tot 
 
PROHIBITION A FAILURE: 
 
 OR, ' ',,,' ', > V > 
 
 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF THE TEMPERANCE 
 QUESTION. 
 
 BY 
 
 DIG LEWIS, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "NEW GYMNASTICS," " WEAK LUNGS," ETC., ETC. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY. 
 
 LATE TICKNOR & FIELDS, AND FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO. 
 I87S. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, 
 
 BY DIG LEWIS, 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Bankroll 
 LIBRARY 
 
 , Stereotyped at the Boston Stereotype Foundry, 
 Xo. 19 Spring Lane. 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 I DEDICATE this volume to Prohibitionists, with the 
 hope that they may give it a thoughtful and patient 
 reading. Among many volumes, I have published noth- 
 ing that I have watched with half the interest and 
 anxiety with which I shall follow the fortunes of this 
 little work. Good friends, who believe in legislative 
 cures, I implore you to read and think. 
 Most respectfully yours, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 861340 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION . . 9 
 
 PART II. 
 VICES ARE NOT CRIMES : A VINDICATION OF MORAL LIBERTY, 109 
 
 PART III. 
 STORIES OF " WASHINGTONIANISM," AND "THE CRUSADE" . 153 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 GLANCING over this work, and finding that the writer 
 is opposed to Prohibition, many readers will conclude he 
 has joined the rum party. To secure a patient hearing, 
 I take the liberty to express my convictions upon the 
 subject of Temperance. 
 
 Alcohol is a poison, and should not be taken into the 
 stomach in any form, or under any circumstances. The 
 candidate for a boat race or billiard tournament scrupu- 
 lously abstains. For thirty years I have advised total 
 abstinence for both sexes, all ages, and in all condi- 
 tions of health. I have uniformly advised members of 
 churches to shun the Lord's Supper, until unfermented 
 wines are furnished. 
 
 In renting a hotel property in Boston, I have already 
 sacrificed not less than twenty thousand dollars to keep 
 out rum, and will not lease it without the condition that 
 wines and brandies shall be excluded from the cooking. 
 I have nothing on earth I would not cheerfully give to 
 help the cause of temperance. 
 
 I believe the Prohibitory Law is a great obstacle in 
 the path of the temperance movement, and that further 
 progress is impossible until the law is abolished.' While 
 we are waiting for the constable to do the work, we can- 
 not employ with the needed fervor those social, moral, 
 
 5 
 
6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and religions forces which alone can triumph over human 
 vices. 
 
 When the great temperance movement began, nine 
 families in ten kept a rum bottle ready for visitors. 
 "Within twenty years eight out of those nine families 
 banished the rum bottle. While this grandest of moral 
 revolutions was vigorously progressing, the prohibitory 
 law was enacted. Prayer, song, and brotherly love at 
 once gave place to the constable. Since the inaugura- 
 tion of the law the cause of temperance has steadily gone 
 backward, until the bottle has again appeared on a great 
 many sideboards. 
 
 The Crusade, in Ohio, has renewed, to some extent, 
 the grand passion of Washingtonianism ; but, if the 
 public interest is thoroughly aroused, I fear the con- 
 stable will be pushed forward again, and the divine 
 weapons laid aside. I am prepared to show that the 
 Crusade has, in a few months, reduced the consumption 
 of drinks in Boston, more than prohibition right here, in 
 Boston, has in twenty years. 
 
 I have no words with which to express my sorrow that, 
 in making this issue with the friends of prohibition, I 
 may call away the attention of some from the woes of in- 
 temperance ; but, with my convictions, I have no choice. 
 I believe this dependence upon law to be an incubus 
 which must be shaken off. 
 
 I need hardly say that " license " is a shame and 
 infamy, which ought not to be seriously discussed by a 
 Christian people. 
 
FIRST 
 
THE TRUE SOLOTQSV ?;i:.' 
 
 OF THE ;' ' >^ > I i > V ' > ;.j_ ; *.( 
 
 TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 
 
 I. 
 
 in a Pullman car, on a Western road, some 
 JRj months ago, I found myself in a company of gentle- 
 men engaged in discussing the temperance question. 
 
 One well-fed and well-dressed gentleman remarked, 
 
 " It's all well enough for women to go snivelling about 
 the streets ; but, I tell you, you can never break up this 
 infernal traffic except by the strong arm of the law." 
 
 " Well," said I, " what kind of law would you sug- 
 .gest?" 
 
 " I have been thinking a good deal about that lately," 
 he replied, " and I'll tell you what seems to me the best 
 law. Make a law that no man shall sell a glass of intoxi- 
 cating drinks for less than five dollars. Don't you see 
 that these poor devils, who make such fools of them- 
 selves, wouldn't be able to purchase it at all? That 
 would cure nineteen twentieths of the evil." 
 
 Another gentleman, with a red face, evidently not a 
 rich man, said, 
 
 " You never could enforce such a law as that ; it is 
 impossible. But I'll tell you the sort of law that would 
 fetch 'em. Pass a law that nobody shall make more than 
 
 9 
 
10 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 five per cent, on bis stock. For example, if a man buy 
 one hundred dollars' worth of whiskey, he shall not sell 
 it for more than one hundred and five dollars. Don't 
 you see tha^ wonlfl ruin every one of them? " 
 
 Another gentleman, tall, spare, and severe, said, 
 
 " Gen-iemea. you could never enforce such a law as 
 that ; you could not enforce either of those laws ; but 
 I'll tell you what would stop this thing. Make a law that 
 the man who sells once shall pay .a fine of twenty-five 
 dollars. If he is caught doing it the second time, he 
 shall pay five hundred dollars. If he is caught at it 
 again, he shall go to prison for a year. And if he is 
 caught the fourth time, he shall be hung. I tell you, 
 gentlemen, when you get 'em hung, they won't sell rum 
 much more. You'd find that would end the business ; 
 and, gentlemen, you may talk about it as much as you 
 please, that is the only way this thing can be managed. 
 Let 'em know that the law is as sure as fate, and that if 
 they are caught at it the fourth time, they'll be strung up. 
 I tell you, when you get the rum-sellers all hung up in a 
 row by the neck, you wouldn't have much more rum 
 not much, not much, gentlemen." 
 
 A stylish young man, with kid gloves, sitting near, 
 said, 
 
 " Gentlemen, those laws are too severe ; public senti- 
 ment would never enforce them. I grant you that law 
 is a good thing, and that we must have it to cure this 
 evil; but there is only one way in which law can be 
 made to work, and that is, to make a law against all per- 
 pendicular drinking. This is all you can do." 
 
 One of the company asked what he meant by " perpen- 
 dicular drinking." 
 
 " Why," said he, " I thought every one knew what that 
 meant it is standing up at a bar. Make a law that 
 nobody shall' drink standing, and you will do all that is 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. \\ 
 
 possible to do by law. Yes, gentlemen, if I were going 
 to frame a law, I should make the title, 'An Act against 
 Perpendicular Drinking.' " 
 
 A gruff old man, who had been listening impatiently, 
 with many signs of disapprobation, said, 
 
 " I don't know that I have any right to stick my nose 
 into this discussion ; but it seems to me very strange 
 that you don't all see that the only way to cure this evil 
 is to pass a law against importation and manufacturing. 
 You must tear this thing up by the roots. The idea of 
 lopping off the little ends of the branches, and then fancy 
 you are killing the tree ! I tell you, you must go down 
 to 'the very roots. Let Congress pass a law against all 
 importations, and then another one against manufacturing 
 the stuff, and don't you see that, instead of clipping off 
 the ends of the branches, you have torn the whole tree 
 up by the roots ? I am astonished when I hear people 
 talk about letting the poison come into ten thousand 
 places, in our very midst, and then undertake to fight the 
 devil at arms' length." 
 
 Another gentleman, sitting near, a member of the 
 " yaw " persuasion, said, - 
 
 " Mein Gott in himmel ! Vare you git de aulcahell for 
 a tousand deefferent teengs, und de leekoresfor einhoon- 
 dered teengs ? Nein, shentlemen, das ist sehr bad. I 
 tells you, shentlemen, you mek ein law dat de leekores 
 shall pe gone avay, and den mek shoost lager ; das is 
 goot, sehr goot." 
 
 A quiet young lady, sitting near, and who afterward 
 told me that she was on her way to St. Louis to teach 
 school, had been listening to all this conversation with 
 evident interest. 
 
 Tired not to say disgusted with the coarse non- 
 sense of these men, I turned to the young woman with 
 the question, 
 
12 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 11 What kind of law do you think is best ? " 
 
 She blushed, and, after a little hesitation, replied, 
 
 " Gentlemen, if you will excuse the remark, I believe 
 that the law of love is the best law for the cure of in- 
 temperance." 
 
 I clapped my hands, and she went on. 
 
 " I have a brother, who, I am sorry to say, engaged in 
 keeping a saloon. My father, who is a clergyman, talked 
 to Henry pretty hard. He told him that he would dis- 
 grace himself and his friends, and become a drunkard, 
 and go to hell. Henry replied, with profane words, that 
 he would go to hell if he chose, and he would go on his 
 own hook. My father contrived to get a lease of the 
 building in which brother was keeping his saloon, and 
 turned him out. Henry moved into another street, a 
 much worse one, and opened his bad business again. 
 My father sent a man to purchase a claim that a whole- 
 sale liquor dealer had against brother, and he had it sued, 
 and then they seized Henry's things, and drove him out 
 again. Then he went into a cellar, and kept a very low 
 place. Tie didn't call upon us at all, and I don't know 
 that we ever should have seen him again ; but two young 
 ladies, friends of mine, proposed to me, having heard of 
 the woman's movement in Ohio, that we three should go 
 down to Henry's place, and see what we could do. So, 
 one afternoon we looked him up, and walked in. There 
 were half a dozen rough men hanging about ; but we 
 went directly to the bar, and one of the young ladies 
 said, 
 
 " ' Won't you let us see you privately ? ' 
 
 " Henry said, ' I have no other room, young ladies, but 
 perhaps I can see you some other time.' 
 
 " Kate said, l Can't } T OU send these men out, and let us 
 speak with you a few moments ? ' 
 
 " Henry turned to the men, and said, 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 13 
 
 " ' Boys, you better leave a little while. You may come 
 back in half an hour/ 
 
 " Then Henry came out from behind his bar, and we 
 sat down upon some rickety chairs, and began to talk. 
 I can't tell you exactly what we said; but we talked, 
 and pleaded, and begged, and, I am ashamed to say, we 
 girls all cried. I had no idea the half hour was up; but 
 the men came back, and knocked at the door. 
 
 " Brother cried out, ' Come again in an hour ; ' and 
 they went away swearing. 
 
 " After a while, we got to talking quite tender and lov- 
 ing; and I told Henry, if he would give up this dreadful 
 business, and go back to his old trade, and would take 
 two or three rooms, I would help him fit them up, and 
 would come every day to keep house for him, and would 
 do everything in my power to make him happy. Well, 
 at last he began to cry himself; and then I put my arms 
 about him, and kissed him, and said, 
 
 " ' My dear brother, this is a dreadful business ; it will 
 ruin you. Come, go with us. 7 
 
 " He sat still for a few moments, and we stopped talk- 
 ing because we saw he was thinking; but I sat by his 
 side, and kept my hand in his. He got up and walked 
 backward and forward across the room, and, at length, 
 turned suddenly, and going behind the bar, opened a 
 wooden faucet, and let the beer in a keg run out on the 
 floor. Then he took the corks out of six or eight bottles, 
 and poured the contents on the floor. 
 
 " ' There ! I have poured out all the miserable stuff/ 
 said he ; and, turning to me, and taking me in his- 
 arms, he continued, l My sister, I promise you solemnly, 
 I will never sell any more, and that I will never drink 
 any more, as long as I live.' He remains true. ; , 
 
 " Now, gentlemen," continued the young lady, " it may 
 be that a constable would have accomplished the same 
 
14 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 thing better ; but in a town in Maine, where I was born, 
 and where I have always resided, it has been said for 
 some years that the law had broken up the liquor traffic, 
 that there was not a place in town where intoxicating 
 drinks could be purchased, that the constables had traced 
 the last two bottles to a heap of dirt under a barn ; but 
 the marshal reported that he had never seen so much 
 intemperance in our town. Evidently drinking people 
 were finding access to it in great quantities, but the 
 question was, where? That was what puzzled every- 
 body. A great many young men, of a class that every- 
 body says did not formerly drink, had organized a drink- 
 ing club, where they drank a good deal. Gentlemen, I 
 have learned to doubt whether law is, after all, so very 
 potent in the cure of this evil. I really believe that the 
 law of love, such as we applied to Henry, is more potent 
 than the law of force. I suppose you will say that our 
 management of my brother was womanish and weak, and 
 that it would have been better to use the strong power 
 of the government ; but, in my study of German, I came 
 across an adage, which seems to me to contain a great 
 deal- of truth. It is 'Die, milde Macht ist gross] which 
 means, ' the mild power is great ; ' and I sometimes think 
 this adage contains a deep truth."*' 
 
 I said to them, " Gentlemen, if, in this war upon rum- 
 selling, there were two movements, one led on by all of 
 you, with your fists doubled up and your pockets full of 
 laws, and the other movement was led by this young 
 lady, I should follow her; believing that, with her law 
 of love, we could do a hundred times as much as you, 
 with your law of force. Force is a good agency in break- 
 ing rocks, and in punishing criminals ; but in curing 
 vices, in which we strive to regulate the action and re- 
 action of the faculties and passions of the human soul, 
 force is about as well adapted to our purpose as a sledge 
 hammer to regulating a watch. 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 15 
 
 II. 
 
 SOME people seem to have the impression that society 
 is restrained from vice by civil law ; that our wives 
 and daughters are virtuous because there is a law 
 against brothels; that our exemplary citizens refrain 
 from gambling, profanity, and drinking, because the law 
 forbids these vices ; that somehow society is kept in 
 order by law. 
 
 Of course I need not argue, with those who have 
 observed and thought, that vices are inevitably strength- 
 ened by legal prohibition, and virtues weakened by legal 
 protection. 
 
 i It is not the clumsy fingers of the law which restrain 
 us from a vicious life, but reason and public sentiment. 
 
 The great Napoleon said, " 1 do not care for the armies 
 of Europe, but I tremble before its public sentiment." 
 
 Even a church, which, like the Church of England, or 
 that of France and Italy, is taken under the protection 
 of the government, loses its moral vitality, and can never 
 regain it till all legislative props are removed, and it 
 learns to stand on its own legs. Let the government of 
 the United States take the Methodist church under its 
 special protection, and in twelve months its grand moral 
 power would be paralyzed. 
 
 Inevitably a temperance movement is emasculated, 
 as here in Massachusetts, when taken under the protec- 
 tion of the government. 
 
 There is not a church, or a society, or a virtue, which 
 will not lose its moral vitality if taken under the wing 
 of civil law. Nothing but the sense of responsibility 
 gives balance and strength. A man cannot walk a tight 
 
16 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 rope, a hundred feet from the ground ; unless he first 
 learns to depend upon himself; nor can he walk on the 
 ground, even, without having first learned this self- 
 dependence. You can't learn to swim without going 
 into the water. 
 
 It is the sense of responsibility which develops every 
 noble human quality. The same law obtains in every 
 sphere and department of life. A girl whose virtue is 
 guarded in a French convent has no real virtue ; and 
 when her friends watch her, and refuse to leave her 
 alone with a man, even for a moment, they tell usj more 
 plainly than any words could, how she has been ruined 
 by being denied her liberty. 
 
 And no matter how richly endowed a young man ma/ 
 be, if he learns that his fortune is secure, that his fathei 
 will leave him wealth, he will never become a force in 
 the world. 
 
 Observe that man walking down the street. He passes 
 a liquor store, and now he passes a street which leads to 
 brothels. Why? Is it the fear of the law which re- 
 strains him ? When you, my reader, walk through a city, 
 and pass a thousand temptations, are you restrained by 
 law ? Is it the fear of the constable, or is it your con- 
 viction that vicious indulgences are harmful, with the 
 consciousness that society is observing you ? 
 
 Let us go to a prison. . We find a convict who has 
 resisted the most determined attempts at discipline. He 
 has been beaten, and showered, and tortured in many 
 other ways, but he still defies them. Suppose we could 
 obtain permission to take him out with us a few days. 
 We take off his prison dress, give him a good suit, and 
 then conduct him to a social gathering of refined ladies 
 and gentlemen. Now watch him ! There are not bars, 
 and chains, and whips enough in this world to make him 
 as gentle as ho now is in conversation with that lady. 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 17 
 
 Is not the influence of good men and women as cheap 
 and as available as torture and prisons ? 
 
 From the Massachusetts prison we have recently heard 
 of punishments, shootings, and dungeons ; but I remem- 
 ber to have visited that prison some years ago, when the 
 discipline was of another sort. One day the prisoners 
 were all let out into the yard for conversation and games. 
 Football, loud laughing and shouting, made the wildest 
 scene I ever witnessed. The warden's little children 
 were caught up by the convicts, passed along from thief 
 to thief, from murderer to murderer, kissed and fondly 
 embraced by men who had not touched a child, it may 
 be, for months or years. When we saw the warden's 
 beautiful little daughter in the arms of men whose names 
 the world speaks with a shudder, and some one cried out 
 to the mother, " 0, madam, how can you ? How dare 
 you?" the mother replied, " Daisy could not be safer 
 anywhere in the world. They will bring her back in 
 an hour, with five hundred loving kisses on her lips." 
 
 Last evening, in taking a walk, I passed a large num- 
 ber of children just dismissed from school ; and I did not 
 kill a single one of them, not even the least in size, and 
 I saw one little girl so small and delicate, I am confident I 
 could have killed her very easily, but I passed right by. 
 I had my reasons for letting them off so easily, but I do 
 not care to mention them. I will, however, say this 
 much it was not the fear of the law. 
 
 I remember sitting up once all night with a little child ; 
 it was its last night ; and the poor little thing was gasp- 
 ing for breath. It could not raise its hand, it was so 
 weak. Now I could have killed that child so easy, and 
 it was so far gone that it could not have hurt a fly, and 
 I was in robust health at the time. It would have been 
 perfectly safe, but I didn't kill it. My reason for letting 
 it escape, was in no degree the fear of the law. 
 
18 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 In our cities there are women who devote themselves 
 to the care of the sick among the abandoned, about the 
 Five Points and other similar places. They go alone 
 right into a den of thieves, or into a cellar or attic occu- 
 pied by men who rob and kill, and these ladies do not 
 leave their watches and purses at home. But no one 
 ever hears of their being robbed or hurt, and they go at 
 all hours of the night. 
 
 It certainly is not the fear of the law which restrains 
 these hardened creatures. I think I know what it is 
 that protects these women, and renders them a little 
 safer than they would be in their own houses ; but, my 
 reader, I shall not tell you. You may have three chances 
 to guess. 
 
 It will be remembered that there was established at 
 Lexington, Mass., some years ago, a school for young 
 ladies, which rapidly grew in popularity and patronage, 
 until the great buildings were unfortunately destroyed 
 by fire. The secret of the popularity of that school, and 
 the secret of the most remarkable intellectual progress 
 I have ever known, was the absence of what is called 
 government. Every pupil was expected to do her 
 best, and she did it. Neither absence from prayers 
 or recitations, nor the character of the recitations, was 
 made a matter of record. Everything was trusted to 
 honor, and during the years of the history of that school 
 there was scarcely an occasion for fault-finding. It was 
 a marvellous success, and is referred to by the pupils as 
 the beginning of a new life, as the place where they 
 began to cultivate a true womanhood. : 
 
 The worst class of our citizens are more worthy of 
 trust than some managers of ladies' seminaries believe 
 their pupils to be. The general policy is to have an 
 almost endless series of rules, and then police the school, 
 ai d watch for violations. I had rather my own daughter 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 19 
 
 would never learn to read the name of the God who made 
 her, than to be subjected to the demoralizing influence 
 of such a system. 
 
 The young ladies in the Lexington school were re- 
 quested to retire at nine o'clock, and the reasons for it 
 were given so fully, that it was very rare that any one 
 violated the request. The fire watchman began his 
 rounds at nine o'clock in the evening, and knowing that 
 it was the general custom to retire at nine o'clock, and 
 observing a light one night, a few minutes after nine, in 
 one of the rooms, he went to the principal, to report the 
 fact. He was sent to ask if any one was sick. Return- 
 ing to give the answer, he was immediately followed by 
 the young lady, who had been sitting up beyond the 
 prescribed hour, and who came to the principal to say, 
 
 " I hope you will excuse me, but I received a letter 
 from my mother to-day, and knowing she would expect 
 an immediate answer, and that I should be very busy 
 to-morrow, I was just finishing my letter." 
 
 The principal said, " All right, Mary ; " and she turned 
 to go back ; but stopping, she remarked, with some emo- 
 tion, 
 
 " I am sure if you knew how much better I do here 
 than I have ever done at school before, you would not 
 blame me. The year before I came here, I was at the 
 young ladies' seminary in P. I can't tell you how many 
 rules we had in that school, but there was a great num- 
 ber. They were written, and stuck up in the halls. 
 There were all sorts of rules about everything. I re- 
 member there was a rule that when two pupils met in 
 any passage hall, they must not speak to each other. 
 There was another, that pupils must never call upon each 
 other in their rooms ; and another, that we must be in 
 bed at ten o'clock, and that pupils sleeping together 
 must not speak to each other after that hour. There was 
 2 
 
20 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 another, that we must not correspond with any one, ex- 
 cept through the principal. 
 
