Ladies &
Comrades,
I congratulate
you upon the advent of this glorious anniversary. – Glorious to the hearts of
of Liberty’s devotees throughout the world and thrice glorious with us in
ancestral association. It is meet that
this day should be welcomed with Joy, and fitly celebrated by the American
people – by the Army of the United States, and especially meet that the
temperance men of the Army should unite in libations pure as nature’s chrystal
fount, in memory of the Great Exponent of Temperance, whose name is borne by
your division.
In times like
these, when Patriots stand aghast at the threatened overthrow of a government
that for nearly one hundred years has been the theme of admiration with
statesmen & Philosophers, that has defied alike the frowns of despotism on
the one hand, and the storms of anarchy on the other – and formed the “Juste
millieure” best calculated to secure happiness and prosperity to man. – In
times like these, when the discordant elements of sectional passion and
prejudice are spreading revolution broadcast through the land – it is
gratifying to know that here we may stand on common ground – that we
have a common and indivisible heritage in the memory of Washington.
That a
structure so grand and beautiful in its conception – so solid and majestic – so
complete and symmetrical in all its proportions is about to fall – that a
Nation which has made the name of American Citizen a title of nobility
abroad – whose flag floats from every port, and whose commerce spreads
her wings on every sea, whose rapid soar to prosperity has been like the
eagle’s flight – is now about to sink to miserable mediocrity if not
annihilation – that for the miserable gratification of party pride, a nominal
triumph but a real ruin – a mere mess of pottage we are ready to barter away
that birthright, to secure which to us the Immortal Washington and our fathers
bore the brand of traitors – that even
now those stars whose radiance has
often lighted us on to victory are fast fading from our flag – are melancholy
evidences of the degeneracy of the times – the deplorable state of public
sentiment swayed by passion or blinded by folly – rather than any reflection on
the wisdom & patriotism of Washington and his revered associates.
But let us not
deceive ourselves as to the remedy – A union entered into by voluntary compact
– can only be perpetuated & preserved by voluntary concessions, nor once
broken, can it be perp restored by bloodshed and violence. – Peaceful
remedies alone can avail. Lord Macaulay
well remarks – “Woe to the government which can not distinguish between a
nation and a mob! Woe to the government
which thinks that a great, a steady – a long continued movement of the public
mind is to be stopped like a street riot!”
If our Union
must fall let us as North & South remember what Abraham said to Lot. “Let
there be no strife, I pray thee, between me & thee, and between my herdmen
and thy herdmen, for we be bretheren – Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself I pray thee from me – if
thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if thou depart to
the right hand, then I will go to the left.”
In the language of an eminent divine “if we can not save the Union we
may save the inestimable blessings it enshrines, if we can not preserve the
vase we will preserve the precious liquid it contains.
But if such a
catastrophe as civil war must befal us which God in his infinite mercy
forbid! Well may the future historian
who records the downfall of the American Union drop a tear upon the page and
blot it out forever, like the recording Angel and the good man’s sin.
We can not
even in the hour of festivity banish from our minds the fear that the time may
shortly come when we will occupy the anomalous position of an Army without a
country – and if we are to change our avocations of life – if instead of the
rugged path of glory, we are to pursue the tortuous windings of the civilian it
will not be the less the path of honor and of duty. Allow me to say that you could have no surer
passport to the confidence of the world – to the affections of your fellow-men,
and need I say to the hearts of the fair, than the certificate of your
brotherhood here as Sons of Temperance. – If the pleasant associations which
have been happily cherished and maintained here are to be severed, you will
still bear wherever your destiny leads you that certificate which will be a new
bond of a Union – firm and indestructible, cemented by love for your
fellow-man, purity from the contaminating influence of the world’s bane
– liquor, and fidelity to the obligations voluntarily assumed by you
when initiated. Above all let no Son of
Temperance disgrace himself and bring bad repute upon the order by a departure
from the principles inculcated, and the practice enjoined in this order.
While a strict
adherence to these principles exerts a most salutary influence upon your
associates, -- nothing could be more baneful – more to be deprecated than a
departure. The Son who returns to
habits of intemperance is not only false to his own best interests, but like
the Viper inflicts a sting upon the cause whose genial influence received him
unto its bosom, and used its tender care to reclaim him from ruin.
“How sharper than a serpent’s tooth
to have a thankless child.”
You have been
members long enough to know and feel that the object of your association is
noble patriotic and eminently humane, that the principles are commendable, and
worthy to command your best efforts to maintain and to perpetuate them. —Let not then the petty bickerings and
jealousies incident to all deliberative bodies induce you to forget your duty
as a Son – or diminish your vigilance over the best interests of the order.
Washington was
a great advocate of temperance and all great Generals be their own
habits what they may, unite in the declaration that there is no surer guaranty
of the value and effectiveness of an army than its sobriety, no better security
for discipline than temperance inculcated & practiced among its individual
members, no better safe-guard against crime and insubordination. If then such good results accrue from the
propagation of temperance, does it not behoove? Is it not the duty of those who have the care of the health
discipline and effectiveness of our army to foster and encourage in every
possible way these associations?
