Article #14 - Intemperance

This not the time for inaction in the cause of Temperance. I have appealed to you before and may seem importunate but while intoxicating liquors are sold under the sanction of law and our fellow beings are enticed into the snare of drunkeness [sic] I dare not hold my peace. Our limits will not permit us to enlarge upon the criminality and danger that attend the use of these stimulants but we feel assured that if you examine this subject thoroughly in the light of sober truth and unbiased by appetite you will be convinced that the only safe and tenable ground is to “touch not taste not handle not” the ensnaring poison.

            I would that I could make you all feel as I feel; the rashness and the guilt of tampering with this temptation, and the fearful resposibility [sic] of setting an example that may entice some unfortunate brother into the dark gulf of sensuality and ruin. I will not now attempt to depict to you the horors [sic] of Intemperance for alas, even in this enlightened comunity [sic], you have seen the drunken wrecks of manhood realing [sic] along the common highway

bessoted [sic], poluted [sic], with the crowning glory of our nature dethroned and cast away. You may have known something of the poverty and anguish of the drunkard’s home; but the solemn and startling thought may not be brought home to your hearts, that you are responsible for that anguish and degradation! The drunkard is our brother; and we are made his keeper by the same sacred law which binds men together in the bonds of a common brotherhood! The high obligations of humanity and duty, call us to energetic action for the removal of Intemperance, and each pecunary [sic] interest combines with higher obligations to demand its suppression.          To be continued            Xenophon

            [Greek poet and political philosopher]