 " Every girl of spirit had one or more correspondents 
 outside, and generally with some young man in the town. 
 The letters were exchanged through the stone wall that 
 surrounded the garden. Every pupil had her particular 
 spot, where she put her letters addressed to the young 
 man, and received his replies. The girl who hadn't one 
 or two stone wall correspondents was regarded as slow. 
 It was required of us to report every day all violations 
 of the rules. So, after we retired at night, if we wanted 
 to converse with our bed-fellows, one of us would address 
 an imaginary person, for example, Bridget, and ask 
 her to say to her mate, by whose side she was lying, so and 
 so. Then her companion would request Bridget to reply 
 so and so; and thus conversation was carried on indefi- 
 nitely ; and when, the next day, we were asked to report 
 violations of the rules, we did not report this, because we 
 had not spoken to each other, but only to Bridget. A 
 score of devic.es, some of them very ingenious, were con- 
 trived for dodging the rule about speaking to each 
 other when passing in the hall, and again about visiting 
 each other in our rooms. The greatest intellectual 
 activity in the school was in carrying forward a series 
 of equivocations, and dodges, and concealments. Why, 
 sir, I would no more send a sister to that school, than I 
 would send her to any other place where she was sure 
 to learn all sorts of dishonesty. 
 
 " I have been in your school two years, and I have 
 never heard one of the girls suggest a violation of any 
 of your wishes, or the wishes of the teachers. Here we 
 know we are not watched. Everything is trusted to our 
 honor, and I think, sir, when you trust us, a jgirl must be 
 dreadfully mean not to do right ; but if you watch us, 
 then it is a fair game. I do believe, sir, if one of the 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 21 
 
 + 
 
 girls in this school was to propose anything that would 
 be a violation of jour wishes ; the rest of us would make 
 the place too hot for her to stay here.'' 
 
 And away she went to her room. 
 
 The young ladies in the school at Lexington were 
 requested not to receive any company except with the 
 distinct permission of their parents. One young lady 
 from New York went out walking, one evening, with a 
 young gentleman in the neighborhood, and when the fact 
 became known in the school, it was quite unnecessary for 
 the principal to reprimand her. The girls took it up, 
 and made it very certain that no other pupil in the 
 school would ever try that again. 
 
 And as to correspondence, I need hardly say that the 
 outrageous indecency, not to say state prison offence, of 
 opening a pupil's letter, was never committed by the 
 principal of the Lexington school. 
 
 Almost the noblest and most promising young woman 
 I have ever met, told me, some years ago, when she was 
 about to enter a young ladies' seminary, where it was 
 the system to correspond through the principal, that she 
 had instructed her friends not to write her, for if the 
 manager of the school were to open a letter of hers she 
 would have him arrested and tried for a state prison 
 offence. 
 
 I need hardly say to those who have studied the 
 sources of human character, that the peculiar system of 
 management at the Lexington school was infinitely more 
 valuable to its pupils than the contents of all the class 
 books. 
 
 A conscientious, exalted womanhood is worth a mil- 
 lion times more than all libraries. I need not add that 
 the police system of school government is opposed to the 
 cultivation of such a womanhood. 
 
22 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 in. 
 
 IN the early stages of human development, brute 
 force was the only means of securing obedience. 
 And even among our own people of to-day, thousands 
 of parents beat their children's heads to make them obey. 
 When people become enlightened, beating gives way to 
 reason and persuasion. 
 
 When I was a boy, the pupil that escaped whipping 
 for a whole term was a curiosity. In a school where I 
 spent a year, the whip was in almost constant use. I 
 saw a class of forty- six boys and girls stand up in a row 
 to be whipped, and as in turn they got their beating, 
 they took their seats. The plan of punishment differed 
 a little with the two sexes. The teacher stood with 
 his legs apart, and each boy got down on his hands and 
 feet, and crawled between the teacher's legs. The idea 
 was for the teacher to bring his legs together suddenly, 
 and catch the urchin ; then holding him fast, he would, 
 with a big ruler, give him about ten ringing blows. If 
 a boy, thus down on all fours, succeeded in plunging 
 through three times without being caught by the teach- 
 er's knees, he went free ; but this very rarely occurred. 
 The girls were not put through this game of all fours, 
 but each girl stood up like a man, and took the whip 
 over her shoulders. In that school, which was in the 
 fine town of Auburn, N. Y., and kept by Dr. Tucker, a 
 famous teacher, I saw a girl, eighteen years old, whipped, 
 in the presence of the school, till she fainted. Dr. Tucker 
 was paid a large salary because of his ability to govern. 
 Such brutalities excited no comment, that I can recall ; 
 certainly there was no general protest, for Dr. Tucker 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 23 
 
 remained, to the last, the most popular teacher in town. 
 I never heard any one claim for him any excellence 
 except his remarkable talent for governing. He did not 
 lay down the whip from morning till night, and it was 
 rare 'that an hour passed without its being used. 
 
 Only a little more than forty years have passed since 
 those days, and now in most parts of the country we do 
 not allow a teacher to beat his pupils at all, and I may 
 add that for fifty parental whippings -forty years ago, we 
 have now perhaps one or two. Progress in this direc- 
 tion has been very rapid. 
 
 In the treatment of men, the change has likewise been 
 very marked. Forty years ago men were not only 
 whipped in the army and navy, but were whipped and 
 pilloried in civil life. A man was often whipped, and 
 then fastened in a pillory, where he was left, for a time, 
 for the boys to throw putrid eggs at. I never saw a 
 man in a pillory, but the scene has been described so 
 often, that I think I understand it. His head and face 
 are in full view, and the boys, having saved up bad eggs 
 for the pillory days, stand off a little distance, and prac- 
 tise on him. There is a great roar when a bad egg hits 
 him in the mouth, for as his hands are fastened, he can- 
 not remove the horrible stuff from his mouth and nostrils. 
 
 If we go a little farther back, say three hundred years, 
 we find that our English ancestors treated their poor and 
 vicious much worse. If a poor man, not being able to 
 get a living in one place, went to another neighborhood, 
 they called him a tramp, and anybody might take pos- 
 session of him, and keep him for his own use, and whip 
 him at his own pleasure. The owner gave him to eat 
 whatever he chose, the law presuming that if he was 
 worth feeding, his owner would feed him. If he tried 
 to run away, killing him was no crime. 
 
 Numerous cases occurred in which a nobleman killed 
 
24 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 a man for objecting to his (the nobleman's) intimacies 
 with the man's wife or daughter. The killing of a poor 
 man by a nobleman was not attended by any risk of 
 punishment. 
 
 I have mentioned these cases of brutaUty as samples 
 of the spirit in which the weak and vicious have hereto- 
 fore been treated. 
 
 Of course everybody knows, now, that a little kindness 
 and trust are a hundred-fold more potent in securing 
 right conduct. There never was a bad man or woman 
 on this planet who could not be influenced more by an 
 hour's reasoning, and gentle words, than by ten years of 
 cruelty and torture ; but the passion which beats chil- 
 dren's heads, and whips men, to make them submit, re- 
 fuses to consider reason and kindness. No matter whether 
 it is drunkards, rum-sellers, or prostitutes, few persons 
 ask whether kindness would help ; but the first and last 
 question is, In what way can we punish them? 
 
 When the women began the Crusade in Ohio, I was 
 deeply interested in their views of rum-sellers. 
 
 In one of the first meetings, an intelligent lady, the 
 wife of a clergyman, exclaimed, 
 
 " What ! go right into those dreadful places, and face 
 those horrible men ! I should as soon think of entering 
 the infernal regions. O, no ; anything but that. I am 
 willing to pray for them, but as to goiog into those 
 dreadful places, among those imps of darkness, I can't 
 think of it." 
 
 A month later I heard that same lady describe, with 
 many tears and the tenderest emotions, her visits to 
 some of the worst groggeries. She said, 
 
 " Dear friends, it would soften your hearts toward 
 these poor drinking creatures, and toward the rum-sellers, 
 if you could only see how kindly they treat us. I can 
 never go to those places without weeping. They are 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 25 
 
 
 
 just as gentle and kind to us as though we were their 
 own sisters." 
 
 In all the accounts illustrating the power of moral 
 influence over the most brutal class of our population, I 
 know of none more interesting than the story of Captain 
 Maconochie, and his work on Norfolk Island. The 
 population here was made up of fourteen hundred pris- 
 oners and their jailers. These prisoners were the very 
 scum of criminal society, the most hardened offenders, 
 from the prisons of New South Wales and Van Diemen's 
 Land. They were treated with incredible cruelty. 
 They were beaten, starved, and chained. Their self- 
 respect was broken in every possible way; and, says 
 Captain Maconochie, 
 
 " A more demoniacal assemblage could not be imagined. 
 The most formidable sight I ever beheld was the sea of 
 faces upturned to me, when I first addressed them." 
 
 This good man held out a brother's hand to them. He 
 elevated them in their own eyes, and they joined with 
 him in practical efforts toward bettering their condition. 
 It is a long story, and the result, as given by Captain 
 Maconochie, is the following : 
 
 " I found the island a brutal hell, and I left it a peace- 
 ful, well-ordered community. Officers, women and chil- 
 dren, traversed the island everywhere, without fear ; and 
 huts, gardens, stock-yards, and growing crops were scat- 
 tered in every corner, without molestation." 
 
 How great this work was, perhaps could only be 
 rightly estimated by those who were witnesses of the 
 wonderful changes. Said one of the prisoners, a vic- 
 tim of the old system of torture, " When a prisoner was 
 sent to Norfolk Island, he lost the heart of a man, and 
 got that of a beast instead." 
 
 As an illustration of Captain Maconochie's treatment, 
 I select one striking case. There was a man named 
 
26 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 Anderson, who, from the age of eighteen to twenty-four, 
 appeared to have run the whole gamut of crime. Re- 
 peated flogging had only rendered him more violent and 
 hardened. Finally, so desperate arid dangerous a char- 
 acter had he become, that he was sentenced to be chained 
 to a rock for two years. He was fastened by a chain, his 
 bed was a hollow scooped in the rock, his food was 
 passed to him by means of a long pole. His flesh was 
 devoured by vermin, and he was not allowed water to 
 bathe his sores. Yet all this never subdued his spirit. 
 
 Captain Maconochie found and freed him, and treated 
 him like a human being. The sequel is thus told : 
 
 " Sir George Gibbs visited the island three years after 
 Captain Maconochie's arrival, and, while driving through 
 its beautiful scenery, Anderson was seen tripping along 
 in his trim sailor dress, full of importance, with his tele- 
 scope under his arm. t What little smart fellow may that 
 be ? ' asked Sir George. ' Whom do you suppose ? That 
 is the man who was chained to the rock in Sydney Har- 
 bor. 7 Sir George was greatly surprised and affected." 
 
 We have a similar example in the case of the prisons 
 at Munich. The prisoners were celebrated as the most 
 brutalized among these brutal classes. They were 
 guarded by ferocious dogs ; they were heavily chained, 
 and flogged for the slightest offence. In consequence, 
 they were treacherous, cruel, dangerous. 
 
 At last the prisons passed into the hands of Mr. Ober- 
 mair, a man who " founded his system on the conviction 
 that the worst criminal preserves the germ of some good 
 quality, and that discipline based rather on mercy than 
 severity, by appealing to the nobler instead of the brutal 
 instincts of humanity, will awaken a new feeling in the 
 mind of the convict, that of self-respect, and thus 
 develop those moral qualities which, though dormant, 
 are never completely extinct.' 7 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 27 
 
 As a result of his system, we find that, of two hundred 
 and ninety-eight prisoners discharged within the two 
 years of his administration, two hundred and forty-six af- 
 terward led honest, industrious lives ; although more than 
 half of them had been convicted for homicide, felony, or 
 murder. As an instance of practical reform from the 
 law of love, this is very striking. 
 
 The name of Mrs. Fry is familiar to- all ; yet few know 
 of the difficulties attending the beginning of her work. 
 Within a few months, this delicate woman, only strong in 
 her love, accomplished what the prison authorities de- 
 clared an impossible thing. She began her work at 
 Newgate, where three hundred women, with their 
 wretched children, were huddled together like pigs in 
 a pen. They were the vilest of the vile ; fighting, drink- 
 ing, blaspheming day and night. The very jailers would 
 not trust themselves among them unless heavily armed. 
 
 She appeared among them armed only with peace and 
 love. She touched their rocky hearts, and the waters 
 of repentance gushed forth. In six months' time the 
 miracle had been wrought which love, and nothing but 
 love, can achieve. 
 
 If one only observes and thinks, he is astonished to 
 find how little law has to do with the general good con- 
 duct of society. Let us watch the life of a man for a 
 day. He rises in the morning, speaks kindly to his wife 
 and children, although there is no law requiring it ; he 
 goes down the street, speaks kindly to children and his 
 neighbors ; goes to his place of business, treats his fel- 
 low-workmen with kindness and justice, gives during the 
 day a shilling or a dollar to a beggar, and goes home 
 to greet his wife and children pleasantly in the evening, 
 and retires to rest without having thought of the law 
 during the day. He has not done one thing or omitted 
 to do one thing because of the law. 
 
28 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 My reader, do you remember ever to have done any- 
 thing in your life, or refrained from doing anything, be- 
 cause of the statutes ? If we could only realize how little 
 civil law contributes to the good conduct and well-being 
 of society, our interest in the legislature would be greatly 
 lessoned. If the legislature sticks its clumsy fingers into 
 our affairs, so as to conflict with our notions of liberty, 
 we sneer at it, as in the case of the prohibitory liquor 
 law ; or with our notions of honor, we treat it with silent 
 contempt, as in the case of usury. 
 
 Of the millions upon millions of acts of kindness and 
 justice which go to make up civilized life, I take it that 
 nine in ten would never be performed at all if they were 
 required by law. 
 
 During my residence in Buffalo, N. Y., we were startled 
 one morning by the report that a canal-boat, containing 
 two men, had floated down the river, and was hanging 
 on some rocks just above Niagara Falls. I went down 
 .on the next train, and found that the boat was balancing 
 on a rock in a very critical position ; but the two men 
 had left the barge in a small boat half a mile above, and 
 escaped in safety. I found a company of men trying to 
 save a dog which had been left on the boat. 
 
 It was momentarily expected that the old craft would 
 escape from its moorings and go over the cataract. 
 
 A hundred men were on the shore, long after dark, 
 devising and contriving, but at length adjourned till 
 morning. It was agreed that they should be on the spot 
 at daylight, and if the dog who had been running back 
 and forth on the deck during the day, seeming to appre- 
 ciate the imminent danger was still there, they would 
 rescue him. 
 
 I was very curious to see whether this grand enthu- 
 siasm over the fate of a dog would last till morning. At 
 the day dawn I was on the spot, and found more than 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 29 
 
 one hundred men already there. Two brave fellows, 
 who had, during the night, secured a light, strong boat, 
 proposed to go some little distance above and row across, 
 each having a rope tied about his body, so that they 
 might be drawn ashore should the boat fail them. When 
 they were ready to leave on their desperate venture, 
 there was an immense crowd gathered on the shore, 
 swayed with intense emotion. The two brave fellows 
 threw off all their outer clothing, took their seats in the 
 boat, and began their desperate pull. 
 
 But, before they were half way over, it was very ob- 
 vious that they must be dashed on some large rocks in 
 the midst of the rushing waters, a little way below their 
 track, and over which the torrent broke with terrific force. 
 
 A cry of horror went up from the crowd. The two 
 young men threw up their hands, the signal agreed upon 
 with their friends on shore, and leaped into the rushing 
 waters. 
 
 In less than a minute they were in our arms ; but one 
 of them was insensible, and the other was bleeding pro- 
 fusely from the nose. In a minute or two the insensible 
 man became conscious, and the two brave fellows rose, 
 grasped each other's hands, and one said to the other, 
 
 " Jim, we will save that dog or die." 
 
 The two young men spoke low together for a moment, 
 when one of them said to a man standing near, 
 
 " Bring the little, short boat," 
 
 The man, with others, ran off for the boat, and in half 
 an hour our two heroes were ready, at a point higher up 
 the river. Each had a rope tied about his waist, and 
 they took an extra rope for the dog. 
 
 When they pushed out from the shore, the crowd, 
 which had now increased to many thousands, shouted 
 words of fear and despair, or of courage and hope. As 
 the two young fellows, who were evidently persons of 
 
30 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 immense strength and desperate courage, pulled through 
 the foaming torrent, the crowd on shore cried out, " They 
 are lost!" "No; they'll fetch it!" "My God, they 
 arc gone ! " " No ; there they are ! " and, when at length 
 they struck the bow of their tiny craft against the canal- 
 boat, and swung around under it, such shouts were never 
 before heard from five thousand throats, as went up from 
 that crowd. And when the two heroes quietly kissed 
 their hands to us, it was agreed that they were the 
 coolest, bravest men that ever lived. 
 
 One of them climbed to the deck of the canal-boat, 
 where the demonstrations of the poor dog were most 
 touching. Soon the dog was handed down into the small 
 boat, the extra rope was tied about him, and they were 
 ready to attempt the return. 
 
 Now they motion to their friends on shore to go far 
 down the bank. They have evidently resolved to at- 
 tempt the return below the rocks on which their first 
 boat went to pieces. They wait for some time to gather 
 breath and strength, and they point out to each other the 
 dangers and chances. And now they brace themselves, 
 and push out into the surging waters ! We send up one 
 wild shout, and then lean forward and watch in breath- 
 less silence the heroic struggle. 
 
 Good God ! they are lost ! Nothing can save them ! 
 But instantly they rise from their seats, one of them 
 throws up his hands as the signal to pull, the other lifts 
 the dog in his arms, and they leap into the mad torrent. 
 In two minutes men and dog are in our midst, and we 
 are rubbing them back into life. The crowd, now ten 
 thousand in number, lift up the heroes, and carry them 
 with shouts "of triumph to the nearest hotel, where they 
 receive every attention. 
 
 I do not know what the statute is in regard to the 
 saving of a spaniel dog of medium size, with his rights, 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 31 
 
 dignity, appurtenances aforesaid, &c., &c., when in peril 
 above Niagara Falls ; but I venture the assertion that, 
 if those young men had known of the existence of such a 
 law, Carlo would have been left to go over the cataract. 
 
 What an inconceivable stupidity to treat creatures ca- 
 pable of such sublime heroism, as the law treats the vic- 
 tims of vice ! Man is made in the image of God. He 
 never loses the divine spark. How stupid and brutal to 
 beat and imprison his body for vicious indulgences, in- 
 stead of fanning that divine spark into a flame ! 
 
 But it is just, and always just, to punish crimes by law. 
 On another page the distinction between a vice and a 
 crime is given, so that no one will fail to see the justice 
 of punishing crimes } and the great injustice of punishing 
 vices. 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE business of the government is to protect the citi- 
 zen. The governor is simply the chief of the police. 
 Some people think that the governor is the commanding 
 general of the state, the governor's council his staff 
 officers, and the State House the headquarters. To the 
 criminals of the state the governor is the commanding 
 general ; but to you, the respectable citizens, he is no 
 more than the policeman who tramps up and down the 
 streets all night through the storm, while you are in your 
 comfortable beds. To the criminal the chief of police in 
 a city is a great man ; but to the respectable citizen he 
 is only an officer with bright buttons, whose function it 
 is to keep the sidewalk clear. To gaping ignorance the 
 governor is a great man ; but to the intelligent citizen 
 
32 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 lie is only another policeman, without bright buttons, 
 whose duty it is to keep watch, and see that he, the sov. 
 ereign citizen, is in no way disturbed as he walks about 
 in pursuit of his profit or pleasure. 
 
 Tiie governor is the commander-in-chief of the army 
 of criminals, but has no more authority over other people 
 than he has over the inhabitants of another planet. On 
 the contrary, he is simply and only the head of that po- 
 lice whose duty it is to keep awake and watch while 
 their masters sleep. I would not underrate the impor- 
 tance of this function. All useful labor, if faithfully 
 performed, becomes honorable ; but it is not to be denied 
 that the sovereign citizen of the highest class steps a 
 long way down when he enters the police force. 
 
 If you wish to see how much the governor and the 
 legislature enter into the thought and life of the best 
 class of citizens, spend an evening in a social gathering 
 of our best people, and you will never hear the State 
 House mentioned, unless in contempt for some of its im- 
 pertinences. But if you go down to the North End, the 
 governor and the chief of police fill the conversation, as 
 the sayings and doings of the officers in an army fill the 
 conversation of the common soldier. 
 
 It is constantly complained that the best citizens will 
 not accept political office. It is true ; and, as people 
 become more and more enlightened, rich, and indepen- 
 dent, it will be more and more difficult to secure first- 
 class citizens to serve in any political office. We have 
 not had a first-rate man as President of the United States 
 in forty years ; I mean, first-rate in culture and morals. 
 All of which means this, and only this : that political of- 
 fice, as an occupation, is far below the highest level of 
 the private citizen's life. 
 
 If the legislature met once in five or ten years, and re- 
 mained together a few days, or a few weeks, to attend to 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 33 
 
 really important business, I think the character of the 
 State House would be so improved that the best citizens 
 would consent to serve ; but as it is now, when every 
 possible expedient is resorted to to make business, when 
 nothing is really done till the last few days of a six 
 months' session, except to ferret out the corruption of 
 the members, to find out how much the Hon. Mr. A. 
 or the Hon. Mr. X. has stolen, how can we blame the 
 best citizens for not liking to be mixed up in such a 
 business ? 
 
 All this corruption grows out of the attempt on the 
 part of the legislature to do what they have no business 
 with. Let them confine themselves to providing meth- 
 ods of punishing criminals, and leave the people's busi- 
 ness to the people themselves, and they would quickly 
 win the confidence and respect of the public, and all 
 this miserable lobbying, and jobbery, and corruption 
 would cease. 
 
