Newspaper Page Text
Hr. Richard P. Taylor’s Travels, con
taining a lull account of he progress of
Temperance, wherever he has lectured.
When I first visited Augusta, in April last,
there were near thirty licensed houses in the city
where they vended liquors—l think they have
now only six or eight. 1 left that city, after giv
ing ten lectures, for Athens, a beautilul village
situated on the Oconee river, one hundred and
sixteen miles from Augusta— commenced my lec
tures—the first night gave a history of the origin
and success of the Washington Total Abstinence
Society — had a large congregation and good at
tention. The second night laid before the citi
xens the principles of that Society; we then had
the way paved for operations. The third night
some interruption by the students of Franklin
College ; after the lecture 76 names were added
to the pledge. The fourth night wc expected
equally as good success; but before the lecture
was overcome of young men commenced
a row, and were followed by others, which
resulted in breaking up the meeting for that
night. Mothers and daughters were fright
ened, and rushed for the door; rocks were flung
in the house by the gang of rioters; one of them
came near hitting an old grey-headed man near
the door. After that night our congregations
were small —men did not like to bring their fami
lies out to the meetings, to expose them to the in- j
suits of a mob. I was informed by some of the
citizens, that for some time past they could not,
in peace and safety, hold Teligious meetings at
night, in consequence of frequent interruptions
by the Students. I gave seven lectures in A
thens—received new accessions every night; the
mob was partially put down by the citizens, and
ten of them were arrested while I was there. 1
visited Athens again four months after that—-
was requester. 1 to lecture ; the first night the Stu
dents wore very civil—the second night they com
menced another row. I took ray seat—told the
citizens I should not lecture, unless they qiaijed
the mob —also, offered my own services to tfflfsh
some of them; that offer, however, was the
result of passion—l felt sorry for it as soon
as my passion was cooled down, for heaven
knows 1 should dislike it, and would deserve no
credit, for engaging on such an occasion, with
men so destitute of the qualities ot gentlemen—
strangers to even the first principles of good
breeding and civility. For my own part, I never
was within the walls o^nCollege ; yet lam sor
ry that such is the charaßiifrr of a portion of the
Students of Franklin College. It is a great
pity that any literary institution in our country
should be thus disgraced by such inmates. I am,
indeed, sorry that their public conduct and char
acter should call forth this public notice and the
public frown ot every well wisher of good order,
honor and learning in the country; yet it is a
matter oftheirs— not mine. If their conduct is
not too bad to be acted before the public eye, it
cannot be considered too bad to be seen in print.
If I do not state the truth, lam willing to hear
the consequences. I would say to the credit of
the Faculty and Citizens, they done, I believe,
what they could to quiet them; and 1 was inform
ed, also, that there were many honorable excep
tions among the Students—young men who
would not take any part in such disgraceful con
duct. 1 hope, also, that the citizens of Georgia
will make all proper allowances in charity to
wards these ungovernable young men, for some
of them were young boys, that needed the protec
tion of a mother, and were for flora their homes,
and inconsiderate : others had arrived to man
hood ; towards such, let us exercise pity and
mercy, thaugh wc may despise their conduct. 1
am sure those are ray feelings—it is more noble
to forgive, than to revenge; and Ido hope they
will do better for the future. So they were quiet
ed by the citizens, and I went on with my lecture; |
after which some twenty or . thirty names were
added to the pledge— two young ladies had the
firmness and decision to walk up to the Secreta
ry's table and put down their own names. The
work has gone on nobly in Athens ollate—the
citizens are waking up, and putting their shoul
ders to the wheel, and moving on the car of Re
form. We are now numbering in Athens al-out ;
three hundred members who have signed the
Washington Pledge. There are four other 'o
cieties in the county, numbering about fifty mem
bers each — making the whole number in Clark
county five hundred.
