumphant procession through
the city. He was saved from hit living
tomb. .
On - r laved! Mis family would wel
come him as one from the dead. Our
thoughts were busy as we wended our way
to the offioe. How ready people are how
happy to save one life. When danger
comes upon a citisen like the swoop of an
eagle from a clear sky, all gainer as one
man to the rescue.
The same people look unmoved upon the
footprints of blood which thicken at th-ir
very doors. At noonday, a plague stalks
before them, dragging its victims to a worse
than living tomb. Men have had their
vitals eat away by incites, and aiea in
chaius, helpless, uncared for. Girded with
demons and writhing and trothing in a
worse than a demon's hell, men of mind
and manhood have thrown out their arms
In convulsions, and died at their own fire
sides with their teeth tearing their own
flesh. Their maniac howl came up like tbe
despairing wail of the lost. And was there
any gatnenng to tne rescue I Any excited
populace eager to save? Before God, no
With a passing remark, the corpse of a
citizen a hatband and father was borne to
the church-yard, and the marble shields
him who was kuled by xncht.
But one such rase T
Father in Heaven 1 maqy have died thus
in Auburn. . Since our brief residence, we
have seen their blood smoke like an incense
of wrath upon the iron track and in the
public highway. There was one who
wrestled wim atunum ire-mans upon me
sidewalk in-broad day. He would have
lived and died a sober man. But, said he,
and the tears coursed in a flood down his
bloated cheek, "I must die a drunkard.
There is not a rumseller in the city who
will refuse me rum so Ions as I nave money
Poor G 1 He was robbed, degraded and
killed by the rumeUert of Auburn, and is
at rest in his grave. Did his neighbors
rally to save him T Was there even a re
monstrance against his murder ?
We might pursue tne record and invoke
from the past a spectral train who have
died by law in a Christian community,
The followers of Christ even, have passed
by the other side. They have not only
beld t e garments of the murderers, out
have themselves cast the stones. And ail this
time children have gone about sorrowing,
and wept in vain. At the desolate home,
woman has been tortured witn a cruelty
more refined than hell can boast. Hopes
bread, . .heart's blood all have been
wrenched out day by day as years have
eone slowly by. . And did men and women
ever father around that accursed home to
save the lost one from the elutches of
licensed fiends, or beat them back from
their human prey? Never. Thus the
innocent and the defenceless the child and
the mother have been robbed of parent,
and busband, and bread, and happiness and
means for long years, and no shout of
indignation has ever gone up from a darken
ingcrowd against the worse than heathenish
wrong. .
We love humanity better when we see it
stretching an eager hand to save a victim
from a living tomb. But we turn with a
tear from that cold and cruel barbcrish
which slumbers quietly while citizens and
neighbors, with all their hopes of earth
and heaven, are slaughtered in open day.
And the deepest, basest damned ene in wo
must turn with loathing from the human
fiend whose hand is raised by vote or official
act against his brother man. Vayuga Lhuf.
For the Organ.
Sketches. ,
Temperance
BY MEZEQTJ.E.
'The Bight of Prohibition.
The first grand objection which the
friends of temperance meet with, in at
tempting to use legal means in put
ting down the liqujr traffic, is that it
is an infringement upon liberty; and
so strenuously is this objection op
posed to the work of reform that it
becomes a serious impediment, and
candor and fairness require that the
objection be fairly met, in a spirit of
kindness, but firmness; for if there
ever was a case of public policy that
required a desperate remedy to reform
it, we hare that case. . One thing is
very certain, and that is, that the
right to enact a prohibitory law either
exists or does not exist. If it does
not exist, then the whole fabric of hu
man laws and governments is without
foundation. But, in order to arrive
at conclusions in a shorter and plain
er way, let us inquire a little into the
nature ot this thing called liberty
following
aDmiRse. with regard to i
"I he absolute Hunts of man, con
sidered as a free agent, endowed with
discernment to know good from evil,
and with, power of choo ing those
measures which appear to him to be
the most desirable, are usually
summed up in one appellation, and
denominated tie natural liberty of
mankind. .
"This natural liberty consists prop
erly in a power of acting as one
thinks fit, without any restraint or
control, unless by the law of nature;
being a right inherent in us by birth,
and one of the gifts of uod to man
at his creation, when he endowed him
with the faculty of free-will. But
every man, when he enters into soci
ety, gives up apart of Ids natural lib
erty, as the price of so valuable a
purchase; ana in consideration of re
ceiving the advantages of mutual
commerce, obliges himseli to con
form to those laws which the commu
nity has thought proper to establish.
Ana mis species oi legiu uoeiueme
and conformity is infinitely mote de
sirable than that wild and savage lib
erty which is sacrificed to obtain it.
For no man, that considers a mo
ment, would wish to retain the abso
lute and uncontrolled power of doing
whatever he pleases: the cousequence
of which is, that every other man
would also hare the same power; and
then there would be no security to in
dividuals in any of the enjoyments of
life. Political, therefore, or civil lib
erty, which is that of a member of
society, is no other tnan natural iid
erty so far restricted by human laws,
. . .. .
1 ' r. ,i ' ' 3
i ana no tanner, i as is necessary ana
expedient for the general advantage of
the miotic"
Now how far a prohibitory law
would be for "the general advantage
of the public," we will show in the
course oi tnese papers.