 V. 
 
 LAW-MAKING is our mania. We are about the first 
 people that have had perfect liberty in the business, 
 and we are nearly crazy over it. 
 
 It is astonishing with what rapidity the wheel turns 
 twenty-six hundred laws during a single session. The 
 state printers are frequently compelled to keep their men 
 up all night to print these laws. 
 
 But the respect of the people fails to keep pace with 
 the magnitude of this work. At the conclusion of a ses- 
 sion, during which laws enough have been ground out 
 
34 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 to fill several great volumes, the newspapers, not unfre- 
 quently of both parties, denounce the legislature as 
 utterly " imbecile and corrupt," and they rejoice that " at 
 last our law-makers have gone home, so that their blun- 
 dering and mischief have come to an end." It is con- 
 stantly charged, by those who have good reason to know, 
 that the legislature of this or that state, or the national 
 legislature, can be bought ; or that a measure, no matter 
 how important, will inevitably fail unless there is money 
 in it. 
 
 The conviction is well nigh universal among the peo- 
 ple that these charges of the newspapers are well 
 founded. 
 
 These legislatures are composed of merchants, farmers, 
 and lawyers, who, at home, are honorable men; but 
 when they reach the State House, it is widely believed 
 they put themselves up to the highest bidder. 
 
 I need not add that the laws which come from such 
 legislatures fail to command the respect of the people. 
 
 The contempt with which the people regard the law, 
 if it happens to conflict with their notions of honor or 
 liberty, is very emphatic. Permit me to illustrate by the 
 law against usury. 
 
 This law was strong and explicit. If the lender took 
 usury he forfeited his entire claim. And yet a large part 
 of the money received usurious interest. During one "of 
 our revulsions a single bank in Boston received more than 
 a thousand dollars a day usurious interest. During that 
 trying season there was not, probably, a business man in 
 Boston who did not pay usury, and there was not a day, 
 except Sundays and holidays, when there were not 
 thousands of our citizens paying usury. Why did they 
 not fall back on " a wise and beneficent law," defend the 
 dignity of the State House, and at the same time make a 
 fortune ? It was a short road to wealth, a straight and 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 35 
 
 simple one, and, what one would suppose every good 
 citizen should prize, it was strictly legal. 
 
 I ask, why did not these victims of usury avail them- 
 selves of this open door to wealth ? 
 
 Everybody is prepared to respond, 
 
 " Because there is something in man, a something 
 known as honor, which is a thousand fold stronger than 
 his love for money and his reverence for law combined." 
 
 This case is one of those (and they are numerous) 
 which clearly exhibits the weakness of a legislative enact- 
 ment, when it happens to conflict with our sense of 
 honor. 
 
 The legislature of a great state enacts that whoever 
 takes usurious interest shall forfeit his claim. Legisla- 
 ture after legislature reaffirm the law. It is a fixed and 
 settled policy, and is continued, without essential change, 
 for generations. 
 
 Now consider the situation. It is the year 1837. 
 Honor and confidence tremble in the balance. No man 
 knows where he stands, or whom he can trust. Borrowers 
 crowd every place where money is to be had. Millions 
 upon millions are lent every day. Ruin stares thousands 
 in the face. Every conceivable method of raising the 
 wind is considered. Conscience retires from the strug- 
 gle. In all this crowd of anxious, frightened men, run- 
 ning hither and thither, there is scarcely a man who 
 might not step out of the fight and retire rich, if he 
 would only say, 
 
 " I refuse to pay usury ; it is against the laws of my 
 country." 
 
 That is all. It would be legal, and what is legal must 
 be honest, especially if the law be one which has been 
 so long and carefully considered and reconsidered as this 
 law of usury. 
 
 Surely, in this crowd of frightened men, vou need not 
 3 
 
36 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 go far to find a man who would defy almost any law on 
 the statutes to escape the impending ruin, but not one 
 will plead usury to save himself, although, in paying it, 
 he becomes an accomplice in a violation of a statute law. 
 
 1 need not undertake to explain this. Instinct is 
 quicker than words. Every man feels, " I would die 
 rather than violate my honor" 
 
 I am trying to illustrate the weakness 'of civil law, and 
 the strength of honor. 
 
 Many years ago imprisonment for debt was in vogue 
 in the State of New York. 
 
 The law was then modified, so that a debtor might get 
 bail, and go out of prison ; but he must not leave the 
 limits of the corporation. He might go about town at 
 pleasure, but must' report daily at the jail, and must not 
 step outside of the limits of the town. With this modi- 
 fication debts were better paid. 
 
 Again the law was modified, and the person of the 
 debtor could not be touched, but all his property might 
 be seized. A marked improvement in the payment of 
 debts was observed. Several modifications followed from 
 time to time, in which the principal feature was a suc- 
 cessive increase in the property exempted from execu- 
 tion. At length the law now existing in New York, 
 exempting " the homestead," was enacted. This law ex- 
 empts the home, and, if a farm, the team, farming imple- 
 ments, &G.J &c., so that a man may be a well-to-do farmer, 
 with every comfort and convenience, and the sheriff, with 
 an execution in his hand, cannot touch a thing. The 
 payment of debts so greatly improved under this law, 
 that, some years ago, a petition from many wholesale 
 merchants of New York city was presented to the legis- 
 lature at Albany, praying for a repeal of all laws for the 
 collection of debts. The petition was properly presented,' 
 and a vigorous speech made in its defence. I remember 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 37 
 
 the spokesman for the merchants of New York said that 
 the petitioners were satisfied that if all laws for the col- 
 lection of debts were removed, and the obligation was 
 left to the honor of the debtor, their claims would be 
 more promptly and surely paid. They declared that if a 
 debtor were inclined to cheat, there were so many ways in 
 which he could dispose of his property, that practically 
 the creditor was obliged to depend upon the debtor's 
 honor, and they were satisfied that the sense of honor 
 would be far more active and reliable in the absence of 
 law. In illustration the gentleman adduced the well- 
 known fact that a man will pay his gambling debts, for 
 which he has received nothing, in preference to his gro- 
 cery bills, for which he has received food for his family, 
 and obviously for the reason that the gambling debts 
 cannot be collected by law. He adduced likewise the 
 well-known fact that Wall Street speculators may be in- 
 curable rogues in the ordinary legal transactions of life, 
 but rarely fail to pay their stock-gambling debts, and 
 clearly because these debts cannot be collected by law, 
 or, in other words, because they are debts of honor. 
 
 And to illustrate the utter weakness of law when it 
 conflicts with the instinct of liberty, I may mention the ' 
 vice of gambling. 
 
 Not a fiftieth part of the gambling in this city takes 
 place in gambling hells. Why does it never occur to 
 anybody to attempt to enforce the law against gambling 
 in our clubs, and other respectable houses ? and why, 
 should they attempt it, would they signally fail? 
 
 For exactly the same reason that the state constables 
 failed to enforce the Prohibitory Liquor Law against the 
 Parker House an^d against Young's Hotel. For exactly 
 the same reason that when the committee from the 
 Young Men's Crusade, of Bangor, Maine, waited upon 
 the mayor of that city, last summer, to offer their ser- 
 
38 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 vices in the better enforcement of the Maine Law, and 
 proposed to bring him abundant proof that the hotels in 
 that city were selling intoxicating drinks, mentioned 
 several of them, and asked, if they brought proofs, whether 
 he would have the proprietors arrested under the pro- 
 visions of the Maine Law? The mayor replied. 
 
 " But, gentlemen, these hotels are kept in a quiet, 
 respectable way. I can't proceed against such places. 
 If you will bring me evidence that any of these places 
 are kept in a riotous manner, I will have them prose- 
 cuted as nuisances. But if they keep their places quiet 
 and decent, public sentiment will not justify any inter- 
 ference." 
 
 And yet this mayor was elected by the prohibitionists, 
 to enforce their law, and was himself a prohibitionist. 
 
 I have said that the law against gambling fails for the 
 same reason that the Maine Law fails it interferes 
 with personal freedom. 
 
 If a man chooses to risk his money on a game of cards, 
 he has a perfect right to do so. No man, or body of men, 
 has a right to say to him, " You shall not risk your 
 money in that way." It is his money, and he has a right 
 to do what he pleases with it. He has a right to put it 
 in a gun and shoot it away, or burn it up, or risk it on a 
 game of chance, or make any other disposition of it, and 
 no man, or body of men, has a right to interfere. 
 
 It is a well-known fact that regular gambling hells are 
 places where by various devices, and among them the em- 
 ployment of drugged liquors, the uninitiated are simply 
 robbed, and turned into the street; and therefore it 
 does not shock public sentiment to break up such places. 
 
 But games of chance, without fraud, are not interfered 
 with, and never will be. 
 
 A very striking illustration of the weakness of law, 
 when it comes in contact with the instinct of liberty, is 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 39 
 
 the result of prohibition in Maine. I have taken pains 
 to learn the facts in Maine. I travelled through the 
 state, and conversed with a large number of its leading 
 citizens, almost exclusively temperance men, and became 
 satisfied that intemperance is the great, overwhelming 
 curse of the Pine Tree State. In New York city, imme- 
 diately after leaving Maine, I gave a number of facts, in 
 a public address, which, being published in the New York 
 dailies, called out from the Maine papers the cry of False- 
 hood, falsehood ! although I was very careful to state 
 that I knew nothing of the truth of the facts of my own 
 knowledge, and gave the names of my informers. All 
 this information was published in the New York papers, 
 and, without doubt, read in Maine ; but the pride of some 
 of the Maine editors over the " Maine Law " was such 
 that they chose rather to make up faces at me, and ring 
 .the changes on certain hard words, than to explain how 
 well-known citizens of Maine, whose names were given, 
 as authority for the facts, came to be so mistaken. 
 
 Perhaps a few official figures may receive better 
 treatment. 
 
 Of persons sent to the insane asylums, in Maine, whose 
 insanity was caused by intemperance, there were in 
 
 1863, . . 
 
 . . . 7 
 
 1869, . . , 
 
 , . . 15 
 
 1864, . . 
 
 . . . 11 
 
 1870, . . , 
 
 , . . 22 
 
 1865, . . 
 
 . . . 10 
 
 1871, . . , 
 
 , . . 11 
 
 1866, . . 
 
 . . . 14 
 
 1872, . . , 
 
 , . . 26 
 
 1867, 
 
 . 21 
 
 1873. 
 
 26 
 
 1868, 13 
 
 The following table shows the number of arrests for 
 drunkenness in the city of Bangor for 1862, 1863, and 
 1864, and then for 1872, 1873, and 1874. That city con- 
 
40 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 tained in 1870 a population of eighteen thousand two 
 hundred and eighty-nine. 
 
 1862, 8 1872, .... 459 
 
 1863, . . . . .10 1873, .... 334 
 
 1864, . . . . .31 1874, .... 850 ? 
 
 When I was in that city last spring, the Hon. Lewis 
 Barker, who had been engaged by the prohibitionists to 
 look up the facts, told me there were fully three hundred 
 grog-shops in Bangor. 
 
 The number of recent arrests for drunkenness in other 
 cities and towns is equally significant. The number of 
 arrests for drunkenness in the city of Portland, for a 
 year ending March 30, 1874, was two thousand and 
 eleven. 
 
 Prohibitionists in Maine tell us that " Rum has gone 
 under," in that state. Travellers through the state affirm 
 that, " the law is a success ; tipsy people are nowhere to 
 be seen ; " while the inspectors of the Maine State 
 Prison report that in 1873 there were the enormous 
 number of seventeen thousand eight hundred and eight 
 arrests in that state for drunkenness. 
 
 The Maine Law provides that liquors may be sold for 
 " medicinal, mechanical, and manufacturing purposes," 
 but they must be furnished by certain agencies appointed 
 by the state. It is a notorious fact that but a small part 
 of the liquors sold come from the agencies ; and even the 
 state agencies, curiously enough, do not procure their 
 stocks from the Central State Agency, but obtain them 
 from outside sources. Indeed, of the five hundred and 
 forty-two municipalities in the state, Eaton Shaw, the 
 State Liquor Commissioner, complains that only about 
 one hundred purchase their stock of him. I wonder that 
 these deputies dare neglect their chief; but although 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 41 
 
 they are dependent upon him, " You shall " and " You 
 shall not " fail to work, even with them. 
 
 The amount of sickness in Maine must be fearful. 
 Take a little town of less than fifteen hundred, up among 
 the hills the little old-fashioned town of Canaan, with 
 almost no foreign population. The state agent in Canaan 
 sold, in 1863, liquors to the amount of thirty-six dollars 
 and seventy-five cents j in 1865, the liquors amounted to 
 twelve hundred and ninety-two dollars and fifty-two 
 cents ; and in 1867, the liquors sold by the Canaan agency 
 amounted to twenty-one hundred fifty-seven dollars and 
 fifty-one cents. In four years the quantity increased 
 from thirty-six dollars to twenty-one hundred and fifty- 
 seven dollars. 
 
 The State of Maine has but six hundred and twenty- 
 six thousand nine hundred and fifteen inhabitants, but 
 the quantity of intoxicating drinks consumed in that 
 state, according to the report of the Hon. Joshua Nye, 
 the chief of the State Constabulary, was enormous. 
 
 That intemperance, insanity, pauperism, and crime 
 are rapidly increasing in Maine, no one can doubt who 
 will carefully read her annual reports, and I will add 
 that so long as human nature remains what it is, intem- 
 perance, vice, and crime must ever increase, in a free 
 country, under a prohibitory liquor law. 
 
 Some other states have tried prohibition, but with no 
 better success. Indeed, I "think all the other experi- 
 ments have met with even a worse fate than that in 
 Maine. 
 
 But the friends of prohibition walk through the streets 
 where formerly open dram-shops blazed out their bright 
 lights at every step, and finding no such sign's of the busi- 
 "ness now, they straightway go and announce that the pro- 
 hibitory law is a triumphant success. 
 
 It is often said, 
 
42 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 " We don't pretend that the law against dram-shops is 
 enforced in every case. But this is the fate of all laws. 
 The law against theft is not always enforced, and even 
 the law against murder sometimes fails. This law is as 
 well enforced as other laws." 
 
 Exactly this statement was made recently in Tremont 
 Temple, in aft address by the Rev. Dr. Eddy, of this city. 
 I suppose I have heard that statement in public ad- 
 dresses twenty times within a year. 
 
 I will not say that those who make such statements 
 are not honest men, and that they do not think they are 
 speaking the truth ; but it is very easy to show that 
 they utterly fail to comprehend the subject, and the facts. 
 
 It is true that thieves and murderers do sometimes 
 crawl through the meshes of the law ; but is it not true 
 that they generally escape through some technicality 
 which, in our wisdom or unwisdom, was introduced to 
 protect personal liberty, and to give the benefit of all 
 doubts to the prisoner ? 
 
 Professor Webster was tried for murder, and in spite of 
 a powerful combination in his defence, was proved guilty, 
 and hanged. Harvey D. Parker was tried under the 
 Prohibitory Law, and although not a person in Boston 
 doubted his guilt, although no one doubted that he vio- 
 lated the law a thousand times a day, although it was 
 clearly proved in court, the jury simply refused to 
 find him guilty. 
 
 George Young was tried under the same law, and 
 although the whole town was in a broad laugh at the 
 absurdity of trying to prove that George Young sold in- 
 toxicating drinks, a thing which he made no attempt 
 to conceal, which was seen daily by a multitude, which 
 was as susceptible of proof as that the Metropolitan Rail- 
 road Company runs its cars through Tremont Street, and 
 the sale was proved in court, yet the jury refused to 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 43 
 
 convict. The only result of these trials was to bring 
 civil law into still deeper contempt. 
 
 Of course it will be said that although the law has 
 failed in Massachusetts, we have only to go to Maine, 
 and there we shall find it enforced. This is a popular 
 delusion. 
 
 . There are over three hundred known dealers in Ban- 
 gor, who, under the provisions of the law, might be im- 
 prisoned, and should be imprisoned ; and yet for years 
 there has not been a single man in Bangor locked up 
 for selling rum, except one, who was confined tempora- 
 rily, and in this case it was really not because he vio- 
 lated the law, but because he was so savage toward an 
 officer who called upon him. And we are gravely told 
 that this law is as well enforced as other laws. 
 
 The sale of a glass of grog is the offence we are dis- 
 cussing, and there have not been three punishments for 
 each million violations of the law ! 
 
 And we are told that this law is as well enforced as 
 other laws; as well, for example, as the law against 
 theft. 
 
 This statement is of a sort which abounds among the 
 public advocates of prohibition, and is not a whit more 
 erroneous than the statements which were published, and 
 largely circulated, in a pamphlet known as " A Cloud of 
 Witnesses. 77 I may add that all the evidence you need 
 in regard to the character of that remarkable document, 
 is a perusal of the official reports of the Maine State 
 Prison Inspectors, Chief Constable, " State Liquor Com- 
 missioner," and the Police. 
 
 It is insisted that in Massachusetts there has been no 
 honest effort to enforce the law. This is an easy charge 
 to make, but nothing could be more unjust and false. 
 
 Did not the friends of prohibition select their own 
 officers to administer the law? Did they not have a 
 
44 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 large force, scattered throughout the state, whose special 
 duty it was to enforce this law? Do the friends of pro- 
 hibition mean to say that these officers turned traitors ? 
 
 When it is complained that the officers refuse to en- 
 force the Prohibitor}^ Law, I would reply, that when there 
 was not a fiftieth part of the temperance sentiment now 
 existing, there was no difficulty in enforcing the law 
 against the sale to drunkards and children. That law is 
 just, and it will never be difficult to enforce it. 
 
 The reason that with fifty-fold more temperance senti- 
 ment in the country, it is impossible to enforce the Pro- 
 hibitory Law, is not because the arm of civil law is 
 shortened, but because the mass of men .will never con- 
 sent, except under the sway of an irresistible monarchy, 
 to give up their liberty to do what they please with them- 
 selves and their own. 
 
 VI. 
 
 A CRIME is any act which one man, with evil intent, 
 commits upon the person or property of another, 
 without his consent. If one person, with evil intent, lay 
 his finger upon another, without the latter's consent, it 
 is a crime. All crimes may be justly punished by law. 
 
 A vice is any -injurious act. or passion in which a per- 
 son indulges himself. Malice, hypocrisy, envy, hatred, 
 avarice, ambition, falsehood, indolence, cowardice, drunk- 
 enness, gluttony, &c., &c.j are vices. Yices are not 
 justly punishable by law. They are amenable to reason 
 alone. If A assists B to indulge -in a vice, and A uses 
 no fraud, and B is compos mentis and fully consents, A 
 is guilty of no crime. If A be a cook, and makes for B 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 45 
 
 rich and delicious dishes, and B indulges his appetite to 
 such an extent that he becomes sick and dies, A is 
 guilty of no crime, but is, at the worst, an accomplice in 
 a vice. If A be a vender of alcoholic drinks, and sells 
 B intoxicating drinks at his solicitation, A is guilty of 
 no crime, but, at the worst, is an accomplice in a vice. 
 B's indulgence in the strong food or in the strong drink, 
 either of which may ruin him, is not a crime punishable 
 by law, but only a vice amenable to reason alone ; so 
 A is guilty of no crime, but only of being an accom- 
 plice in a vice, amenable to reason alone. 
 A crime must possess three features. 
 
 1. There must be at least two persons the actor and 
 the victim. 
 
 2. The act must be committed with evil intent. 
 
 3. The act must be committed without the consent of 
 the victim. 
 
 If either of these features be absent, the act is not a 
 crime. 
 
 For example, our wealthy neighbor, Reuben Tarbox, 
 having no family, wills his fortune to his cook. That 
 person, knowing that his master's gout depends upon 
 high living, makes the most appetizing and luscious 
 dishes, that the heart attack, which usually kills the vic- 
 tim in such cases, may be hastened, and he come into 
 possession of his fortune. This would be a sinful selfish- 
 ness, for which God would hold him responsible ; but it 
 is no crime which the civil law could punish. One con- 
 dition of a crime is absent : the consent of the victim 
 is not withheld. There is no fraud, and Mr. Tarbox 
 freely consents ; so there is no crime. 
 
 If, in the case of the rum-seller, we assume a secret 
 purpose to destroy his victim (a something which never 
 exists ; for he would be glad if the drink left no bad 
 effects, as it would greatly enhance the character and 
 
46 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 profits of the business), but, supposing there were a 
 secret purpose to destroy his customers, there would be 
 no crime, unless there was fraud, or unless the drinkers 
 were compelled to swallow their drinks. 
 
 VII. 
 
 E have grown up with the notion that the liquor 
 traffic must be managed by law ; and so, if one 
 starts with the declaration that all laws in regard to the 
 sale of intoxicating drinks should be abolished, he cannot 
 secure a fair hearing. The prejudices are all against 
 him. In considering the principle of the prohibitory 
 liquor law, let us first introduce another excess glut- 
 tony. 
 
 Without doubt, gluttony is the most destructive of all 
 our vices. It obtains among all classes, both sexes, and 
 all ages. Eminent medical men, in England and Amer- 
 ica, declare that strong food can count ten victims where 
 strong drink counts one. 
 
 Let me illustrate by a common case. A man eats so 
 much, and such bad food, that he is often sick, and always 
 dyspeptic and unhappy. Instead of being a support to 
 his family, he is a nuisance. Society has a just claim to 
 the best use of all his faculties. He utterly repudiates 
 this claim, and, instead of rendering fifty years of useful 
 labor, he imposes a tax of thirty years' care of a disagree- 
 able patient. Is this a fancy picture ? I declare that I 
 have known fifty victims of gluttony to one victim, of 
 drunkenness. 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 47 
 
 Yon may convince a glutton that his rheumatism, or 
 gout, or fever, or dyspepsia comes of table excesses, and 
 he may resolve to reform ; but, as soon as he is well, he 
 will fall again into the same excess. 
 