I will mention the case of one individual who
took the pledge in Athens, after I had given my
thrrd lecture. He was a young man, a mechanic,
and truly a hard case; he came out to the meet
ing pretty drunk—paid as good attention to the
lecture as a drunken man can when his brain is
whizzing about; and when the {Hedge was open -1
ed for accessions, he rose from his seat, regulated
his balance as well as he could, then made what
he supposed a “ bee line” up to the table: there
was considerable clapping when he came up, for
the whole aisle was too narrow for him—with his
Jett hand he grasped the edge of the table —with
his right the pen—wrote down his name after the
old fashion, —it would have puzzled a half dozen
lawyers to have made it out; for the poor fellow,
while putting down his name, leaned first one
side,and then the other; then backwards, then
forwards—the fact is. he got his balance ail on
deck, and it made him top-heavy. He holds on
firm to his pledge,.and is now doing well.
My next place of operations was in the village
of Madison, Morgan county. I there found a
good many warm friends of the cause, and consi
derable of a Society on the old plan. 1 lectured
for them, and laid before the Society the Wash
ingtonian principles; they adopted them unani
mously. 1 lectured there every night for a week,
when our numbers were swelled to about two
hundred—then left for Monroe. Walton county.
On my wav, lectured to a large congregation at
Prospect Mocting-bouse, in Morgan countv.
They have warm advocates of the cause in Madi
son, who have been operating as missionaries in
different parts of the county, and forming Socie
ties. They have four or five Societies in that
county, numbering in the whole some five hun
dred members, and a good many of them once
hard eases. 1 lectured a week in Monroe, where
we received one hundred and fifty names to the
pledge; some of them pretty hard cases. On
Sunday 1 Ic% for Covington, Newton county
On my way gave three lectures at Social Circle,
in Walton county, where we received fifty or
sixty accessions to ihe pledge. Wc are number
ing in Walton county three hundred members
There was one fellow at the Circle who was
truly a hard case : when he got drunk his wife
used to quarrel with him about it—he had to con
fess the corn; and sometimes, rather than to get
a jawing, he would stay troin home until he got
over his spree. When he returned home to see
his old woman, before he went into the house, he
would fust throw in his hat; if she did not fling
that nut of doors, he would then throw in his
shoes; if site let them all lie on the floor, he then
knew be might throw himself in, for ho could
venture without getting a btoadside. He signed
the pledge—is now a sober man, and himself,
shoes and hat, are always welcomed home by his
old woman. From the Circle, 1 went to Coving
ton and Oxford —lectured at those two places
every night for one week; during that week all
the Students in Emery College, but two, signed
the pledge, and very near all the citizens of Ox
ford ; some of them regular hard cases. W c also
made a pretty clean sweep in Covington. We
are numbering in Newton county seven hundred
accessions to the pledge. We have some as
warm advocates of the cause ot total abstinence
in Newton county, as there ran be found in
(filifirgia, or the whole tl nited States. 1 will now
mention some of the hard cases who signed the
pledge in that place. The first case I shall men
tion has given me' the liberty of using his name :
He is known by the familiar name of Captain
Sherman; he is a native of South-Carolina ; also
a connection of Roger Sherman, one of the sign
ers of the Declaration of Independence. The
Captain is a man of limited education, but ot an
honest heart-—noble, generous soul—a higli
sense of justice and honor—a perfect gentleman—
in short, one ot nature’s noblemen : he h id been
in the habit of drinking more or less for about
thirty years—for fourteen years a hard case; his
dissipation was rather more of the spreeing char
acter, and in his sprees he would blow every thing
out straight, though generally good nalured and
full of fnn ; but would fight if insulted. He was
once sober, like all other young men before they
commence drinking. He served his time at the
cu rier’s trade in Charleston, So. Ca., and in
that city commenced his dissipation by drinking
jiorter, wine and cordials ; it grew upon him un
til he bee .me a drunkard. The Capt. in is a
man about fitty years of age, and loved by all who
know him—has a wile and six children ; and in
my opinion, at least as deserving and respectable
a family as I have found any where. He had
been drinking the evening before he came . utto
the lecture—he listened with some degree of impa
tience, thinking me too personal, because I hap
pened to hit his case exactly—he was almost in
duced to commence a quarrel—his family were
there; you might have seen his heart-broken
wife, sitting on the oppsite side of the house,
watching his movements —you might have heard
the silent prayer breathed to heaven for the res
cue of her companion; all the energies of hersoul
were centered on that one point. Vi hile she
thought of his wretched condition —of her chil
dren —of the days of her childhood, when all
around was bright and joyful —of her first love;
and then ofthat dark cloud ofdespair which was
thrown around her like a mantle—of her blasted
hopes—her fond dreams of happiness scattered to j
the winds—she was broken otf from these medi- ’
tations, by a long, loud clapping of the congrt ga
tion ; she raised her eyes to discover the cause— L
her heart leaped for joy, as she beheld her com- \
panion walk up to the table and grasp the pen.
