The Washingtonian, or, Total abstinence advocate. (Augusta, Ga.) 1842-1843, December 17, 1842, Image 2

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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