 Now, let us see how the account stands between society 
 and this man. He honestly owes society fifty years of 
 work. His services are worth a thousand dollars a year, 
 or, in the aggregate, fifty thousand dollars ; and society 
 not only has an indisputable claim upon the work which 
 he can do with his head and hands, but he is bound 
 to render that service in a spirit so cheerful that he shall 
 contribute to the happiness as well as the material pros- 
 perity of the community. This is the just claim which 
 society has upon that man. 
 
 Now, let us see what he pays. Look at him. He has 
 the rheumatism. See him hobble. Look at his face. 
 Hear him grunt and groan. See his care-worn wife ap- 
 plying the fomentations and administering the medicines, 
 and hear her moans of discouragement. I but echo the 
 voice of my profession when I say that nineteen twen- 
 tieths of such cases come of table excesses. 
 
 Medical men will bear witness that the case I have 
 given, represents thousands and tens of thousands of men. 
 It is this knowledge which led one of the most eminent 
 medical men in America to go farther than I have gone, 
 and declare that where drink can count one victim, glut- 
 tony can count a hundred. 
 
 Now, I will sue that man for repudiating a just claim. 
 I bring him into court. The judge will ask, " What is 
 the case ? " I describe it. I say the man owes fifty 
 thousand dollars, and won't pay. The judge will ask for 
 a bill of particulars j and when I explain that he fails to 
 pay by abusing himself, the judge will say, 
 
 " Mr. Clerk, dismiss the case. There is no crime. It 
 is a vice, and we do not punish vices in this court. This 
 
48 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 man has not, with malice prepense, injured the person 
 or property of another, and therefore there is no offence 
 which can be tried in this court." 
 
 Indignant at this defeat, I resolve that, if I can't pun- 
 ish the person himself, I will punish the man who sold 
 him the food. When I bring the dealer into court and 
 present the case, the judge would say, 
 
 " This trader has a perfect right to sell beef, and but- 
 ter, and pepper, and pork, and can't be held responsible 
 for any misuse of them. These articles must be sold. 
 They must be sold in large quantities ; and, if the pur- 
 chaser is not able to obtain what he wishes of this dealer, 
 he would obtain it of some other. The articles them- 
 selves are innocent enough, and the dealer cannot be 
 held responsible for the misuse which the purchaser may 
 make of them. Mr. Clerk, discharge the accused." 
 
 Finding myself foiled in my efforts to secure justice, 
 I determine upon a " movement ; " and so I agitate the 
 public mind, and at length secure a law which makes the 
 purchase of foods difficult. They are to be sold only in 
 certain places, by a certain class of persons, and under 
 the eye of officers of the law. 
 
 But I need go no further with this illustration. Every- 
 body sees that each step is an outrage upon personal 
 liberty, which would not be endured. 
 
 If the prohibitory, liquor law had been passed fifty 
 years ago, when everybody believed in strong drink, and 
 almost everybody men, women, and children drank 
 it, the case would be completely parallel to the case of 
 the food. Would it not? 
 
 What is the situation to-day? We have forty millions 
 of people. Ten millions believe that lager bier is health- 
 ful and necessary. 
 
 Of the other thirty millions, more than twenty-five 
 believe that wines, liquors, and ales are not only not 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 49 
 
 harmful per se, but often very necessary. On every hand 
 doctors prescribe these drinks for their patients. Con- 
 sumptives are put upon whiskey, and nursing mothers 
 are directed to drink beer. Invalids of all classes are 
 assured by the doctors that a little wine, or a little por- 
 ter, or a little whiskey will prove a capital medicine. 
 
 This makes thirty-five millions of the population who 
 are in favor of the use, more or less, of intoxicating 
 drinks. Do you say that this is an extravagant state- 
 ment? On the contrary, I do not believe that there are 
 a million of people in this country who think alcohol is, 
 per se, a poison. For myself, I believe -it is a poison in 
 the smallest quantities, in every conceivable form ; but, 
 although I lecture on temperance, and talk much in pri- 
 vate with people on the subject, I very rarely meet a 
 person who joins me in the opinion that alcohol is, per se, 
 a poison. 
 
 Here we .have an overwhelming majority of the peo- 
 ple, who believe in alcoholic drinks. Do you think that 
 the very small minority, say five persons in forty, may 
 say to the thirty-five, 
 
 " You shall not purchase the drinks which you believe 
 good and necessary " ? 
 
 I know that the five, by adroit management, by insist- 
 ing upon prohibition as a plank in the platform, and by 
 creating the impression that those who will not vote for 
 prohibition are in favor of " free rum," have contrived to 
 get a prohibitory law passed ; but recently, in Massachu- 
 setts, the people having had time to think of it, thousands 
 of those who have heretofore voted for prohibition, have, 
 without any concerted action, but each man by himself, 
 scratched off the name of the republican candidate for 
 governor, and put on in its place the name of the demo- 
 cratic candidate, and solely, as we all know, to get rid of 
 the prohibitory law. 
 
50 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 But I must not forget to bring up a drinking man for 
 trial. 
 
 I bring him into court because he has gone on drink- 
 ing until, like the man with the rheumatism and dyspep-. 
 sia, he is a tax rather than a help. 
 
 The judge asks, " What is the case ? " 
 
 I state it. 
 
 " Your honor, this man has used intoxicating drinks 
 until he has spoiled himself. He has entirely neglected 
 to take care of his wife and children. Instead of earning 
 a thousand dollars a year, which he is bound to do, he is 
 a tax on everybody about him." 
 
 The judge interrupts me. 
 
 " What offence, what crime has the man committed ? " 
 
 I repeat that he has so abused himself with drink that 
 he can't support his family; that he has thus cheated 
 society out of its interest in him. 
 
 The judge would say, 
 
 " Mr. Clerk, dismiss the case ; here we punish crimes. 
 This man has not, with malice prepense, interfered with 
 the property or person of another." 
 
 When I see my man march out of court free, I deter- 
 mine to look up the man who sold him the drink, and so 
 I bring him into court. 
 
 The judge would say, 
 
 " Mr. Clerk, dismiss the case. This trader has a per- 
 fect right to sell alcoholic liquors, and can't be held 
 responsible for the misuse of the articles in which he 
 trades. These articles must be sold. They must be 
 sold in large quantities ; and, if the purchaser is not able 
 to obtain what he wishes of this person, he would obtain 
 it of some other. The articles themselves are innocent 
 enough, and the dealer cannot be held responsible for 
 the misuse which the purchaser may make of them." 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 51 
 
 VIII. 
 
 THE real question is that of the right to swallow alco- 
 hol. If a man has a legal right to swallow alcohol; 
 he has the right to buy it, and the dealer- has the right 
 to sell it. Alcohol is a very harmless and useful thing, 
 until it is taken into the human stomach. It does no 
 wrong until it reaches that cavity. Then the mischief 
 begins. Now, if a man has a legal right to swallow the 
 article, a perfect right against the combined world, it is 
 absurd to treat as criminal another man who helps him 
 to that alcohol. 
 
 John, a poor man who lost both arms in the war, has a 
 perfect right to marry Jane. It may be that their mar- 
 riage will entail upon the community trouble, and ex- 
 pense; but John's legal right to marry Jane is perfect. 
 Friends may advise, reason, expostulate, and plead, and 
 the .chances are nine in ten, if they approach John in the 
 right spirit, they will dissuade him; but if the president, 
 and the governor, and the general, and the judge, and 
 the chief of police, and the pastor, and all others in au- 
 thority go to John and command him not to marry Jane, he 
 may order them out of his shanty, and, if they do not go, 
 kick them out, and then marry Jane at his leisure. Now, 
 granting John's right to marry Jane, how absurd to un- 
 dertake to punish as criminal the Rev. Mr. Jones for 
 performing the ceremony, or assisting John to do what 
 he has a perfect right to do ! 
 
 And precisely so, if John has a right to swallow alco- 
 hol, how absurd to treat as a crime the helping John to 
 do what he has a perfect right to do ! If the principal 
 in any transaction is guilty of a crime, the accomplices 
 4 
 
52 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 are guilty of a crime. But if the principal is guiltless of 
 crime, then the accomplices are guiltless. 
 
 In a recent public discussion upon prohibition, my op- 
 ponent said, 
 
 " The sale of rum is the source of nearly all our crimes. 
 Eminent judges in Great Britain and America declare 
 that nine tenths of all crimes come of strong drink. Think 
 of it, ladies and gentlemen ! nine tenths of all crimes 
 originate in the use of intoxicating drinks, and yet my 
 antagonist says we must be easy with rum-sellers, that 
 they are a good sort of fellows, and have just as good 
 rights as other folks. While we know that their damna- 
 ble traffic crowds our poorhouses, jails, and state prisons, 
 we are told by my antagonist that these creatures have 
 just the same rights as those of our fellow-citizens who 
 are engaged in the most honorable and useful business. 
 I should like to ask my antagonist whether he thinks that 
 thieves, who are not guilty of one hundredth part of the 
 harm done by rum-sellers, have the same rights as our 
 most valued citizens. Suppose, in Main Street, one man 
 sets up a den for the sale of whiskey, and another man 
 sets up a den of thieves. The whiskey-seller makes a 
 dozen thieves, fifty paupers, twenty wife-whippers, one 
 murderer, sends two hundred women and children into 
 the street broken-hearted, and costs the community fifty 
 thousand dollars. The den of thieves simply steal a 
 thousand dollars' worth of property, and there is not a 
 tear or heartache. 
 
 "Will my antagonist be kind enough to tell me which 
 of these dens deserves the severest punishment ? I wait 
 for him to answer ! " 
 
 I replied, " The question is a fair one, and I will an- 
 swer it without -the slightest evasion or reserve. And 
 first, if the thieves steal only from sane adults, and from 
 these with their entire consent and by their solicitation, 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 53 
 
 the persoDS from whom the stealing is done going to the 
 den of thieves and asking them to come and do the steal- 
 ing, then the thieves should not be punished at all, no 
 matter how great the loss may be to the persons from 
 whom the stealing is done. And precisely the same rule 
 applies to the rum-seller. 
 
 " But suppose the thieves take the property without the 
 consent of the owner; they deserve state prison. Or 
 suppose the rum-seller goes out into the street and seizes 
 the passer-by, drags him into his den, and, binding him, 
 pours the drink into his mouth until he commits a mur- 
 der. The rum-seller deserves the gallows, and he would 
 get it, too. The stoutest advocate of free rum would 
 not give a shilling to save him." 
 
 IX. 
 
 fTlEMPERANCE orators speak of rum-sellers as though 
 JL they created the evils of intemperance. They de- 
 clare, with passionate emphasis, that our Berime, vice, 
 pauperism, and misery come from those " hell-holes ; " 
 that these rum-sellers are the scourges of the race, and 
 must be driven out. 
 
 Now, it would be just as sensible to pour out this 
 anathema against the tumblers from which the intem- 
 perate drink, as to direct it against the men who place 
 those tumblers on the counter. 
 
 Drunkenness does not come from groggeries ; it takes 
 its rise in the alcoholic appetite, joined to the presence 
 of alcohol. Alcohol is used for a hundred purposes, and 
 
54 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 must be kept in great quantities, and on every hand. 
 You must shut your eyes to this if you assume that men 
 with the craving cannot procure it. 
 
 If it can be shown (I believe the contrary to be true) 
 that open grog-shops lead to more drink than private 
 drinking clubs and other concealed methods, which are 
 always introduced when any determined efforts are made 
 to close groggeries by law, then, whatever is sold in open 
 grog-shops, more than would be drank in their absence, 
 may be justly charged to the account of the open shops. 
 But, as the history of intemperance in Maine during the 
 last thirty years clearly shows, that to drive the rum 
 traffic under cover is not to cure it, or to lessen it even, 
 so, while we temperance men continue to loathe the 
 liquor traffic, there is no doubt that we have attributed 
 to groggeries an importance in this wretched vice which 
 does not belong to them. 
 
 A man who should reproach the clerks in the banks 
 with producing all our monetary troubles, would talk 
 even better sense than those who accuse rum-sellors of 
 causing all the evils of intemperance. 
 
 The essential fact is the existence of the appetite. 
 There never can be any great difficulty in obtaining the 
 means of its gratification. If any fault is to be found 
 with those wjio furnish the alcoholic drinks, it would be 
 only fair to divide it between those who raise the grain, 
 those who sell it to distillers, the distillers themselves, 
 those who transport it, the wholesaler, the jobber, and, 
 finally, the retailer. To find fault with the retailer, and 
 not to find fault with the wholesaler or the distiller, is to 
 find fault with the men who stand in front and hand the 
 poison to the drinkers, and to say nothing of the ranks 
 of men behind, who are passing the poison to the front 
 rank. But to lay any special blame upon either of these 
 ranks of men, is very short-sighted ; for the primary cause 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 55 
 
 of all the trouble is, as I have said, the presence of a 
 morbid craving for alcohol. It is impossible to prevent 
 the thirsty man's finding it. 
 
 Some one will cry out at this point, " Then what are 
 you going to do about it ? Here is all this dreadful 
 crime and wretchedness. Are you going to do nothing 
 to arrest it ? " Within a year a hundred ministers pro- 
 fessed followers of that Christ who came into the world 
 to save men by divine love have said to me, 
 
 " If you can't stop this thing by law, then what can 
 you do ? " I say to them, when I can command sufficient 
 patience to speak civilly, 
 
 " The Washingtonian Movement and the Woman's Cru- 
 sade suggest the existence among us of a power which is 
 fully competent to the cure of all these evils ; " and I some- 
 times ask them if they have ever heard of Christ. 
 
 Millions of professed Christians, and among them thou- 
 sands of Christian ministers, believe in Christ as the 
 author of a system of theology, but they do not believe 
 in Him as the source of a divine force which lifts men 
 into a new spirit and a new life. 
 
 x. 
 
 WHEN we urge that personal liberty is the great, vital, 
 pivotal fact of human life, that all progress and hap- 
 piness begin and end in personal freedom, prohibitionists 
 say, 
 
 " We recognize the supreme importance of personal 
 liberty as much as you do, and we are willing that all 
 men should be free, if they will only do what is best for 
 
56 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 them. We rejoice," say they, " in the utmost liberty of 
 opinion and action, if the people will, only say and do 
 what is right ! " 
 
 The Inquisition believed in the perfect liberty of all 
 men to be Catholics, but if they caught a man with other 
 notions about salvation, they put a thumb-screw on him. 
 
 Our Puritan fathers believed in personal freedom, 
 as no other men ever did. They left their homes, 
 crossed a stormy ocean, and braved a thousand dangers, 
 that they might be free to think and say what they 
 pleased. And they were perfectly willing that all who- 
 came along with them might think and say what they 
 pleased, unless, as sometimes unfortunately happened, 
 the other men thought and said things which conflicted 
 with the things which the fathers thought and said. They 
 sometimes came across a Quaker, whose views did not 
 seem quite the thing, and they hung him. 
 
 Our New England fathers believed in religious liberty. 
 Indeed " religious liberty " was their constant boast; but 
 if a man did not believe in hell, they would not let him 
 testify in court. No matter what wrong other people 
 might commit upon the person or the property of a Uni- 
 versalist, he had no redress, he could not appear against 
 them. He was in the condition of a southern slave. 
 This is one of the greatest possible outrages upon the 
 dignity and rights of a man. But our fathers were 
 always very kind about it; they said he was at lib- 
 erty, perfect liberty, at any time, to believe in hell, and 
 then he might swear a blue streak. 
 
 There used to be a law here in Massachusetts against 
 preaching infidelity, and another against any disrespect- 
 ful words of Jesus Christ, another against travelling on 
 Sunday, another against smoking in the streets, another 
 against playing cards, another against usury, &c., &c. ; 
 and now we have had one for twenty years against the 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 57 
 
 sale of intoxicating liquors*. The most of these laws 
 have been repealed; the rest of them are stone dead. 
 Such offences belong to vices, and cannot be cured by 
 law. 
 
 As the men of ideas and progress clamor for the repeal 
 of such laws, each law, in its turn, is clung to with great 
 tenacity. 
 
 I have no doubt the conservatives were honest when 
 they foretold all sorts of ruin to follow the abolition of 
 the usury laws. But at length the people had the sense 
 to see that when two men sit down together to make a 
 bargain about the lending of money, they are exercising 
 a natural right, with which no man, or body of men, has 
 any right to interfere. 
 
 And exactly so we have had a prohibitory liquor law 
 for twenty years, and now the people have concluded 
 that when two men meet and make a bargain about the 
 sale of a glass of rum, they are exercising a natural 
 right, with which no man, or body of men, on earth has 
 any right to interfere by force or law. 
 
 I need hardly repeat in this place, that if in any of 
 these business transactions one party is twn compos men- 
 tis, or there is fraud, then there may be crime. 
 
 The meaning of the recent repudiations of the prohibi- 
 tory liquor law in Massachusetts, and the same repudiation 
 which is soon to follow in Maine, is not that the voters 
 are less temperance men, or that they are anxious to con- 
 tinue the crime and pauperism, or pay the enormous 
 taxes which confessedly spring from drink, but it simply 
 means, as in repudiating scores of other laws in New 
 England, directed against vices, that the people have 
 come to the conclusion that law is not the medicine for 
 this patient. 
 
 Personal liberty is not only the source of all progress, 
 the lever of all conquests, the inspiration of all achieve- 
 
58 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 ments, but it is at the same time the source of many 
 vices. If you could only chain a man to the floor, and 
 lock the door, and then take him such food and drink as 
 you thought best for him, he would be guilty of no 
 excesses of appetite. In this way you could prevent 
 many of the vices which are now so common and de- 
 structive among men. But if you let a man go free'J he 
 will be almost sure to get into mischief. Nothing is so 
 expensive and troublesome as liberty. Look about you. 
 You can hardly find an adult who is not guilty of vices. 
 If no one was free, many of these vices would be avoided. 
 
 But the prize, the precious jewel of the ages, is per- 
 sonal liberty. It has no equivalents. Untold wealth, a 
 mine of diamonds, a palace, are baubles by the side of 
 personal liberty. The measure of freedom of the indi- 
 vidual is everywhere the measure of the liberty of 
 society. 
 
 Whenever in this country personal liberty is tre'nched 
 upon, except in the presence of a great and immediate 
 danger, the intruder, if a person, is sure to receive rough 
 treatment ; if a law, it is sure to be dodged or defied. 
 
 All trespasses upon personal liberty are defended on 
 the ground that the interference is for the good of the 
 man or men whose rights are violated. I do not suppose 
 that the greatest tyrant in history ever violated the peo- 
 ple's rights without such a pretence. 
 
 You must defend where the attack is made. If the 
 government attack my right to drink rum, I must defend 
 that right, and not my right to chew tobacco. If the 
 government attack my right to preach Universalism, I 
 must defend that right, and not my wife's right to wear 
 corsets. 
 
 So I do not blame the Germans for rising in arms 
 in defence of their right to drink lager beer. If the 
 attack were upon their right to kiss their children, it 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 59 
 
 would be a more grateful task to defend liberty ; but they 
 must repel the assault where it is nude. 
 
 When 1 look at their enormous stomachs, red, bloated 
 faces, and dull eyes, I wonder that they can soak them- 
 selves in such poisonous stuff; but I should wonder still 
 more if such a brave people did not defend their right 
 to drink it. 
 
 I was delivering some lectures on temperance, in Lin- 
 coln Hall, in the city of Washington, D. C., last spring 
 (1874), and at the close of an address against Prohibition, 
 I noticed that several well-known congressmen present 
 were whispering in a manner suggestive of disapproba- 
 tion, and observing the distinguished Judge Lawrence, 
 of Ohio, among them, I ventured to say to him, 
 
 " Judge Lawrence, if you disapprove of what I have 
 been saying, will you come on the platform and defend 
 Prohibition ? " Rising, the judge said, " I will," and 
 came up. He immediately said, in a very warm spirit, 
 
 " If a man give my son strong drink until his body 
 goes staggering in shame, and his soul goes shrieking 
 into eternity in delirium tremens, that man has committed 
 a crime a thousand- fold worse than to have stolen my 
 horse, and should, if it were possible, receive a thou- 
 sand-fold severer punishment." 
 
 I interrupted- him. 
 
 " Judge, after having spoken two hours, it is most 
 ungracious in me .to interrupt you, when you have spoken 
 but two minutes ; but if you will pardon a single state- 
 ment in connection with that which has just fallen from 
 your lips. 
 
 " If that man comes into your house, seizes your son, 
 ties him hand and foot, and then, forcing open his mouth, 
 pours into it the poison which produces these terrible 
 consequences, I quite agree with you that he has com- 
 mitted a crime a thousand times graver than to have 
 
60 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 stolen your horse, and deserves a thousand-fold severer 
 punishment ; but while your son is compos mentis, while 
 he is at liberty to go about with all the rights of a man, 
 and he goes to the rum-seller and buys a glass of whiskey, 
 if you say that act of sale is a crime at all, in the sense 
 that stealing a horse is a crime, then you cannot under- 
 stand how it is that in Boston the most law-abiding 
 large city in the world we have one law which is the 
 subject of ridicule and contempt." 
 