He subscri'.icd his name to the pledge,---there
liked to have been a shout in the camp. That
pledge has saved hun, and he is now a respecta
ble member of the Church, brought in during a
religious revival in that place, not long since; his
family are now joyful and happy. 1 have fre
quently Visifed them since he signed the pledge,
and I can say in truth 1 be ievetLem truly happy.
Their minds were rendered susceptible by previ
ous sufferings, for the enjoyment of the greatest
amount of domestic bliss. O! whose heart
would not swell and leap about within him, to be
engaged in so glorious a cause—who would not
ardently wish to engage with all his might in a
cause that is]drying up the vast fountain of grief,
human misery and woe, at its very base—w ho
would not lay to a helping hand to bind up the
broken, bleeding heart ofthat poor wretched mo
ther—who would not be the instrument to send
that little rosy-checked prattler bounding to the
arms of a long lost father —who would not do all
this, by his influence and example, to re cue the
fallen and unfortunate drunkard: he that could
forego all this, deprives himsclfot ti e enjoyment
of the greatest amount of happiness allotted to
mortal—knows not how to enjoy life as he should
—is a stranger to pity : he weeps not with those
who weep--rejoices not with those who rejoice—
mourns not when he hears the dying groans of
the drunkard—irgards him not as his fallen bro
ther—the tear gathers notin Ins eye, when he be
holds the widowed mother, with her face buried
in her hands—her soul filled with bitter anguish
and none to comfort her—her husband and her
darling son have sunk down iu the drunkard's
grave; the stay of her life and ail her earthly
hopes are forever gone; she sits entombed in her
own misery, the wreck of all her once fond hopes
of earthly happiness; his bowels of compassion
mourns not when he listens totiie bitter lamenta
tions of the orphan, as it raises its little hands
and clasps them together, in all the anguish ofa
lascerat. d and bleed.ng heart: No, he weeps not
for bleeding humanity ! While the child mourns
fora father, who is in a drunkard's grave—while
it weep tor a mother who has died of a broken
heart—while, to the little sufi'erer, it seems as if
the world had tumbled into chaos, this man
stands unmoved, bound up in his own selfish
ness; his adamantine heart cased over as wi'h a
diamond; he answers not the end of his Creator
—should not be ranked with the philanthropist;
in short, he is a disgrace to the character of man.
and is whohy unworthy to have the image of his
maker stamjied upon his visage. I would say, in
the language of the church prayer book, from
such a man “ O Lord, deliver us.” 1 would say
to the philanthropist, if you would enjoy a seven
fold blessing, open your heart, nerve up your
soul, bring all your muscles into action, make one
bold strike in this glorious cause, and that bless
ing is yours. Then, when that little prattler,
who now sports upon your knee, grows up to
woman or manhood, will rise up, and with a bene
dicti. n on your head, call you blessed ; you will
have the prayers oft he reformed drunkard, of the
mother and the child, of the widow and the or
phan, the philanthropist and the Christian, to
bless you in life, and to rest upon your memory in
ileath. Yes, give me this happy consolation
when I come to lip on a bed of death, ofha'ing
done something to bless mankind—of having
caused the mothe.’s heart to rejoice, the starving
child to be fed, the drunkard to be reclaimed—
only let my vision of the past be like this, when 1
come to stand on that verge where my clifek is
fanned with the breezes font two worlds, and I
would not exchange such happy sensations and
hops, for all the glitering treasures of earth.