On the 6ame subject Paley says;1
"Civil liberty ia not being re
strained by any law, but what con
duces in a greater degree to the pu
lie Welfare." '
The archbishop of York, says:
"Civil or legal liberty is that which
consists in a freedom from all restraints
except such as established law impo'
ses for the good of the community to
which the partial good of each Individ'
ual is obliged to give place " . '
Upon the very foundation of liber
ty, as set forth in these definitions, the
whole fabric of our government is
based. In view of this fact, is it not
passing 6trange, indeed, that the wise
legislators of Ohio, with all the en'
treaties that have gone before them,
can not find it lawful to put a stop to
the liquor traffic, when common sense
prescribes it not to be within the den
nitions just given, of civil liberty?
The liquor traffio is the only busi
ness which affects the public, to which
the nght of prohibition is denied.
lhe right to abate public nuisances
has never been questioned. We have
laws to protect sheep from the ravages
of dogs. Who questions the right to
enact such laws Who denies their
salutary influence ? Are the lives of
sheep worth more than the lives and
happiness and general welfare of man
kind 1 " 0 but," says one, " it is the
wool interest to which the raw looks
Well, if the matter is to turn upon dol
lars and cents, regardless of every
other interest that is near and dear to
the hearts and hopes of mankind (and
which latter interest is above all other
interests), we will take it upon even
tnat score, and, show conclusively.
that the liquor traffic is not for the in
terest, even in a pecuniary point of
view, oi tne public, l hen, we have
in our cities, our police laws to guard
against hydrophobia. Nobody, for a
moment, doubts the propriety of such
laws, in times of danger, to guard
against this terrible malady. On this
Blackstons holds t'
subject, tha Secretary of the Hartford
(Jounty .temperance Society, after
stating that 82 in the county and 475. '
in the State (Connecticut) annually
die of delerium tremens, says t Sup
pose it were capable of demonstration
that 82 individuals in this county and
475 in the State were annually cut off
by hydrophobia; would a single doe
1 i-l L.J ! .L . rii-i- a vrr P. .
ue wientiea ia ins oiaie f w ouid there
be found an individual so regardless
of the lives of his fellow-men that he
would contend for the liberty to re
tain his dog? In what estimation
would the man be held who should
assert and vindicate his right to let
his dog live and run at large 7 ' And
yet delerium tremens is far more to be
dreaded than hydrophobia, for it is of
more frequent occurrence ; possesses
all its terrors, and none of its apolo
gies. ' One victim in a family to the
former often tyrings upon it pov
ertyand disgrace, while the latter
is never followed by such conse
quences. tlyaropnoDia may and does
produce death ; but it cannot shroud
the memory, which is lelt behind, in
opprobrium. If it were the case that
as many deaths occurred from hydro
phobia as from intemperance, the cry
of "death to the dogs" "death to
the doos!" would be borne upon
every breeze, until the whole canine
. via . i 7 . 1 i
race would Decome exunci. wouia
we go to our neighbor and plead with
him and entreat and implore him to
part with his favorite "Colonel,", or
Rolla." for the common cood and
safety of the people ? Would we say,
O, sir I for the sake ot sutienng Hu
manity, let us kill your dog." See
how the victims to hydrophobia are
falling all around you ; leaving widows
and orphans to mourn their untimely
loss I" ' Would we call meetings and
consult together and resolve to petition
the Legislature to raise the tax on
dogs, and then wait patiently from
year to year to year to see our pray
ers disregardedi No, Sirs, we would
not stop to do any ot these tmngar but
with gun in hand, ana our nearts
throbbing with the warmest pulsations
for distressed humanity, we would
rush into our neighbor's -yard, and in
defiance of all law upon the subject,
(and at the risk of afterward eating him
n sausages) we would put an end to the
i le a. J : ..ti..
existence ui auo uug hi ucouuu.
Such would be our course in a case of
this kind. But it is intemperance and
not hydrophobia, that we have to
contend with, and because the former
has more show in its work, though
equally fatal, in its consequences, than
the latter; it is countenanced and tol
erated. The one comes to his death,
through the instrumentality , of those
claiming to be men, (I allude here to
the dram seller,) thereiore, bad mo
tives are not to be imputed, nor the
right and sanctity of the traffic ques
tioned: the other comes to ms aeatn
a less disgraceful one through the in
strumentality of a dog: therefore, the
dog must die. "'.
Several years ago, in tha city of
New York, several persons were bit
ten by rabid dogs, and died from the
effects. This was enough for those
philanthropic citizens, and an ordi-i
J. L t J
nance was immeaiaieiy passeu wr me
total extermination of dogs from the
city, and yet at the same time, there
were thousands groaning under the
weight of sorrow and affliction,
brought upon them through the death
of fathers, sons, husbands and bro
thers, and all this through the instru
mentality of those engaged in the
liquor traffic. No one looked into
tiiis matter. A poor dog passed from
his kennel at midnight, and bayed
the moon, and instantly he was put to
eternal rest by a policeman; and the
proprietor of a grog-shop, at the same
hour, turned a band of robbers and
cut-throats into the street who set fire
to the city , and the dram-seller felt no
harm.