 It is a legal axiom that " to. the willing there is no 
 offence." This is but a logical corollary of the doctrine 
 of personal liberty. Of ten glasses of strong drink, nine 
 are drank by men who have just as good a right to drink 
 whiskey as I have to drink coffee. I may think rum is 
 bad for them, as they may think coffee is bad for me ; but 
 both of us must have the liberty of choice. A large part 
 of the life of an average man is made up of blunders. 
 The whole world is at liberty to reason, exhort, and 
 plead with him, but if we shout at him, " You shall not,", 
 he either defies us and goes on his own way, or if we 
 contrive to take away from him his personal freedom, 
 his right of choice, he is no longer a free man, but a 
 slave. 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 61 
 
 XL 
 
 " T7"OU admit," says the prohibitionist, " that the rum- 
 
 JL seller may be punished for selling to persons who 
 are non compos mentis. Now, that is exactly what he 
 does when he sells to a man who can't control his appe- 
 tite. 
 
 " Is a man compos mentis who drinks too much rum ? If 
 such a law were enforced, it would be all we should ask. 
 That would stop ninety-nine hundredths of the drunken- 
 ness." 
 
 A sale to a child, to an insane person, or to a sot, or to 
 a person who is dangerous when under the influence of 
 drink, a sale to any of these, the dealer knowing or 
 having good reason to believe him to be what he is, is 
 clearly criminal. And, in addition to this list, it is a 
 crime to sell to an intoxicated person. In brief, if a man 
 is non compos mentis , it is a crime to sell him strong 
 drink. * 
 
 After a long conversation upon this subject with a pro- 
 hibitory friend, I urged him to go with me, one stormy 
 day, to a large saloon, where I suppose they sell five 
 thousand drinks a day. For two hours we sat near the 
 bar, where we could see the- faces of the drinkers, and 
 hear their conversation. I requested my companion to 
 call my attention to the first person who appeared to 
 him non compos mentis. An intoxicated man staggered 
 in, leaned on the counter, and asked for a drink. 
 
 " There," said my friend, " there's one." 
 
 " You've got enough," was the bar- tender's reply. 
 
 We came away, and as we walked along, my com- 
 panion said, 
 
62 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 11 But that is a first-class place ; and, of course, we 
 don't find the evil in its worst form there." 
 
 " That is not a first-class place ; it is a medium place. 
 There are a thousand places in this city of higher grades 
 than that, perhaps a thousand which might be classed 
 with this one, and a thousand of lower grades." 
 
 We went to our homes, dressed in rough suits, and, 
 going down into North Street, sauntered into a low grog- 
 gery, in a cellar. We took seats, and looked on. Our 
 presence excited no suspicions ; and the crowd of pros- 
 titutes, low sailors, Portuguese, and negroes, went on 
 with their drinking, swearing, bawdy stories, and loud, 
 coarse laugh. 
 
 My friend whispered to me, 
 
 " These creatures are all non compos mentis. Certainly 
 reasonable beings would not spend their time in this 
 reeking atmosphere, going on in this horrid drinking, 
 profanity, and obscenity/' 
 
 " Let us," I replied, " proceed to try one of them, and 
 see if you will decide that he is non compos. We will 
 not take either of those three or four drunken ones ; for 
 when a man is drunk, he is clearly non compos. But let 
 us take that brutal negro, the one with his arm about 
 that wretched prostitute. Do you say that that fellow is 
 not competent to make a will, or to testify in court, or 
 transact business, or to vote? Do you think he should 
 be shut up, or put under guardianship, or in any way re- 
 strained on the ground that he is non compos mentis ? " 
 
 " Perhaps notj" replied my friend ; " but what a 
 wretched business it is. to keep such a den as this ! 
 What possible pood does such a business do ? Do you 
 think a man should be allowed to go on in an occupation 
 which is evil, and only evil ? which does not do one par- 
 ticle of good, but a great deal of harm ? " 
 
 My reply was, " It is a horrid business ; one that you 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 63 
 
 and I would not engage in to save ourselves from starva- 
 tion. But, you see, this fellow don't feel so. I think, as 
 you do, that this business should be broken up at once. 
 I cannot say just how it should be done ; but the l Wash- 
 ingtonian Movement ' and the ' Woman's Crusade ' are 
 very suggestive." 
 
 " But," exclaimed my friend, returning to the " compos 
 mentis" business, u do you really think a man is compos 
 mentis who wastes his life swallowing this miserable 
 poison ? " 
 
 My reply was, " If you ask me whether the crowd of 
 fashionable people who waste their lives in bad dress, 
 bad food, bad theatres, and in idleness, doing no good 
 to any one, but a great deal of harm, by an evil example, 
 and in many other ways, are reasonable beings, 1 should 
 say that their lives are most unreasonable and sinful ; 
 but they are not non compos mentis, in the legal meaning 
 of that phrase. 
 
 " If you ask me whether a glutton, who spends his life 
 between gout and torturing his family with his wretched 
 temper, is a reasonable being, I should reply that he is 
 surely most unreasonable ; but he is not non compos men- 
 tis in the legal sense. If you were to raise the question 
 on such grounds, everybody would laugh at you. 
 
 " Indeed, the great mass of men so waste their lives in 
 physical, intellectual, social, moral, and religious blunders 
 or vices, that, judged by any high standard, they are 
 certainly not reasonable beings ; but ninety-nine hun- 
 dredths of them are compos mentis, judged by the legal 
 standard, and that is the only one with which we have 
 any business in this discussion." 
 
64 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 XII. 
 
 MR. (T. ; one of the most intelligent and honest of our 
 prohibitionists, holds that the rights of the govern- 
 ment are limited only by its power, or by the possibili- 
 ties. This is consistent, and the only ground on which 
 a prohibitionist can stand. Mr. G. is fond of putting it in 
 this way : 
 
 "The government is bound to protect the citizen. What- 
 ever will serve the people, the government is bound to 
 do. And the government is just as much bound to pro- 
 tect the citizen against his own ignorance and vice as 
 against the ignorance, vice, and crime of others. 
 
 " In other words, the government is bound to con- 
 tribute in every possible way to the welfare of the 
 people. 
 
 " The right of the government is complete and unquali- 
 fied, having no other limit than the possibility of service. 
 Is there suffering or danger from any source whatever? 
 The duty and right of the government to intervene is 
 unlimited. The only question which can be raised is 
 one of power or possibility. 
 
 " The government has a perfect rigid to control the re- 
 ligious opinions of the citizen ; but it is impossible to do 
 it, and therefore the government ought not to make the 
 attempt. The government has a perfect right to regu- 
 late the food and drinks of the citizen ; but it is impos- 
 sible to do it, and therefore the attempt would be inex- 
 pedient. But the government has the power to control 
 the sale of strong drinks ; and, therefore, as such sale 
 does great harm, it is its bounden duty to stop it." 
 
 Mr. G. thinks that what is called the freedom of the 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 65 
 
 press is a violation of the organic rights of the govern- 
 ment. 
 
 " Of course/' he says, " the press must be free, perfectly 
 free, for without that we cannot preserve a free govern- 
 ment ; but it must not be allowed to say anything which 
 the government does not approve ; that is to say, the 
 press is at liberty to utter what is true and right. It 
 certainly can be no violation of liberty to prevent a 
 newspaper's saying what is wrong, for no decent man 
 can wish to say or do wrong. And as this is a case 
 where the government can successfully interfere, it is its 
 duty to act. 
 
 " Therefore, if, in its judgment, a paper publishes any- 
 thing prejudicial to society, it is its duty to stop it." 
 
 Here, for example, is a newspaper, which is from day 
 to 'day charging the government with corruption, and 
 throwing all sorts of impediments in the pathway of the 
 government, while it is trying to save the country. Can 
 a case be conceived where the duty of interference is 
 more urgent? We have just passed through a terrible 
 struggle. The country barely escaped with its life, and 
 even now we are not safe. If the administration could 
 only have its way undisturbed for a few years, it would 
 gather the fruits of its victory, and make all safe. But 
 the other party, by their treasonable newspapers and 
 their still more treasonable voting, is keeping every 
 threatening question open, and leaving us in painful 
 doubt whether the government cemented by the blood 
 of our fathers, and redeemed by the blood of their sons, 
 shall not, after all, be lost. 
 
 Then, in Heaven's name, why not stop such voting and 
 newspapers ? No other case can be named so impera- 
 tively demanding the interference of the government. 
 
 Recall, if you have the nerve to do it, the dark days 
 of the great rebellion. Think of the slaughter, the rivers 
 
66 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 of blood, think of the mourning and agony, and then 
 think of the newspapers that decried and condemned 
 every effort to save the country ! 
 
 Ah, if our prohibitionists could have been in authority 
 then, all this would have been stopped at once. Not a 
 word of criticism would have been permitted. Or, if 
 they were in authority to-day, all this meddlesome criti- 
 cism of the plans of the administration would at once be 
 arrested. 
 
 I have said all this from the stand-point of the pro- 
 hibitionist. Not a word of it do I believe. Whenever 
 the government undertakes to punish a man for any other 
 offence than a crime, it makes a miserable failure. No 
 matter.whether it is a rum-seller, a usurist, or an in6del, 
 or a treasonable newspaper ; it only gives dignity and 
 importance to the offender, by placing him at issue with 
 the government. Religious, social, or political opinions, 
 which are of no consequence, are lifted at once into great 
 importance by an arrest and trial. 
 
 If it is said that arresting a man for theft gives him 
 importance, by placing him at issue with the government, 
 I can only reply that arresting a man for theft disgraces 
 him for a lifetime. To be arrested for a- crime is a dis- 
 grace, and always a disgrace. Of course I mean real 
 crimes, where one ma.n, with evil intent, commits an act 
 upon the person or property of another, without his con- 
 sent. No man can be arrested for a real crime without 
 being disgraced, no matter how slight it may be. The 
 disgrace all comes of public sentiment. If the public re- 
 gards the offence as a real crime, the arrest and punish- 
 ment only add to the disgrace of the crime by calling 
 special attention to it. 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 67 
 
 XIII. 
 
 OTHER LAWS SUPPOSED TO RESEMBLE THE PROHIBITORY 
 LAW. The most common method of defending Pro- 
 hibition is to bring forward certain other laws, which, it 
 is claimed > are like the prohibitory law in principle, and 
 which are unquestioned. 
 
 The law against the sale of tainted meat is frequently 
 quoted. But are the two laws similar? What is the 
 basis of the law against the sale of tainted meats ? When 
 the meat is in the first stages of decomposition, it 
 requires an expert to determine that it is dangerous, and 
 the law justly steps in to protect the people against the 
 danger. But suppose, as is the case with many epicures, 
 that meat is preferred when so soft that it will drop 
 from the hook, suppose they prefer their game or meat 
 in a certain stage of decomposition, does anybody say 
 that they shall not have the thing they prefer, or that it 
 would be a crime to sell it to them ? The law is simply 
 designed to protect those who do not know how to pro- 
 tect themselves. 
 
 The law against the sale of immature veal is frequently 
 adduced. A dealer who sells veal three days old, under 
 pretence that it is three weeks, should be punished for 
 fraud ; and as it requires an expert to determine when 
 veal is old enough to be healthful, the law justly steps in 
 to examine the veal exposed for sale, and to punish 
 fraud. But let us suppose the doctors w r ere to announce 
 that veal three days old was healthful, or that a part of 
 the people, for reasons of their own, ask for such veal ; 
 does anybody suppose that the sale of it to such persons 
 would be criminal ? 
 5 
 
68 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 The law against the sale of adulterated foods is fre- 
 quently brought forward. All adulterations are justly 
 punished. But is this law the same in principle as a law 
 which prohibits the sale of all foods ? There is no doubt 
 about the justice of a law which punishes the sale of 
 adulterated liquors ; but that is a widely different thing 
 in principle from a law which forbids the sale of all 
 liquors. Laws of this class are based upon the idea of 
 protecting the ignorant or unwary from fraud or imme- 
 diate danger. And so far as they aim at this, they are 
 just, and can be enforced. But a law which undertakes 
 to prevent a sane adult from buying anything which he 
 may choose to eat or drink, knowing what it is, is unjust, 
 and in the long run cannot be enforced. And a law 
 which undertakes to punish the sale of anything which 
 sane men, with a chance to judge, wish to buy, is unjust, 
 and cannot be enforced. 
 
 I know a gentleman in this city who always brings 
 forward the law regulating the sale of drugs, as illustrat- 
 ing the principle of prohibition. He puts it in this 
 way : 
 
 " The law forbids the sale of drugs, except to physi- 
 cians, or upon their prescriptions. The law forbids the 
 sale to other persons, because the legislature, in its wis- 
 dom, has decided that such sale is harmful. And the 
 law forbids the sale of intoxicating drinks, because the 
 legislature, in its wisdom, has decided that such sale is 
 harmful. Now, if the law against the sale of drugs is 
 just, why is not the law against the sale of intoxicating 
 drinks just? The sale of the drinks does a thousand 
 times as much harm as the sale of the drugs." 
 
 That looks plausible, but it is the shallowest sophistry. 
 
 The reason that the law may justly punish the sale of 
 dangerous drugs to uniristructed persons is simply and 
 only that such persons do not know, and have no means 
 
THE' TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 69 
 
 of knowing, their danger. But if there is a reasonable 
 probability that the people are not in immediate danger, 
 the law does not interfere. For example, there are 
 five dollars' worth of patent medicines sold in the country 
 to one dollar's worth of medicines in other forms, and 
 although these patent medicines are composed of drugs, 
 and are, for the most part, the vilest stuffs ever swallowe'd, 
 put up by ignorant quacks, yet there is no great and 
 immediate danger, and the legislature concludes that it 
 is safe to let the people find out the harmful character 
 of the stuffs themselves j and so there is no interference, 
 although more harm is done in one year by patent medi- 
 cines, than would be done by the unrestricted sale of 
 drugs in a century. In the case of that vile swill known 
 as lager beer, there is no great and immediate danger ; 
 so the people should be left to find out about it them- 
 selves. If there was danger that when lager beer was 
 taken in doses of more than a certain number of drops, 
 or that certain kinds of lager beer, or that that fluid in 
 certain states was immediately dangerous to life, then a 
 law against the sale of it, except under the prescription 
 of experts, would be just. But as there is no immediate 
 danger in the use of lage*, as there is a reasonable prob- 
 ability that drinkers will have time to- determine for 
 themselves the safet} 7 of the drink, the entire human race, 
 sitting as a government, have no right to say to one 
 single drinker, " You shall not buy it I " or " You shall not 
 drink it ! " If the drinker be compos mentis, in the legal 
 sense, he has the absolute right, against the combined 
 world, to determine what he will eat and what he will 
 drink. If lie has not the right to decide this question for 
 himself, then no other man on earth has the right. 
 
 There is but one possible limit to this personal liberty, 
 and that is where a king rules by Divine Right. In this 
 case, the right of the subject to think his own thoughts, 
 
70 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 cherish his own religion, eat his own food, swallow his 
 own drinks, and kiss his own wife, would be rightly 
 subject to the will of the government. 
 
 But perhaps the law against the sale of obscene litera- 
 ture is the favorite illustration. In a recent convention, 
 it was put in this way : 
 
 " Certain persons engage in the sale of obscene books. 
 The government decides that such sale does great public 
 harm, and passes a law against it. Every decent citizen 
 approves. 
 
 " Certain other persons engage in the sale of intoxicat- 
 ing drinks. The government decides that the business 
 does great public harm, and they pass a law against it. 
 Every sober citizen approves." 
 
 This seems very plausible, but it is shallow sophistry. 
 The law recently passed by Congress against the, circu- 
 lation of obscene literature through the mails is just. 
 If I had been a member of Congress when that law was 
 passed, I should have voted for it, and should have urged 
 that the penalty be made very severe. 
 
 But last year I had occasion to look up books on 
 sexual subjects. I picked up all sorts, good and bad. I 
 take it that the persons who oeld me such books com- 
 mitted no crime, and that if they sold them to any sane 
 adult it would not be criminal ; but it is a lamentable 
 fact that forty-nine fiftieths of such books and pictures 
 are sold to children. That is a crime, a very grave crime, 
 as it is to sell them intoxicating drinks. 
 
 Those who read that powerful speech of the Hon. C. L. 
 Merriam, of New York, on the occasion of introducing 
 the bill against obscene literature into Congress, will 
 remember that the necessity and justice of the law were 
 placed upon the ground that the bad books and pictures 
 were sold almost exclusively to children. 
 
 I have a prohibitory friend of a rather explosive tern- 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 71 
 
 perament, whose favorite illustration is the law which 
 regulates the keeping and sale of gunpowder. 
 
 He says, " There is a law against keeping and selling 
 gunpowder. Everybody admits its justice. And why? 
 Because it may do harm. If this is just, then what do 
 you say to the law which forbids the keeping and sale 
 of strong drinks, which do a million times more harm 
 than gunpowder." 
 
 Let us see if there is the slightest essential similarity 
 between the law against gunpowder and the law against 
 rum. Ten men go into a store. The dealer keeps a 
 barrel of gunpowder under his floor, which, without their 
 knowledge or consent, and entirely through his careless- 
 ness, may blow them into eternity. The law justly steps 
 in to prevent a terrible calamity. Do you think this 
 case is like the following case ? 
 
 The ten men go into a rum- shop. They have just as 
 good right to drink rum as you and I have to drink 
 tea. You and I may think that rum is bad for them ; 
 they may think that tea is bad for us. Both of us 
 have a right, an inalienable right, to choose. We will 
 suppose these ten men go into the rum-shop to purchase 
 ale. There sits, not a barrel of gunpowder, but a barrel 
 of ale. The men know all about ale. It is the thing they 
 wish. They wish to drink it. They take the entire re- 
 sponsibility. If ale is hurtful, there is plenty of time for 
 them to find it out, as in the cases of pork, tobacco, and 
 corsets ; and so there is no necessity for protecting them 
 against a great and immediate danger. 
 
 If there was danger that, as people walked along the 
 street or went into a store, strong drink would burst out 
 of bottles, and force its way into their stomachs, produ- 
 cing rags, poverty, disease, and death, the legislature 
 should interfere and forbid the traffic in strong drink. 
 
 If rich foods were liable to burst loose from their en- 
 
72 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 closures, and be hurled into human stomachs, producing 
 fevers, rheumatism, and a hundred other affections, it 
 would be the bounden duty of the legislature to forbid 
 their preparation and sale. 
 
 But if people who are compos mentis wish the strong 
 drink or strong food, and there is no great and immedi- 
 ate danger against which they are not able to guard, 
 legislative interference is an impertinence and a blunder. 
 
 Do you not see that the element which calls for and 
 justifies the legal interference in the case of the gun- 
 powder is entirely wanting in the case of the ale ? At 
 the vital point there is not the slightest resemblance be- 
 tween them. And yet prohibitionists are, some of them, 
 so loose-headed, that, because there are men, and a sale, 
 and harm in both, they imagine the two cases are parallel. 
 
 They reason in this way : 
 
 It is the duty of the legislature to watch over and pro- 
 tect the people. 
 
 The legislature makes a law against gunpowder, be- 
 cause it may do great harm. 
 
 Alcohol not only may, but we know actually does, in- 
 finitely greater harm than gunpowder. Ergo, it is the 
 duty of the legislature to pass a law against the sale of 
 alcoholic beverages. 
 
 Let us see whether they will follow that logic. 
 
 Gunpowder is forbidden because it may do harm. To- 
 bacco does a million times more harm than gunpowder. 
 Ergo, tobacco should be forbidden. Nothing could be 
 clearer. There are twenty vices which nobody supposes 
 could be treated by law, any one of which does a thou- 
 sand times as much harm as gunpowder. Then why not 
 pass a law against tobacco and all the other vices ? 
 
 For one instance of accidental gunpowder explosion, 
 there are ten thousand cases of false religious faith. 
 What can be more harmful than false notions of God and 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 73 
 
 His government? Then why not punish false religions 
 notions ? Was not the Inquisition right, after all, when 
 it declared that in nothing was the guidance of the gov- 
 ernment so vital as in matters of religious faith ? Does 
 anybody doubt that errors in religious faith do more 
 harm than carelessness in the keeping of "gunpowder? 
 
 Then why not legislate against all these vices ? 
 
 For the simple reason that at the essential point there 
 is no resemblance between them. The one and only 
 fact which renders the law necessary in the case of 
 the gunpowder, is not present in the smallest degree in 
 the other case. It would be just as logical to say that 
 theft is harmful, we punish it ; indolence is more harmful, 
 and leads to almost all the cases of theft ; ergo, we must 
 punish that. 
 
 If people will tamper with law, they must take the 
 trouble to do a little thinking. 
 
 The laws against the sale of tainted meat, immature 
 veal, adulterated foods, dangerous drugs, and gunpowder, 
 are all based upon the presence of fraud, or of a great 
 and immediate danger, which the people cannot foresee, 
 and against which they have no means of guarding. It 
 is the presence of fraud, or of great and concealed dan- 
 ger, which justifies sumptuary laws. But let the legis- 
 lature undertake to interfere with our food, or drink, or 
 dress, or any personal habit, indulging in which, we are 
 not exposed to fraud, or great and unforeseen danger, 
 and the law, no matter what it is, or against how great a 
 vice, will, like the usury law and the prohibitory liquor 
 law, ignominiously fail. Of the thirty-odd attempts in 
 Massachusetts to punish vices by law, where there was 
 neither fraud nor great and concealed danger, not one 
 has escaped contempt and complete failure. 
 
74 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 XIV. 
 
 is a troad distinction between moral rights and 
 legal rights. A man has no moral right to hate his 
 wife, but he has a perfect legal right to hate her. A man 
 has no moral right to foreclose a mortgage upon a sick 
 widow's home, and turn her and her children out into 
 the snow ; but he has a perfect legal right to do it. A 
 man has no moral right to make a glutton of himself, and 
 destroy his usefulness, and throw his wife and children 
 on the town ; but he has a perfect legal right to do it. 
 A man has no moral right to drink rum, but he has a per- 
 fect legal right to do it. 
 