But an
argument no less strong, in favor of your cause is the good that enures to the
individual. Its blessings are indeed
inestimable, and men may say what they please about stopping drink on their own
hook, but I can not lay too much stress on the indisputable fact, that we are
governed in our habits mainly by association, -- that when you can tell your
comrade who asks you to drink that you are a “Son of Temperance” – there
is in the potency of the answer a tower of strength and safety for your
resolution, -- a high wall and a deep ditch placed between you and the
enemy. In my experience which has
lasted a little more than a quarter of a century, I have heard a great deal
said about liquor’s keeping one warm in winter and quenching thirst in summer,
but le me tell you, I have come to the deliberate conclusion that it is all – humbug. I have seen men with ears frosted from the
exposure consequent upon drink – How often do our coroner’s inquests pronounce
“dead from freezing while drunk!” As
for summer I believe that liquor creates rather than slakes thirst. And those who are addicted to drinking
suffer most from thirst/. Where is the
drunkard who has not when drunk felt as if he could drink dry such an
insignificant stream as the Arkansas.
Who ever went
to bed drunk that did not before morning drink everything dry in the house –
whether it be water, soap-suds, starch, or what not?
To you of my
audience who know not the blessings of Temperance – let me say – it is from the
kindliest – friendliest impulse of my heart that I warn you, as a
road-side cottager would warn the traveller of the perils of his road – let me
warn you that there is no half way house on the road from drunkenness to
Temperance, and if you are intent upon your course that will be the only
shelter for you, and cheerless and full of danger must be the bivouac of him
who tries to stop halfway. The pathway
onward to the temple of this order may be narrow and difficult, but it is
lighted by the beacon that shines from its turrets, while voices as of angels
bid you come – from behind the yells and derisive shouts of the votaries of
Bacchus become more faint as you approach the goal. There is no safety in abstaining from all intoxicating drink –
except wine or except ale – I have seen men as drunk on ale or wine as on Minie
Rifle Whisky – You must go the whole hog – and except nothing, it is
folly for every man to suppose that he is to be the exception to a rule so
universal, as to have been written upon the entablature of man’s destiny for
ages and the man who thus defies the experience of others and persists in such
a suicidal course is guilty of perpetuating a fallacy which will involve the
ruin, and entail upon him the curses, of
“Millions yet to be.”
If the
reformed inebriate would be safe he must keep a high fence – staked and ridered
between him and John Barleycorn – You must not even grant him an occasional
greeting, for he is a pleasant companion, a jovial fellow who allures you by
his winning ways – worms himself effectually into your confidence, takes you
familiarly by the elbow, and the first thing you know he trips you to the
ground, tumbles you into the ditch – starts myriads of rats and monkeys after
you with innumerable tails of immeasurable length, who scoff at you – point
their fingers jeeringly at you, while your quondam friend John ”laughs at your
calamity and mocks when your fear cometh.”
Frightened and bewildered you turn for home – but instead of the bark
that “bays deep mouthed welcome as we draw near home” – that sacred spot
“Supremely
blest
A dearer, sweeter spot than
all the rest –“
Your friend
John who precedes you, greets you at every step, by throwing whole pavements in
your face, and clubbing you at every corner with lamp posts, till battered and
bruised you stumble into your bedroom, determined to retire to your virtuous
couch – that last, best solace for the fatigues and anxieties of the day – but
before you can close your door upon all intruders, John is again at your side,
and to our your unspeakable rage, at a wave of his hand, every article of furniture
in the room joins in hands all round for a dance – Even the old arm-chair that
has from time immemorial creaked on its rheumatic legs, leads forth the bureau,
and performs Sir Roger de Coverly with all the agility of youth, giving you a
kick on the shins by way of reminder.
You are not long in coming to the conclusion that your only chance to
get to bed is to jump in as it passes round – in your first attempt, you nearly
split your head against its partner the wardrobe – nothing daunted you make
another desperate effort, when the bed-post as if in revenge, puts in a “left
hander” and – you are floored for the night.
I would be
false to every impulse of my heart, and recreant to my trust as your orator,
were I to conclude, without an acknowledgement of the honor conferred upon us
by the ladies, who have vouchsafed to us their cheering presence. The soldier yields to none in admiration of
woman and certainly to none in devotion to her cause, and I venture the
assertion that there is not one here tonight, over whose heart some fair Dulce
holds not her gentle sway. To the
ladies we are indebted for Mount Vernon – a priceless legacy to posterity – a
Mecca of Liberty to whose shrine the tomb of the great Washington. to
which Princes and yeomen will pay their pilgrimage for ages yet untold.
In the cause
of Temperance the voice of woman is potent, and she is here to-night to
proclaim by her presence her endorsement of your principles, to encourage you
by her smiles to go on in your noble course. – As in the beginning she was the
cause –
“Of man’s
first disobedience and the fruit
Of that
forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death
into the world and all our woe
With loss of
Eden – “
So now, by way
of atonement, she is ready by her sweet counsels and examples to lead us back
to the gates of Paradise.
“And rayless
that night is, that morning unblest
Where no beam
in her eye lights up peace in the breast
And the sharp
thorn of sorrow sinks deep in the heart
Till the sweet
lip of woman assuages the smart;
’Tis hers o’er
the couch of misfortune to bend.
In fondness a
lover – in firmness a friend; --
And
prosperity’s hour be it ever confest,
From woman
receives both refinement and zest
And adorned by
the bays or enwreathed with the willow
Her smile is
our meed – her approval our pillow.”