Capt. Sherman, after he had taken the pledge,
was very poor indeed ; he said he was like a pick
ed fowl, and all he prayed for was life, for the
feathers would grow out of themselves. The
feathers are growing out suie enough; he is now
gettin : along well, and his tamily living in a
paradise compared with their former condition ;
although poor, their hearts are made glad ; what
was once to them a wilderness, now buds and
blooms like the rose. Old Capt. Sherman is one
of the most zealous advocates of the cause in
Newton;, .be lectures in different districts in the
county, and meets with good success; he has
been with me on two land cruizes, one to Law
renceville and the other to McDonough; lectured
at both places, and was well liked. He is one of I
the best samples of a tub of tadpole s I ever saw.
for he certainly comes it all heads and poists. I
have laughed to hear him talk until my cheeks
have been lame forthree days after; it was enough I
to excite any body’s laughable*; k would tvea ;ij
make a quaker open his month; and the Captain
would keep his face perfectly straight all the time,
and in the biggest kind of earnest. I must now
dismiss the Captain for the present. There was
about twenty hard cases who signed the jfledg* at
Covington aDd Oxford; they ail hold on. firm, g
and several ofthem have since joined the-clmrh ‘
There was one oIJ grey-headed man, between
sixty and seventy years of age, who lived 1 tight
miles in the country; he had been a faith:'alsol
dier in the cause of intemperance for over thirty
years. When he beard of the slaughter that had ,
been made in the ranks of his old master, he con
cluded he would come to the village, (the centtk
ofonr operations.'and give us a broadside. !
had been in tile village but a short time before be j
was pretty drunk, and then tbe way he went
ahead was with a perfect rush; he ripped amt
stormed away, and cursed every thing all hollow
He went ahead until he was past making &
noise—was dead drunk ; and to save expense
lookup his lodging in the street—his claim to
such accommodations was only disputed by a
herd of hogs, which was expressed by their grunt
ing and rooting. They did not trouble him long,
for a* soon as the scent o the whiskey penetrated
their noses, they made their escape. It was lucky
for tbe old soldier that this herd of swine were not
raised on still slops; if they had been, the way
they would have walked into his still vats,
would have been a sin to Crockett. This was
going opposition to total abstinence on a big
scale, showing his faith by his works. The poor
old man came to himself again, and the way he
had the horrors, would have made a fellow’s head
ache to look at him ; he began to think and feel
that such strong opposition to so good a cause
was not what it was cracked op to be; he also
ra ide some little enquiry after the pledge -began
to think his old master rather 100 severe. Those
conclusions, of course, were drawn from, die cha
racter of the wages he had received in hhv
which was dealt out to him in the form *| aWl',
and bones ache, with some considerable ot a run.
pus inside of the second ami third slorv ofhi
rum-miU. The pledge Was presented to him;
he read it over, and after a few minutes reflection,
he said, I will sign it, bui I must take one horn
more to steady my nerves, before 1 can write my
name. He went to a grog-shop awl f»ok one
real roaring sing: ‘that was hi* last, for lie came
back immediately and signed the pledge. A few
evenings after, * 1 lectured in Covington ; the
house was crowded; they could not all get seats;
in fact, many of them had to stay out of doors;
they had c. me in from the country for twelve or
tourtecn miles around. This old man was seated
on one of the front seats; his very looks called
torth the respect and sympathy of every person
who beheld him; his head was white as frost;
he was perfectly sober, clothed in his right mind.
W bile lecturing. I saw the tears streaming down,
bis aged checks; he was all eyes and ears.
When I had closed my broken remarks, an invi
lation was extended to persons to give their ex|t’
rience. Several short addresses Were given,—
1 he old man said he had been sober hardly long
enough to say much on the subject; he made a
few remarks, however, while on his seat, and they
wi re right to the point. He holds on firm to the
pledge; he is a man of intelligence, and is now a
sober and useful citizen, doing much for the
cause. Ido most ardently hope that every man’s
opposition to the cause may terminate like bis ;
then suffering humanity will be rescued, and our
country safe,
RICHARD P. TAYLOR.
List of Payments.
We have received the following payments for
the Washingtonian since our last publication;
Augusta .. R. Campbell, paid to Nov 5 1843
iSVran Groce.. James W. M. Jenkins, to Nov
l 5, 1843.
Forsyth .. C. B. Willborn, to Nov. 5. ]843
Clarksville. . O. Clarke, to Nov. 5, 1843
Lewis Levy.j ’ ‘
Coviugt n.. John Marshall, k> June (1 jfijq
n M im n,{N ' Scofield,to Joi
i y “ E,Wd s « ofi '> d > to taw