 I have never heard an advocate of prohibitory law 
 make this distinction between moral and legal rights. 
 They seem to think that all rights are alike, and that all 
 wrongs may be cured by the same means. 
 
 In a public discussion with a prohibitionist, I made the 
 statement that a man has the same right to do wrong that 
 he has to do right, always provided it is a vice, and not a 
 crime. 
 
 My reader will find it difficult to believe that, when 
 my antagonist rose, he said, 
 
 " At last we have found out where my opponent stands. 
 Yes, Mr. Chairman, and ladies and gentlemen, he has at 
 length shown his hand. He declares that a man has just 
 the same right to do wrong as he has to do right. In 
 other words, that there is no distinction between right 
 and wrong. He thinks a man has just as good a right to 
 drink this liquid damnation, and ruin himself, and break 
 his wife's heart, as he has to be a sober man, and perform 
 all the duties of life." 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 75 
 
 Then, turning to me, the speaker exclaimed, 
 
 " Is that what you mean ? " 
 
 I replied, " That is exactly what I said, and exactly 
 what I mean ! " 
 
 He went on, and in a splendid burst of eloquence, 
 called out cheer upon cheer. 
 
 When I spoke again, I did not repeat what I had said 
 before, that a man has the same legal right to do wrong 
 (unless the act be a crime) that he has to do right. I 
 thought I would wait and see if my opponent would not 
 think it out himself, and so I introduced another point. 
 
 When his turn came again, he cried out, 
 
 " At last, Mr. Chairman and friends, the opponent of 
 our beneficent prohibitory law has been brought to bay ; 
 at last he flies to cover. I admire his adroitness in in- 
 troducing other subjects, and trying to draw our atten- 
 tion away from the real point at issue. We, the friends 
 of prohibition, believe that rum-selling is a great crime, 
 and that we must punish it and arrest it. But it seems 
 we are all wrong. Our code of morals is a little old- 
 fashioned ; but here comes a great reformer with a new 
 code. It certainly has the virtue of being simple. It 
 has but one doctrine, and that is, that there is no distinc- 
 tion between right and wrong ; that, as he himself clearly 
 and tersely puts it, t A man has just as good a right to 
 do wrong as he has to do right.' My good friend may 
 make some converts to his new religion ; but I rather 
 think that, while we have copies of a certain old-fashioned 
 book among us, my antagonist will find it a little difficult 
 to make converts to his new system." 
 
 Absurd as all this may seem to the reader, it occurred 
 just as I have represented, and I may add that I have 
 never discussed the subject of prohibition with any of 
 its advocates, who did not pass backward and forward 
 across the line dividing vices from crimes, with a mar- 
 
76 THE TRUE SOLUTION^ OF 
 
 vellous unconsciousness of its existence. You will hear 
 them exclaim, 
 
 " Well, then, why not abolish all laws for the punish- 
 ment of crime ? Rum-selling does more harm than all of 
 them, and in fact leads to them all." 
 
 Or. " It is the business of the legislature to protect the 
 public from harm, and this is the greatest of all harms." 
 
 There are about half a dozen common statements in 
 vogue, of which the above two are fair samples. At one 
 of our recent discussions both the above statements were 
 made with great emphasis. As the first of these is fully 
 answered in another part of this work, I may add, in this 
 connection, that in reply to the second statement, namely, 
 " that it is the function of the legislature to protect the 
 people against harm," I mentioned in the discussion sev- 
 eral vices which no one proposes to punish, any one of 
 which is doing more harm than all the crimes committed 
 in the country. I said, 
 
 " Here before me is a large audience. Not a person 
 in it but has suffered from vices ; indeed, that is what we 
 mean by the imperfection of human nature. When we 
 depart from perfection it is a vice. Everybody is guilty 
 of vices. The people in this audience, forty years old, 
 are as old as they should be at fifty, or perhaps sixty. 
 Their teeth are decayed, and they have imperfect diges- 
 tion. They do not enjoy the fu.ll and happy play of all 
 their powers and faculties, and the greater part of all 
 this waste comes of vices. There are certain secret vices 
 which cannot be named before this audience, which are 
 doing more to break down our vital force, make us prema- 
 turely old, and fetter our souls, than all the crimes com- 
 mitted in the country, and the legislature can do nothing 
 to cure them. 
 
 " Tobacco is doing more injury to the minds and bodies 
 of our nation than all the murder, and theft, and bur- 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 77 
 
 glary, jand arson committed in it ; and the legislature can 
 do nothing whatever to cure the tobacco curse. 
 
 " Table excesses are doing a thousand times more to 
 cripple us, make us prematurely old, and darken our 
 pathway, than all the crimes committed in the country ; 
 and the legislature can do nothing at all to relieve the 
 people of the vice of gluttony. 
 
 " Corsets are doing more harm than all the murder, 
 and theft, and arson, and burglary in the land j and, if 
 the legislature were to devote itself for ten years exclu- . 
 sively to devising measures to remove the corset curse, 
 it would end by increasing it. 
 
 u The use of intoxicating drinks is an awful curse, and 
 does more harm every year than any wisdom less than 
 the Infinite can measure, and, like all the other vices of 
 which I have spoken, contributes to that demoralization 
 of men and women which leads to crime, but it is entirely 
 beyond the reach of law." 
 
 XV. 
 
 HENRY D. GUSHING, ESQ., of Boston, an intelligent and 
 conscientious prohibitionist, with an enviable record 
 among the friends of temperance and the prohibition 
 leaders, has greatly interested me by his courteous bear- 
 ing and his philosophical patience with all differences 
 of opinion. The following brief correspondence with 
 that excellent gentleman requires no explanation. 
 
 "BOSTON, Feb. 26, 1875. j 
 
 " HENRY D. GUSHING, ESQ. 
 
 " My dear Sir : Our conversation of this morning 
 about prohibition suggests certain inquiries. 
 
 " You said that the individual citizen has no rights 
 
78 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 which the government is bound to respect, when in its 
 judgment the rights of the individual stand in the way 
 of the welfare of the community. I asked you if you did . 
 not use the word ' rights,' when applied to the govern- 
 ment, in the sense of power if you did not mean 
 simply that the government has the power to coerce 
 individuals, or, in other words, that a thousand men are 
 stronger than one, and you replied that you did not 
 mean this, but that you meant that it was right in the 
 government to do whatever, in its judgment, would 
 serve society, no matter what suffering or loss might 
 come to any particular individual. Permit me to ask 
 the following questions : 
 
 " First : The attractions of dry-goods and jewelry 
 stores lead women to wasteful expenditures. Do you 
 think the legislature has a right to forbid such tempta- 
 tions ? 
 
 " Second : Do you believe our legislators have the 
 right to regulate the cooking in the Parker House, if 
 they think the appetizing dishes now furnished in that 
 hotel lead people to excessive indulgence ? 
 
 " Third : If a merchant were to open a dry-goods 
 house in Commonwealth Avenue, and thus injure the 
 value of the property in that fine street for private resi- 
 dences (as such a store most certainly would), do you 
 hold that the legislature would have the right to close 
 that store ? 
 
 " Fourth : Do you think, if our legislature should reach 
 the conclusion that Dr. Miner's faith is pernicious, it 
 would have a right to forbid his preaching ? 
 
 "Fifth: Do you believe that the legislature of Mas- 
 sachusetts has a right to suppress the Boston Post, if, in 
 the judgment of that body, the politics of this newspaper 
 are inimical to the public welfare ? 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 79 
 
 " Sixth : Do you believe that the Inquisition had a 
 right to torture and kill Protestants ? 
 
 " Seventh : Do you believe the individual man has 
 any right, which is sacred, inviolable, and inalienable, 
 and if so, what is that right? 
 
 " Yours, truly, 
 
 "Dio LEWIS." 
 
 "BOSTON, March 2, 1875. 
 
 " DR. Dio LEWIS. 
 
 " My dear Sir : You understood me rightly. I spoke 
 of the rigM, not the power, to make laws. I said the 
 State must take, and ought to take many private rights, 
 and that its right to take them had no limit but the pub- 
 lic good. 
 
 " The old axiom is right. ' Tlie public good is the 
 supreme law.' Aside from constitutions, the public good 
 is the object and only limit of the law-making power. 
 Law rightfully forbids crime. But if crime did not 
 injure the State, it ought to be left in the domain of con- 
 science and moral suasion. 
 
 " The right of the law-making power to command or 
 forbid, has a wide field beyond questions of crime or 
 merit, guilt or innocence. It rightfully seizes the crazy 
 man, or one who has the small-pox or cholera, however 
 innocent. It dictates the education of my children: 
 compels me to pay for educating other people's children; 
 forbids hiring them to work more than the hours it pre- 
 scribes; orders me to make my brick walls twenty 
 inches thick ; prescribes my drainage ; tells me how 
 many dollars' worth of police, street gas, and sidewalk I 
 want ; makes me pay the bills, and in many other ways 
 makes about as free with my private rights as if I never 
 had any. All this it has a right to do. My right must 
 yield to the public good. 
 
80 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 11 It would, in my judgment, be very unwise, foolish, 
 absurd, wrong, for the law-making power to interfere in 
 either of the cases mentioned in your six first questions. 
 But I wish to be definite to the very limit of possibility, 
 and will therefore refer to your fourth and fifth ques- 
 tions. 
 
 " If a sect or a party cost the United States six hun- 
 dred millions a year, and did no other harm, the right to 
 squelch it would be questionable. But if, in addition to 
 the direct cost, it lessened production, increased taxa- 
 tion, corrupted the ballot, deprived one tenth of the 
 people of proper food, fuel, shelter, and clothing, doubled 
 the number of criminals and paupers, and was equally 
 pernicious to every other ordinary object of government, 
 the public good would justify, would give the right, 
 would (aside from constitutional restriction) make it 
 the duty of the law-making power to snuff out the sect 
 or party if it could. The same standard of right will 
 apply to all but the seventh question. 
 
 " To your seventh question I say, in a case of most 
 extreme peril, involving the life of the State, such a case 
 as occurs in war, there is no private right that the State 
 may not take if necessary to save its life. The right is 
 in proportion to the necessity. 
 
 " The right to life is one of the most sacred of indi- 
 vidual rights. The State rightfully took the lives of 
 Confederate soldiers. Half, more or less, were innocent, 
 involuntary conscripts. Government just as truly sacri- 
 ficed its own soldiers. If the State can rightfully take 
 the lives of multitudes of its most meritorious citizens in 
 a case of the most extreme necessity, it can rightfully 
 take lesser rights in cases of less necessity. 
 
 " When the State suffers an injury, it must consider 
 whether it can apply a legal remedy, and also whether 
 the injury is great enough to justify the remedy. The 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 81 
 
 right is in proportion to the necessity and efficacy of the 
 remedy. Any -law sufficiently essential to the public 
 good, is EIGHT. 
 
 "Very truly yours, 
 
 H. D. GUSHING." 
 
 Mr. Gushing gives what he calls an old axiom " The 
 public good is the supreme law." I have never heard 
 of such an axiom, but I have heard that " The public safety 
 is the supreme law." And the whole difference between 
 the views I am advocating, and the views of the prohi- 
 bitionists, js found in the difference between the two 
 words " good " and " safety." 
 
 The public " safety " is endangered by an armed inva- 
 sion, by a great conflagration, by contagion, or the like, 
 and in their presence the rights of individuals must give 
 way. " Necessity knows no law." 
 
 'But this maxim applies only in cases where the dan- 
 ger is so imminent, and the necessity so imperative, as 
 to make a law, for the time being. 
 
 The public " good " is endangered by false religious 
 and political theories, by errors in dress, sleep, food and 
 drinks, neither of which can be touched by law. 
 
 When the Mill River reservoir gave way, the man 
 who saw it was justified in seizing his neighbor's horse, 
 rushing down the valley, shouting, " The waters are 
 coming ! run for your lives ! " But for a man to seize 
 his neighbor's horse, and rush through the street shriek- 
 ing that somebody is about to sell a 'glass of lager, is a 
 different case. If my good friend Gushing were to seize 
 a horse in Washington Street, and tear up toward Rox- 
 bury, screaming at the top of his voice, " Turn out ! 
 turn out ! for God's sake ! turn out ! Jim Biles is about 
 to sell Pete Smith a glass of whiskey," or " Mrs. Jones is 
 lacing her corset too tight," the chances are, that instead 
 
82 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 of the police court holding that the public safety justi- 
 fied the seizure of the horse, my friend would have to 
 send round to ask me to bail him out. 
 
 Instead of its being a maxim that " the public good is 
 the supreme law," one of the wisest of all sayings was, 
 that a wrong done to the humblest individual by the gov- 
 ernment (that is, the violation of any one of his rights of 
 person or property) is a wrong done to the whole people. 
 And this is true, because, if one man's personal rights 
 can be violated by the State with impunity, then all the 
 rights of all the people may be violated with impunity. 
 
 The greatest u public good " that any government is 
 capable of, is to secure to each and every individual the 
 free and full enjoyment of all his natural rights of person 
 and property. 
 
 I put to Mr. Gushing seven questions, which I ask the 
 reader to peruse again. 
 
 Mr. Gushing replies that he thinks it would be " very 
 unwise, foolish, absurd and wrong," for the legislature to 
 interfere in either of the cases given, but he says they 
 have a perfect right to interfere. 
 
 When I ask him if the legislature has the right to 
 suppress Universalism, to suppress the newspapers of 
 the opposition party, rich and indigestible food, and 
 all displays of dry goods or jewelry which may tempt to 
 waste, and whether the Inquisition had a right to tor- 
 ture and kill Protestants, I ask him these questions, 
 because I know Mr. Gushing stands very high among 
 prohibitionists, will be admitted by them to be good 
 authority, and withal has the pluck to say, without re- 
 serve, exactly what the prohibitionists hold to be the 
 rights of the government. 
 
 My seventh question was, " Do you believe the indi- 
 vidual man has any right which is sacred, inviolable, 
 and inalienable, and if so, what is that right ? ;; 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 83 
 
 My friend replies that the individual man has no right 
 which is sacrei, inviolable, and inalienable. 
 
 In regard to the other matters mentioned in Mr. Cush- 
 ing's letter, I have to say that some of them are else- 
 where fully answered in this work. In regard to the 
 others, I have to say further, that government no doubt 
 does a great many things which it has no right to do ; 
 and perhaps some of those mentioned by Mr. Gushing 
 may be among the number. 
 
 He indorses everything the government does, whether 
 individual rights are thereby invaded or not. I indorse 
 nothing that invades individual rights, except in such 
 cases of great necessity as have been mentioned. It 
 is the highest duty of government to protect individual 
 rights ; it is tyranny to trample upon them. In what, 
 pray, does tyranny consist, except in trampling upon 
 individual rights? 
 
 My neighbor A owns and occupies a house. It is not 
 denied that the government may blow it up to save the 
 city. That right is inalienable. But has A no right in 
 that house, which under any circumstances, is inalienable ? 
 Suppose there is no conflagration ; suppose there is no 
 invasion, and no contagion ; suppose it is a time of peace, 
 and health, and insurance prosperity, and that A is a 
 good citizen : has he any right to that house which is 
 sacred and inviolable? We see what Mr. Gushing, 
 speaking for the prohibitionists, would answer. He 
 goes so far as to declare that the Inquisition had a 
 right to torture and kill protestants for their religious 
 opinions. 
 
 But addressing myself to others who are not commit- 
 ted to prohibition, I submit that the individual man has 
 rights which are sacred, inviolable, and inalienable. And 
 I submit that with rare exceptions legislation is based 
 upon the assumption that the individual has such rights, 
 6 
 
84 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 and that the great object of government is the protec- 
 tion of 'those rights. 
 
 So sacred is the territory within the circle drawn 
 about the individual, that if I touch another man never 
 so lightly, and entirely by accident, I say to him in- 
 stantly, " I beg your pardon." If a man retires within 
 his house and locks his door, the exigency must be great 
 which will justify a trespass upon his premises, even by 
 officers of the law. Or if he be outside his house, and 
 have in his pocket a million dollars, his creditors cannot 
 touch it, so great is the awe of this sacred personality. 
 All civilized nations feel that the great object of gov- 
 ernment is to stand guard around the rights of the indi- 
 vidual. 
 
 The crime of monarchical governments is the violation 
 of the rights of the individual. In fact, this is the only 
 crime of any government. And at the bottom, this is the 
 only possible crime among men. The duty of government 
 the only duty, is to protect the individual. That thing 
 called society is a creature of the imagination. If you 
 look for it, you cannot find it. You will find one in- 
 dividual, two individuals, a million individuals, but you 
 may look all your life for society, and you will not find it. 
 
 There is a vast deal of harm done by this talk about 
 the rights and wrongs of society. There is a seeming 
 propriety under a monarchy, where a king rules by 
 divine right, where a king is the government, in speak- 
 ing of the rights of the State. Under such circum- 
 stances, an individual man has his rights, and the State 
 has other distinct and peculiar rights. But in a country 
 like ours, all talk about the rights of the State has no 
 meaning, and is mischievous. We have borrowed the 
 language of monarchical countries, and continue to speak 
 of the State as a distinct entity, a separate creature, with 
 head and heart, with rights and authority, as a somebody 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 85 
 
 who may be offended. You will hear it said that the 
 conduct of this or that man has injured society. Now, if 
 you will leave your house and begin to look for the 
 society which has been injured, you may go down street, 
 and either keep straight ahead, or turn to the right or 
 left, you will not find society, but you will find men 
 and women. It is these that are injured, if anybody is 
 injured, and when the government needs to interfere, it 
 must interfere on behalf of these individuals. 
 
 Mr. Gushing, in one form or another, repeats the same 
 idea in every paragraph. It is all the time the good of 
 the public, or the public good, or injury to the State, or 
 the rights of government. 
 
 His one idea from the first to the last paragraph is, 
 that the State is one thing, and the individual another ; 
 that the State has its rights, and the individual man 
 his obligations. This one error, inherited from the East- 
 ern continent, has done more harm in America than 
 all other errors inherited from monarchical govern- 
 ments. 
 
 Mr. Gushing says that " the public good is the object 
 and only limit of the law-making power." Now, the fact 
 is, that the " public good " is no part of the object of the 
 law-making power. Its only object is the protection of 
 the natural rights of individuals. It has nothing what- 
 ever to do with the public. It owes nothing to the 
 public. There is no public. 
 
 All this talk about the public, or society, is, consciously 
 or unconsciously, a mere trick of politicians and others 
 to dodge responsibility. It is the same sort of trick that 
 individuals, who are members of corporations, resort to 
 when they do things as members of a corporation which 
 they would be ashamed to do as individual men. 
 
 An eminent Englishman, who had had long and inti- 
 mate acquaintance with public men, declared that he had 
 
86 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 never seen men, however good as private citizens, three 
 of whom would not, as public men, divide a murder be- 
 tween them. 
 
 This is pretty strong, but contains more than a grain 
 of truth. A gentleman, who would not think of saying 
 to his neighbor, <4 You shall not believe this, or eat that, 
 or drink the other," has no hesitation, when he is one in 
 a legislative assembly, to pass a law forbidding anything. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 I TAKE the liberty to submit the following paragraphs 
 upon points already mentioned. The aspects of the 
 subject presented in this work are somewhat novel, 
 and, therefore, a little repetition may not prove unaccept- 
 able. 
 
 It is not denied that Massachusetts has to-day upon 
 her statute-book other laws involving the same violation 
 of personal liberty as Prohibition ; but every law inter- 
 fering with personal vices is simply on the statute-book, 
 but has no practical vitality. 
 
 For example : prostitution is an enormous evil, and we 
 have a severe statute against it ; but as a matter of 
 fact, if a house of prostitution be conducted in a quiet, 
 unobtrusive way, no matter how much it may depre- 
 ciate the value of property in the neighborhood, and 
 disgust decent neighbors, the authorities cannot break 
 it up. If any Prohibitionist can devise a method by 
 which the authorities can break up such a house, it would 
 be easy to sell his discovery to the property holders of 
 New York city for a hundred million of dollars. There 
 are many neighborhoods in that city where the residents 
 have raised heaven and earth to break up such estab- 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 87 
 
 lishments, and the authorities have been only too willing 
 to help them ; but the result, after the most determined 
 efforts, has been this : that until such an establishment 
 becomes a nuisance, not a nuisance in the moral sense, 
 but a nuisance in the legal sense, it. is impossible to 
 break it up. The courts of New York city have gone 
 very far, and used the most questionable means, in defer- 
 ence to the wishes of property-holders, but the final 
 result is, that the establishment remains. Just such 
 troubles between respectable neighbors and questionable 
 houses have marked the history of Boston. But except 
 where the houses have exhibited improper sights or 
 sounds, or imparted disease, or in other ways become a 
 legal nuisance, they have maintained their ground. 
 There are a great many property-holders in Boston who 
 know this to their sorrow. 
 
 Scattered throughout the city there are unnumbered 
 rooms over stores and other places of business, and in 
 private houses, occupied by persons who are living in 
 the relation of husband and wife, without legal marriage. 
 There are not two punishments for every hundred thou- 
 sand violations of the statute against such intimacies. 
 
 Gambling is very common in our city. There is a 
 great number of rooms or suites of rooms devoted to this 
 vice. In club-houses and many hotels, gambling may be 
 found every night, and often lasting all night. 
 . The police know to-day of a great number of these 
 places, where on any night they may find gambling. 
 The number of violations of the statute against gam- 
 bling known to the police is, during the year, enormous. 
 Not one violation in a thousand which are known, or 
 might easily be known, is punished. 
 
 The sale of a glass of grog in the Commonwealth of 
 Massachusetts is, to-day, against a statute, and punish- 
 able by fine and imprisonment. Gambling is a crime 
 
88 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 punishable by fine and imprisonment. Sexual intimacy, 
 without marriage, is a crime punishable by fine and im- 
 prisonment. 
 
 Now, if we add the transgressions of these three stat- 
 ute laws, we shall find that, at a low estimate, there are 
 more than ten millions a month. 
 
 Here we have ten million violations of statute law, 
 in this city, in a single month. And these violations hurt 
 the physical and moral life of the people more in one day 
 than murder, theft, burglary, and arson affect us in a 
 year. Now, I ask, why cannot we enforce such statute 
 laws ? When we understand that these are vices, and 
 not fit subjects for civil law, it is all plain. It then 
 becomes plain how it is easy to punish by law the crime 
 of theft, which does less harm in ten years than rum does 
 in one day, but that the matchless curse of drink we can- 
 not grapple with by law. 
 
 How any man can look over such facts, and declare 
 that vices and crimes are all alike punishable by law, is 
 a mystery. 
 
 If a man steal a handful of peanuts, you can punish 
 him by law, as sure as fate. But that cook, who pre- 
 pares dishes so appetizing, that a half dozen promising 
 young men, who go to take a late supper with him every 
 night, ruin their health, and, if you please, destroy their 
 lives cannot fee punished by law. The men had a 
 right to eat what they pleased, and as much as they 
 pleased. I grant you it was a wretched vice ; and I 
 grant you that the cook was an accomplice in that vice, 
 but he committed no crime. His case is not one that 
 you can punish by law. 
 
 You may argue, and you may convince everybody in 
 the Commonwealth, if they are not already convinced, 
 that eating late suppers of rich food is an unmitigated 
 curse. But if our legislators were such fools as to "make 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 89 
 
 a statute against the preparation of luscious food, and the 
 eating of it at unseasonable hours, they would greatly 
 increase the evil. Thousands who never eat such foods, 
 and never eat at unseasonable hours, would flock to res- 
 taurants, and sitting down at midnight, with the State 
 constables appointed to enforce the law, would eat many 
 an extra dish to the health of the legislature. 
 
 Eating between meals is an injurious habit. Suppose 
 now, in view of the great harm done by this habit, the 
 legislature were to pass a. law that no one should furnish 
 anything to eat between meals. Does anybody doubt 
 that eating between meals would become "the regular 
 custom of. the country, and a hundred persons would eat 
 between meals where one does now ? 
 
 The change last spring in Ohio, when the elections 
 came on, was most significant. I pleaded with the noble 
 women who were leading in the great crusade move- 
 ment, to keep it out of politics. I said to them, " If you 
 consent to interest yourselves in the election of a tem- 
 perance ticket, and thus associate your movement with 
 the government, it will have as little vitality as religion 
 has in those countries where it is uride-r the protection 
 of the government." I explained to them that the best 
 moral or religious cause, if linked with the civil govern- 
 ment, would, like the Church of England, lose all fervor 
 and power. 
 
 But, as I have said in another place, the men in Ohio 
 thought that, now the grog-shops were closed, the only 
 thing to do was to crystallize the public sentiment into a 
 law, and thus make it permanent. As soon as this decis- 
 ion was arrived at in any locality, the rum- shops were 
 soon in full blast again. 
 
 That people can't see the philosophy of this, that they 
 can't see that linking the temperance movement with 
 
90 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 politics, will paralyze and emasculate it, astonishes 
 me. 
 
 There is not a social, or moral, or religious movement, 
 or virtue, among us, which may not be killed by the fos- 
 tering care of the government. 
 
 The Universalist church has just emerged from perse- 
 cution. The conduct of our State toward that church 
 was outrageous. But now all its disabilities have been 
 removed, and Universalists are as good as anybody. 
 
 But suppose that when forty-nine fiftieths of the mem- 
 bers of our legislature honestly believed that to take hell 
 out of religion was to open the flood-gates of every con- 
 ceivable vice and crime, suppose at that time that a law- 
 had been enacted, forbidding the Universalist faith, and 
 forbidding ah 1 persons to preach Universalism, would 
 it not have been precisely parallel to the prohibitory 
 liquor law ? Prohibitionists teach that it is the duty of 
 the government to watch over the people, and protect 
 them from harm. When the legislature believed, per- 
 haps without an exception, that a flood of vice and crime 
 was imminent by taking hell out of religion, was there 
 ever an hour in the history of New England when 
 the legislature was more solemnly bound to act, to 
 act promptly, without fear or favor, to rescue the 
 people from impending calamity ? If the prohibitory 
 liquor law is right in principle, the legislature of this 
 State was guilty before God of the most infamous cow- 
 ardice and dereliction of duty in not squelching Univer- 
 salism. 
 
 If the prohibitory law is right in principle, no body 
 of men in the history of the world achieved a nobler 
 career than the Spanish Inquisition. Pray, what are the 
 bodies of men ? " What doth it profit a man if he gain 
 the whole world and lose his own soul ? " The inquisi- 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 91 
 
 tors conscientiously believed that a certain faith was 
 indispensable to the salvation of the soul. Their duty 
 was plain and imperative. 
 
 Jf the prohibitory liquor law is right in principle, why 
 was not the Spanish Inquisition right? and why would 
 not the legislature of Massachusetts have been justified 
 in the enactment of laws against Universalism ? 
 
 It is constantly urged that the prohibitory law is an 
 educator. I suppose some persons may be honest in 
 this opinion, but nothing is better settled than that pre- 
 mature legislation operates most prejudicially to the 
 cause or interest in behalf of which the enactment was 
 secured. 
 
 When a law is placed upon the statute-book which is 
 not an exponent of public sentiment, it not only does not 
 tend to lift up public sentiment, but it always provokes 
 opposition, and arouses prejudice against the cause which 
 it is designed to serve. 
 
 The prohibitory liquor law in Massachusetts is a strik- 
 ing illustration. It never has been the voice of -the 
 people, but it did much more nearly represent, public 
 sentiment fifteen years ago than it does to-day. 
 
 That is to say, while the law has been in existence in 
 the State twenty years, occupying the attention of news- 
 papers, and the public generally, nTbre than all other 
 laws put together, it has signally failed as an educator. 
 
 Indeed, in the recent election, a large army of Republi- 
 cans, who, ten years ago, would not have broken with 
 their party on the ground of prohibition, did so break in 
 the gubernatorial election of 1874. 
 
 It is doubtful if any device can be imagined, whose 
 influence would prove less educational than premature 
 legislation, even if the evil aimed at were a proper sub- 
 ject of civil law. 
 
92 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 But the question constantly recurs, What would you 
 do with reference to the sale of intoxicating drinks? 
 Hb.you go for free rum, for license, or what ? 
 
 European governments have found it convenient to 
 raise a large revenue by granting licenses for the sale 
 of intoxicating drinks. While a pretence of guardian- 
 ship has everywhere been put forward, quite as much 
 in connection with the lager beer shops of Germany as 
 the gin shops of England, practically no such guardian- 
 ship is exercised. If a row occurs in these shops, they 
 are brought into court, under the nuisance act, which is 
 a part of the common law. Surely no one who has 
 observed the character of the persons engaged in this 
 bad trade in Europe, and in this country, will contend 
 that the license system secures " persons of good moral 
 character." 
 
 We have inherited from our European ancestors this 
 notion of license, and have continued it in America, in 
 considerable part, for the same reason as in Europe, viz., 
 as a source of revenue. No one supposes that we keep 
 the business in the hands of persons of " good -moral 
 character." 
 
 Many persons seem to think that all you can gain by 
 law, or by threats and punishment, is " so far, so good." 
 
 But does any thoughtful man believe that the little 
 temporary impression, here and there, upon the liquor 
 traffic, by the prohibitory law, can counterbalance the 
 contempt for State constables and law which has come 
 of seeing thousands of grog-shops going boldly forward, 
 year after year, in contemptuous defiance of legislation ? 
 I believe the demoralizing influence of this failure is 
 great beyond all calculation. 
 
 Our prohibitory friends really seem to think that it 
 would be well for the legislature to try a set-to with any 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 93 
 
 vice. They might pass some tremendous enactment 
 against tobacco. Say, make a law punishing the use or 
 sale of tobacco with fine and imprisonment. Or let the 
 law be more severe ; let it call this offence a grave 
 crime. In this way, the legislature might try a hack at 
 it, and see how it would work. If the thing did not 
 seem to work, after a few years of platform cursing of 
 the officers of the law, let this law sleep, and try a tilt 
 with some other abuse. 
 
 I conscientiously believe that such thoughtless legis- 
 lation demoralizes the people tenfold more than rum and 
 tobacco. 
 
 In regard to the crimes which are the only legitimate 
 objects of legal punishment, there is no doubt. No one 
 ever thinks of a " cut and try " treatment for crimes. 
 If one man strikes another man, or steals his horse, the 
 natural treatment is punishment. It is the universal 
 instinct that crime must be punished ; and this instinct 
 is quite as clear and strong among savage as among 
 civilized people. 
 
 The instinct is quite as universal that a man has a 
 right to do as he pleases with himself and his own. 
 
 Prohibition orators describe in glowing terms the 
 darkness and sorrows of intemperance ; they describe 
 the army of drunkards' wives, whose sad faces tell of 
 broken hearts, and that innumerable army of drunkards 1 
 children, who hold up their rags toward heaven, and 
 plead for help. And when the scene overwhelms us, they 
 cry out, " Who would not vote to close up forever the 
 sources of this black river of death ? Is there a man so 
 void of sympathy and heart that he will refuse to vote 
 for the removal of this awful curse ? " 
 
 This is very ingenious and effective. But if the evils 
 of gluttony, or any of the fifty vices common among men, 
 
94 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 were depicted, and then the orator were to exclaim, 
 " What man so void of human feeling as to refuse to vote 
 for the removal of this curse from the world ? " he 
 would be guilty of precisely the same sophistry, the 
 same trick, as when he would make it appear that he 
 who does not think that voting is the cure for this evil, 
 lacks sympathy and heart. I will agree to the worst 
 that can be said of the woes of intemperance, and then I 
 would exclaim, " Who that has human- feeling can inter- 
 fere with the use of the natural means of cure, by drag- 
 ging the sacred subject of temperance into the arena of 
 politics ? " 
 
 In some manufacturing villages in New England the 
 proprietors have cured intemperance by giving the poor 
 a chance to own their homes. A man who owns a house 
 and little garden is not a tenth part as likely to get 
 drunk as the man who is a tenant at will in one of those 
 houses, in a factory row, without garden and without 
 distinctive character. 
 
 A man who has the means to dress his children neatly, 
 and who sees them, in school and at picnics, mingling 
 with other well-dressed and happy children, has a very 
 strong incentive to sobriety. 
 
 If you go to England, and see the wretched poverty 
 on every hand, you are no longer surprised that the 
 English are such drunkards. 
 
 We hear it stated in prohibition speeches that the 
 reason for the non-enforcement of the prohibitory law 
 is the fact that capital and appetite unite to defend it. 
 
 Let capital and avarice unite to defend stealing, and 
 do you think the law against stealing would fail ? 
 
 Does anybody really believe that selling rum to sane 
 men who ask for it, is a crime like stealing ? If the man 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 95 
 
 who buys it, is what the law calls non compos mentis, 
 then it is a crime to sell him rum, or a knife, or a pistol ; 
 but if a man is compos mentis, is it a crime to sell him 
 rum, or a knife, or a pistol ? 
 
 A glass of rum may do great harm ; a pistol may do 
 great harm ; to sell either of them to an insane man, is a 
 grave crime. But to say to a man who is compos mentis, 
 " You shall not have a glass of rum or a pistol," is a 
 sort of outrage and insult which needs but to be re- 
 peated to drive men away from each other, and destroy 
 human society. A table surfeit may kill a man, and to 
 give an insane man an opportunity to surfeit himself, 
 might be a crime. But it is the talk of a fool to say that 
 nine men who are compos mentis shall not be permitted 
 to manage their own eating and drinking, because one 
 man might hurt himself. 
 
 Extravagant or false statements hurt the person making 
 them, and weaken his cause. 
 
 If, in commenting upon the character of some person 
 who has been guilty of a slight fault, I say he is an 
 infernal scoundrel, the sense of justice rises in every 
 listener, and I shall fail to "hurt the person I criticise. 
 
 We have greatly injured the temperance cause by 
 our false statements about ram-sellers. We have cursed 
 them as enemies of the human race, as retailers of liquid 
 damnation, as keepers of hell holes, as devils seeking the 
 destruction of their fellows. 
 
 I know a dozen Boston rum-sellers. Part of them are 
 of the best class, and a part of the worst. Some of 
 these I have known somewhat intimately for years. 
 They are not devils. They are not seeking the destruc- 
 tion, of their fellows, but for the greater part they wish 
 their fellows well. They are fair, good-hearted men, 
 and when we go about with subscription papers on 
 
96 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 behalf of a good tiling, they are as likely to subscribe 
 liberally as other folks. To speak of such men in the 
 slang whang of the temperance lecturer, is not to hurt 
 them, but the temperance cause. 
 
 Temperance speakers talk about rum-sellers as though 
 they went out into the public highway, seized men, and 
 dragged them in. Such speakers should be informed 
 that rum-sellers do not conduct their business in this 
 way. 
 
 I may add that in a large majority of rum-shops the 
 proprietors discourage, many of them to the point of 
 blank refusal, the drinking of any more liquor than they 
 think is good for their customers. Many of them hon- 
 estly believe that a few social glasses will hurt no one. 
 
 When we learn to tell the truth, confining our remarks 
 to an honest statement about the use of their miserable 
 poisons, when we stop lying, and utter our convictions 
 about their trade in a reasonable and earnest spirit, 
 they will begin to feel, and keenly feel, the force of our 
 influence. 
 
 Governor Talbot, with members of his council, and 
 the Hon. Joshua Nye, addressed a meeting in East 
 Boston, on the occasion of the second anniversary of the 
 founding of the children's " Cold Water Temple." 
 
 My excellent friend Mr. Lewis, editor of the East 
 Boston Advocate, who is the head and front of this most 
 important and beneficent movement, in making his report 
 at the opening of the exercises, mentioned that the rum- 
 sellers of East Boston had given more money to help his 
 movement, than all the churches ; that in explanation, 
 they declared that they did not wish to see their chil- 
 dren or their neighbors' children learn to drink. 
 
 And my good friend Burnham Wardwell, the devoted 
 friend of discharged convicts, writes me from Great 
 Falls, N. H., " I have been holding a series of temper- 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 97 
 
 artce meetings in this place, which are doing great good, 
 and every dollar for hall, printing, and personal expenses, 
 has been contributed by rum-sellers and drunkards." 
 
 A few years ago everybody thought rum a good thing, 
 and almost everybody drank it. My grandfather was a 
 deacon in a Baptist church, and a distiller. He was a 
 very prayerful man, but I suppose that for each prayer 
 uttered by him in the ear of Heaven, he sent out, for the 
 stomachs of his fellow-men, five hundred gallons of peach 
 brandy and whiskey. He was a very conscientious 
 man, and yet he was an active distiller for forty years. 
 Alcoholic drinks were just as bad then as now. Thou- 
 sands of people to-day think that these drinks are good. 
 Doctors prescribe them, and nineteen people out of twenty 
 think they are good under some circumstances.- If a 
 man sells drink, shall we pronounce him a black-hearted 
 villain ? With my convictions, stealing is a better busi- 
 ness than rum-selling. But my convictions on this 
 subject are not those of many men, who are better than 
 I am, I doubt not, in many respects. Many of our most 
 honorable citizens defend strong drink, both in theory 
 and practice. That they are most grievously mistaken, 
 and that they stand directly in the way of the most im- 
 portant moral movement in the history of the world, I 
 have not a shadow of doubt. It will not take us long 
 now to convince them of their error, provided we stop 
 insulting and bullying them. 
 
 A man who thinks that to use reason, persuasion, and 
 brotherly love upon a rum-drinker or rum-seller, and vary 
 it occasionally with a slap or a kick, any man who 
 supposes that kicks and kindness can be made to work 
 together, in converting rum-drinkers or rum-sellers, or 
 anybody else, has never looked into his own soul. 
 When you take the case to yourself, you will realize the 
 litter impossibility of making two such radically different 
 
98 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 agencies work together. The mixing of oil and water 
 is nothing to it. 
 
 If we were to go to Dr. Miner, and tell him that we be- 
 lieve his theology to be an enemy to public morality, and 
 take possession of his pulpit, he would cry out at once, 
 
 " I will not discuss theology with you. Give me my 
 pulpit. Give me my own. Treat me as a man. Recog- 
 nize my rights, and then, if you come in the proper 
 spirit, I shall be happy to discuss theology with you." 
 
 If we should go into the Connecticut valley, and tell 
 old Deacon Bosworth that raising tobacco is a sin and a 
 crime, and take possession of his farm, instead of lis- 
 ening to our physiological and moral reasons, he would 
 say, 
 
 " Get off my place. Give me back my property, and 
 then if you come in a courteous and kind spirit, I will 
 listen to you." 
 
 My neighbor's theology, or his diet, or his drinks, or 
 his tobacco trade, or corset trade, or whiskey trade, I may 
 condemn ; I think it is an enemy to public morality, and 
 I go to him. I carry in my left hand, if you please, the 
 real Christian spirit, call it love, and I offer love, 
 but behind my back I hold in my right hand a black 
 snake whip. I keep that concealed, and go on with my 
 love. Of course I do not go forward very heartily, for 
 my mind is divided between the love and the whip. I 
 am thinking all the time, that if he doesn't succumb to 
 love, I will try the black snake. 
 
 He asks me, after listening to my love, " What have 
 you in the other hand, behind your back ? " 
 
 I reply, " No matter. I offer you love." 
 
 But I am all the time thinking whether I have the 
 black snake entirely concealed. After listening to me, 
 he again asks, 
 
 " What have you in the other hand ? " 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 99 
 
 At length I show my whip ; and at once he will cry 
 out, 
 
 " I want none of your love, and none of your black 
 snake whip ; leave me." 
 
 Or, if you please, I go to him and talk in the most 
 loving way, and altogether in that spirit. Do you think 
 the case would be helped, if, alternating with my visits, 
 my neighbor should go to insult and kick him? No 
 manly man need go any farther to answer this question, 
 than to look within his own breast. 
 
 The common objection to depending on moral suasion 
 is, that it is too slow. The evil is so great, and the dan- 
 ger so appalling, we can't wait. 
 
 Citizens of Massachusetts who have watched the futile 
 efforts to enforce prohibition, say that moral suasion is 
 too slow, and that we must have a law, in order to cure 
 immediately. In conversation with a prohibitionist re- 
 cently, one who has had a great deal to do with the 
 attempts to enforce prohibition in Boston, he said, 
 
 " I believe in moral suasion. I believe that public 
 sentiment is more enduring and reliable than the vigi- 
 lance of a constable, and should be very glad if we could 
 wait for the employment of this force alone : but we must 
 have something which will cure the evil now." 
 
 And here in Boston, after twenty years of prohibition, 
 we have to-day, including drug-stores and groceries, 
 where intoxicating drinks can be purchased without let 
 or hindrance, not less than five thousand rum-shops. 
 And yet my prohibitory friend thought we must have 
 law in order to cure the evil immediately. 
 
 The woman's movement and the Washingtonian move- 
 ment combined, have removed the dram-shops in towns 
 of five to ten thousand inhabitants, in a month ; and I 
 have not a shadow of doubt, if we could get rid of this 
 7 
 
100 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 vain dependence upon the constable, that the same com- 
 bination would march triumphantly through our large 
 cities ; but the friends of prohibition would say, 
 
 " We can't wait for such tedious processes ; we must 
 have something which will do it quick," as in Maine, 
 where, after twenty-five years of prohibition, the official 
 reports of the State officers, elected on the temperance 
 ticket, show that the number of insane through intem- 
 perance, and the number of arrests for drunkenness, have 
 constantly, and of late rapidly, increased under prohibi- 
 tory law. 
 
 The Washingtoriian temperance movement actually 
 saved three hundred thousand drunkards, and created 
 a vital temperance sentiment throughout the civilized 
 world ; but prohibitionists declare, " We can't depend 
 upon such tedious processes. We dust have some agen- 
 cy which will cure at once." 
 
 Our prohibitory friends frequently declare that they 
 are warmly in favor of moral suasion, that they believe 
 love is the great remedy for the evils of intemperance ; 
 but does anybody remember ever to have heard any one 
 of our leading prohibitionists really advocate anything 
 but force ? I am free to say that I never have. Are 
 any of our leading prohibitionists made on the moral 
 suasion or love plans ? 
 
 How silly to concentrate this grand temperance move- 
 ment upon an effort to make drinkers go round an extra 
 square, or compel them to go to a drug store, or grocery, 
 or agency. Of course everybody knows that these diffi- 
 culties only whet the appetite, only lead to a thousand 
 expedients to overcome the obstacles. Everybody 
 knows, or ought to know enough of human nature to see 
 that private drinking clubs, and a hundred and one other 
 dodges, will lead a great many persons who would not 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 101 
 
 indulge in what is vulgarly called " perpendicular dimfe- 
 ing/ 7 into a passion for drink. 
 
 I have never heard reasonable beings talk such 
 nonsense as when they propose to turn this great tem- 
 perance reform, the glory of the century, into an effort 
 to shut up a certain class of opep ,drin]dng places,; 
 really pretending to believe that thirs%Macn;wlio, stic^'&t 
 nothing, who would sacrifice 'everything; on eai;th >tp get, 
 drink, who think of nothing else day 'or iliglit^Vill/if : 
 they fail to find their drink in the old, familiar places, 
 quit looking for it, and become sober citizens. 
 
 Alcohol must be sold in a great many places, and for 
 a great variety of purposes. A victim of the alcoholic 
 appetite wants nothing better. Diluted alcohol is better 
 than most of the spirituous liquors. Is anybody foolish 
 enough to believe that a man who would crawl a mile 
 on his hands and knees for drink, would fail in obtaining 
 alcohol enough to feed his appetite ? And this is the 
 only class of drinkers that the prohibitory law hits. Re- 
 spectable people can obtain through the groceries, and 
 drug-stores, and clubs, as much of any sort of liquors as, 
 they please. The prohibitory law is directed practically 
 against poor creatures, already the bound victims of 
 appetite. 
 
 Now let us suppose it were possible to close retail 
 drinking- places by law (though the result of the deter- 
 mined effort in Maine shows it to be impracticable), what 
 would be accomplished ? Why, the lowest class of 
 drinkers could not find their drinks at five or ten cents 
 in the old places. But surely no man is weak enough to 
 think that they cannot obtain the stuff in a bottle, either 
 by personal application, or through a friend, and get as 
 much in this way for ten cents as they generally get at 
 retail for thirtj r cents. 
 
102 THE TRUE SOLUTION OF 
 
 But it is asked, What is the real secret of the popu- 
 larity of the prohibitory law ? I would answer, 
 
 In the first place, there is a disposition, among all 
 governments, to trench upon the rights of the people, 
 and especially upon the rights of the helpless portions. 
 The history, of Legislation upen the rights of women, is a 
 paijcful, ,nOi; to- siy shocking, illustration of this tendency. 
 Tbe.rigk.t^of drinking men are recklessly disregarded. 
 They arc victims of a wretched vice, and their vice leads 
 to crime and expense, but their rights are as inaliena- 
 ble, and should be held as sacred, as the rights of any 
 class of the people. It is a most dangerous step to dis- 
 regard the rights even of that class of our citizens. 
 
 In the second place, it is a very nice, dignified method 
 of conducting the temperance movement. It is hard 
 work, and disagreeable work, to go down into the gutters, 
 and slums, and dens, as in the Washingtonian days, and 
 put the arms of our fraternal love about our unfortunate 
 and wretched brothers. It soils our clothes and inter- 
 feres with our pleasures, but it is a very easy thing to 
 frame a law which grandly expresses our sovereign dis- 
 approbation and detestation of a vice, and then direct 
 the constable to attend to it. 
 
 It would be impossible to exaggerate the evils of in- 
 temperance. More should be done to remove these evils 
 in one year, than has been done in a century. That we 
 should pretend to be a Christian people, and give our- 
 selves to money-making, and fashion, and pleasure, 
 while the untold multitude of the victims of intemper- 
 ance sink into their graves in wailing and sorrow, at our 
 very feet, is, before heaven, a crying shame. This black 
 tide may be turned back it must be turned back. 
 
 Now, what do prohibitionists propose to do ? 
 
THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 103 
 
 In the first place they do not propose to punish gro- 
 cers for selling liquors for cooking purposes ; druggists 
 for selling liquors for medicinal purposes ; they do not 
 propose to punish people for keeping liquors in their 
 own houses, drinking it themselves, and treating their 
 friends ; they do not propose to interfere with the organ- 
 ization of drinking clubs, a sort of institution which has 
 led thousands of the better class of young men (who 
 would never have drank at open bars) to become habitual 
 drinkers ; they do not propose to interfere with the 
 keeping of alcohol and other spirits, on every hand, 
 where these things are used for a hundred different pur- 
 poses ; they do not propose to interfere with these and 
 twenty other open doors to drink, because they know 
 that all such interference is impracticable ; but what they 
 do propose to do is, to forbid and punish the sale of drink 
 in grog-shops. As I have shown in another part of this 
 work, it is very doubtful whether the complete enforce- 
 ment of this prohibitory law would not, after a few 
 months, actually increase the amount of liquors con- 
 sumed ; but let us assume that the quantity drank would 
 be decreased, is the percentage of the evil which can be 
 thus removed, a case like an armed invasion, or the prev- 
 alence of small-pox, or a great conflagration, where the 
 public safety may ride down individual rights ? 
 
 There are some men who seem to think that they were 
 born to control other men. They are always asking, 
 " What ought somebody else to do ? " and if that some- 
 body won't do it, " How shall we compel him ? " 
 
 They proceed in this way : 
 
 Resolved, That the saints should govern the world. 
 
 Resolved, That we are the saints. 
 
 They are always down on sinners. 
 
104 THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 
 
 Our Puritan fathers were opposed to bear-fights, but 
 the reason they gave was curious. It was not that the 
 bears would suffer, but that sinners enjoyed it. 
 
 I know a man who does not reside in Boston, but 
 who always comes to our city on the occasion of any 
 important gathering of tfre friends of prohibition. 
 I have never seen that man, except he was in a public 
 meeting, or at the dinner table, that he was not smok- 
 ing. I have been told by a friend of his, that he does 
 about sixteen strong cigars a day. I do not know a 
 man in the State who is a more determined Prohibi- 
 tionist. Some people seem to have a remarkable facility 
 for discovering other people's vices. Perhaps that is 
 the natural order it certainly is the general one. Per- 
 haps it was intended that we should neglect the beam in 
 our own eye, and devote ourselves to removing the mote 
 in our brother's eye. But if that is the natural order, 
 we ought to employ reason and persuasion in our efforts 
 to cure the vices of our fellows. 
 
 I trust I shall not be misunderstood, when I suggest, 
 that if the friends of Prohibition throughout the country 
 would give an hour every evening, after supper, to visit- 
 ing, in the old Washingtonian brotherly spirit, their 
 neighbors who may be the victims of drink, they would 
 accomplish more for the cause of temperance in a month, 
 than the prohibitory liquor law has achieved in twenty 
 years. And if, in addition to these calls on their drinking 
 neighbors, they would encourage their wives to wait 
 upon rum-sellers, in such manner and spirit as in their 
 judgment, as ladies, might seem best, men and women, 
 thus working together, would make short work of the 
 rum curse. 
 
SECOND. 
 
VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 
 
 A VINDICATION OF MORAL LIBERTY. 
 
1ST O T E 
 
 IN this argument the distinction between vice and 
 crime is fundamental. It is important that this distinc- 
 tion should be stated tersely, and in the technicalities 
 -and formulas of the lawyer. 
 
 I have, therefore, requested a legal friend to do it for 
 me. And he has kindly contributed the following essay, 
 which seems to me to cover the whole ground, and to 
 show the correctness of the principle in all its applica- 
 tions. It seems to me to be not only a clearly legal 
 statement of the question, but also a truly philosophical 
 view of a man's relations to government, and to his 
 fellow-men ; and to show that on no other principle can 
 there be any such thing as personal liberty, or rights 
 of property, except such as mere arbitrary power may 
 see fit to concede. 
 
 108 
 
VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 
 
 I. 
 
 TTICES are those acts by which a man harms himself or 
 
 V his property. 
 
 Crimes are those acts by which one man harms the 
 person or property of another. 
 
 Vices are simply the errors which a man makes in his 
 search after his own happiness. Unlike crimes, they 
 imply no malice toward others, and no interference with 
 their persons or property. 
 
 In vices, the very essence of crime that is, the de- 
 sign to injure the person or property of another is 
 wanting. 
 
 . It is a maxim of the law that there can be no crime 
 without a criminal intent ; that is, without the intent to 
 invade the person or property of another. But no one 
 ever practises a vice with any such criminal intent. He 
 practises his vice for his own happiness solely, and not 
 from any malice toward others. 
 
 Unless this clear distinction between vices and crimes 
 be made and recognized by the laws, there can be on 
 earth no such thing as individual right, liberty, or prop- 
 erty ; no such things as the right of one man to the con- 
 trol of his own person and property, and the correspond- 
 ing and co-equal rights of another man to the control of 
 his own person and property. 
 
 109 
 
110 VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 
 
 For a government to declare a vice to be a crime, and 
 to punish it as such, is an attempt to falsify the very na- 
 ture of things. It is as absurd as it would be to declare 
 truth to be falsehood, or falsehood truth. 
 
 ii. 
 
 TWERY voluntary act of a man's life is either virtuous 
 J_J or vicious. That is to say, it is either in Accordance, 
 or in conflict, with those natural laws of matter and mind, 
 on which his physical, mental, and emotional health and 
 well-being depend. In other words, every act of his 
 life tends, on the whole, either to his happiness, or to his 
 unhappiness. No single act in his whole existence is 
 indifferent. 
 
 Furthermore, each human being differs in his physical, 
 mental, and emotional constitution, and also in the circum- 
 stances by which he is surrounded, from every other 
 human being. Many acts, therefore, that are virtuous, 
 and tend to happiness, in the case of one person, are 
 vicious, and tend to unhappiness, in the case of another 
 person. 
 
 Many acts, also, that are virtuous, and tend to happi- 
 ness, in the case of one man, at one time, and under one 
 set of circumstances, are vicious, and tend to unhappiness, 
 in the case of the same man, at another time, and under 
 other circumstances. 
 
 in. 
 
 TO know what actions are virtuous, and what vicious. 
 in other words, to know what actions tend, on the 
 waole, to happiness, and what to unhappiness, in the 
 
VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. Ill 
 
 case of each and every man, in each and all the condi- 
 tions in which they may severally be placed, is the pro- 
 foundest and most complex study to which the greatest 
 human mind ever has been, or ever can be, directed. It 
 is, nevertheless, the constant study to which each and 
 every man the humblest in intellect as well as the 
 greatest is necessarily driven by the desires and neces- 
 sities of his own existence. It is also the study in which 
 each and every person, from his cradle to his grave, must 
 necessarily form his own conclusions ; because no one else 
 knows or feels, or can know or feel, as he knows and 
 feels, the desires and necessities, the hopes, and fears, 
 and impulses of his own nature, or the pressure of his 
 own circumstances. 
 
 IV. 
 
 IT is not often possible to say of those acts that are 
 called vices, that they really are vices, except in de- 
 gree. That is, it is difficult to say of any actions, or 
 courses of action, that are called vices, that they really 
 would have been vices, if they had stopped short of a certain 
 point. The question of virtue or vice, therefore, in all 
 such cases, is a question of quantity and degree, and not 
 of the intrinsic character of any single act, by itself. This 
 fact adds to the difficulty, not to say the impossibility, 
 of any one's except each individual for himself draw- 
 ing any accurate line, or anything like any accurate line, 
 between virtue and vice ; that is, of telling where virtue 
 ends, and vice begins. And this is another reason why 
 this whole question of virtue and vice should be left for 
 each person to settle for himself. 
 
112 VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 
 
 V. 
 
 YICES are usually pleasurable, at least for the time 
 being, and often do not disclose themselves as vices-, 
 by their effects, until after they have been practised for 
 many years ; perhaps for a lifetime. To many, perhaps 
 most, of those who practise them, they do not disclose 
 themselves as vices at all during life. Virtues, on the 
 other hand, often appear so harsh and rugged, they re- 
 quire the sacrifice of so much present happiness, at least, 
 and the results, which alone prove them to be virtues, 
 are often so distant and obscure, in fact, so absolutely in- 
 visible to the minds of many, especially of the young, 
 that, from the very nature of things, there can be no uni- 
 versal, or even general, knowledge that they are virtues. 
 In truth, the studies of profound philosophers have been 
 expended if not wholly in vain, certainly with very 
 small results in efforts to draw the lines between the 
 virtues and the vices. 
 
 If, then, it be so difficult, so nearly impossible, in most 
 cases, to determine what is, and what is not, vice ; and 
 especially if it be so difficult, in nearly all cases, to de- 
 termine where virtue ends, and vice begins ; and if these 
 questions, which no one can really and truly determine 
 for anybody but himself, are not to be left free and .open 
 for experiment by all, each person is deprived of the 
 highest of all his rights as a human being, to wit : his 
 right to inquire, investigate, reason, try experiments, 
 judge, and ascertain for himself, what is, to him, virtue, 
 and what is, to him, vice ; in other words, what, on the 
 whole, conduces to his happiness, and what, on the whole, 
 tends to his unhappiness. If this great right is not to be 
 left free and open to all, then each man's whole right, as 
 
VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 113 
 
 a reasoning human being, to " liberty and the pursuit of 
 happiness/' is denied him. 
 
 VI. 
 
 E all come into the world in ignorance of ourselves, 
 and of everything around us. By a fundamental 
 law of our natures we are all constantly impelled by the 
 desire of happiness, and the fear of pain. But we have 
 everything to learn, as to what will give us happiness, 
 and save us from pain. No two of us are wholly alike, 
 either physically, mentally, or emotionally; or, conse- 
 quently, in our physical, mental, or emotional require- 
 ments for the acquisition of happiness, and the avoidance 
 of unhappiness. No one of us, therefore, can learn this 
 indispensable lesson of happiness and unhappiness, of 
 virtue and vice, for another. Each must learn it for 
 himself. To learn it, he must be at liberty to try all 
 experiments that commend themselves to his judgment. 
 Some of his experiments succeed, and, because they suc- 
 ceed, are called virtues ; others fail, and, because they 
 fail, are called vices. He gathers wisdom from his fail- 
 ures, as well as from his successes ; from his so-called 
 vices, as from his so-called virtues. He gathers wisdom 
 as much from his failures as from his successes ; from his 
 so-called vices, as from his so-called virtues. Both are 
 necessary to his acquisition of that knowledge of his 
 own nature, and of the world around him, and of their 
 adaptations or non-adaptations to each other which shall 
 show him how happiness is acquired, and pain avoided. 
 And, unless he can be permitted to try these experi- 
 ments to his own satisfaction, he is restrained from the 
 acquisition of knowledge, and, consequently, from pur- 
 suing the great purpose and duty of his life. 
 
114 VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 
 
 VII. 
 
 A MAN is under no obligation to take anybody's word, 
 or yield to anybody's authority, on a matter so vital 
 to himself, and in regard to which no one else has, or can 
 have, any such interest as he. He cannot, if he would, 
 safely rely upon the opinions of other men, because he 
 finds that the opinions of other men do not agree. Cer- 
 tain actions, or courses of action, have been practised by 
 many millions of men, through successive generations, 
 and have been held by them to be, on the whole, con- 
 ducive to happiness, and therefore virtuous. Other men, 
 in other ages or countries, or under other conditions, 
 have held, as the result of their experience and observa- 
 tion, that these actions tended, on the whole, to unhappi- 
 ness, and were therefore vicious. The question of virtue 
 or vice, as already remarked in a previous section, has 
 also bee'n, in most minds, a question of degree ; that is, 
 of the extent to which certain actions should be carried ; 
 and not of the intrinsic character of any single act, by 
 itself. The questions of virtue and vice have therefore 
 been as various, and, in fact, as infinite, as the varieties 
 of mind, body, and condition of the different individuals 
 inhabiting the globe. And the experience of ages has 
 left an infinite number of these questions unsettled. In 
 fact, it can scarcely be sdid to have settled any of them. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 IN the midst of this endless variety of opinion, what 
 man, or what body of men, has the right to say, in 
 regard to any particular action, or course of action, " We 
 
VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 115 
 
 have tried this experiment, and determined every ques- 
 tion involved in it? We have determined it, not only for 
 ourselves, but for all others ? And, as to all those who 
 are weaker than we, we will coerce them to act in obe- 
 dience to our conclusion ? We will suffer no further ex- 
 periment or inquiry by any one, and, consequently, no 
 further acquisition of knowledge by anybody?" 
 
 Who are the men who have the right to say this ? 
 Certainly there are none such. The men who really do 
 say it, are either shameless impostors and tyrants, who 
 would stop the progress of knowledge, and usurp absolute 
 control over the minds and bodies of their fellow-men ; 
 and are therefore to be resisted instantly, and to the last 
 extent ; or they are themselves too ignorant of their own 
 weaknesses, and of their true relations to other men, to 
 be entitled to any other consideration than sheer pity or 
 contempt. 
 
 We know, however, that there are such men as these 
 in the world. Some of them attempt to exercise their 
 power only within a small sphere, to wit, upon their chil- 
 dren, their neighbors, their townsmen, and their country- 
 men. Others attempt to exercise it on a larger scale. 
 For example, an old man at Rome, aided by a few subor- 
 dinates, attempts to decide all questions of virtue and 
 vice; that is, of truth or falsehood, especially in matters 
 of religion. He claims to know and teach what religious 
 ideas and practices are conducive, or fatal, to a man's 
 happiness, not only in this world, but in that which is 
 to come. He claims to be miraculously inspired for the 
 performance of this work ; thus virtually acknowledging, 
 like a sensible man, that nothing short of miraculous in- 
 spiration would qualify him for it. This miraculous in- 
 spiration, however, has been ineffectual to enable him to 
 settle more than a very few questions. The most impor- 
 tant of these are, first, that the highest religious virtue 
 8 
 
116 VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 
 
 to which common mortals can attain, is an implicit belief 
 in his (the pope's) infallibility! and, secondly, that the 
 blackest vices of which they can be guilty, are to believe 
 and declare that he is only a man like the rest of them ! 
 
 It required some fifteen or eighteen hundred years to 
 enable him to reach definite conclusions on these two 
 vital points. Yet it would seem that the first of these 
 must necessarily be preliminary to his settlement of any 
 other questions ; because, until his own infallibility is 
 determined, he can authoritatively decide nothing else. 
 He has, however, heretofore attempted or pretended to 
 settle a few others. And he may, perhaps, attempt or 
 pretend to settle a few more in the future, if he shall 
 continue to find anybody to listen to him. But his suc- 
 cess, thus far, certainly does not encourage the belief 
 that he will be able to settle all questions of virtue and 
 vice, even in his peculiar department of religion, in time 
 to meet the necessities of mankind. He, or his succes- 
 sors, will undoubtedly be compelled, at no distant day, to 
 acknowledge that he has undertaken a task to which all 
 his miraculous inspiration was inadequate ; and that, of 
 necessity, each human being must be left to settle all 
 questions of this kind for himself. And it is not unrea- 
 sonable to expect that all other popes, in other and lesser 
 spheres, will some time have cause to come to the same 
 conclusion. No one, certainly, not claiming supernatural 
 inspiration, should undertake a task to which obviously 
 nothing less than such inspiration is adequate. And, 
 clearly, no one should surrender his own judgment to the 
 teachings of others, unless he be first convinced that 
 these others have something more than ordinary human 
 knowledge on this subject. 
 
 If those persons, who fancy themselves gifted with both 
 the power and the right to define and punish other men's 
 vices, would but turn their thoughts inwardly, they would 
 
VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 117 
 
 probably find that they have a great work to do at home ; 
 and that, when that shall have been completed, they will 
 be little disposed to do more towards correcting the vices 
 of others, than simply to give to others the results of 
 their experience and observation. In this sphere their 
 labors may possibly be useful ; but, in the sphere of in- 
 fallibility and coercion, they will probably, for well-known 
 reasons, meet with even less success in the future than 
 such men have met with in the past. 
 
 IX. 
 
 IT is now obvious, from the reasons already given, that 
 government would be utterly impracticable, if it 
 were to take cognizance of vices, and punish them as 
 crimes. Every human being has his or her vices. 
 Nearly all men have a great many. And they are of all 
 kinds ; physiological, mental, emotional ; religious, social, 
 commercial, industrial, economical, &c., &c. If govern- 
 ment is to take cognizance of any of these vices, and 
 punish them as crimes, then, to be consistent, it must 
 take cognizance of all, and punish all impartially. The 
 consequence would be, that everybody would be in 
 prison for his or her vices. There would be no one left 
 outside to lock the doors upon those within. In fact, 
 courts enough could not be found to try the offenders, 
 nor prisons enough built to hold them. All human in- 
 dustry in the acquisition of knowledge, and even in 
 acquiring the means of subsistence, would be arrested ; 
 for we should all be under constant trial or imprisonment 
 for our vices. But even if it were possible to imprison 
 all the vicious, our knowledge of human nature tells us 
 that, as a general rule, they would be far more vicious in 
 prison than they ever have been out of it. 
 
118 VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 
 
 X. 
 
 A GOVERNMENT that shall punish all vices impar- 
 tially is so obviously an impossibility, that nobody 
 was ever found, or ever will be found, foolish enough to 
 propose it. The most that any one proposes is, that gov- 
 ernment shall punish some one, or at most a few, of what 
 he esteems the grossest of them. But this discrimina- 
 tion is an utterly absurd, illogical, and tyrannical one. 
 What right has any body of men to say, " The vices of 
 other men we, will punish ; but our own vices nobody 
 shall punish? We will restrain other men from seeking 
 their own happiness, according to their own notions of 
 it ; but nobody shall restrain us from seeking our own 
 happiness, according to our. own notions of it ? We will 
 restrain other men from acquiring any experimental 
 knowledge of what is conducive or necessary to their 
 own happiness ; but nobody shall restrain us from acquir- 
 ing an experimental knowledge of what is conducive or 
 necessary to our own happiness?" 
 
 Nobody but knaves or blockheads ever thinks of making 
 such absurd assumptions as these. And yet, evidently, 
 it is only upon such assumptions that anybody can claim 
 the right to punish the vices of others, and at the same 
 time claim exemption from punishment for his own. 
 
 XI. 
 
 SUCH a thing as a government, formed by voluntary 
 association, wtmld never have been thought of, if the 
 object proposed had been the punishment of all vices, 
 impartially j because nobody wants such an institution, 
 
VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 119 
 
 or would voluntarily submit to it. But a government, 
 formed by voluntary association, for the punishment of 
 all crimes, is a reasonable matter; because everybody 
 wants protection for himself against all crimes by others, 
 and also acknowledges the justice of his own punishment, 
 if he commits a crime. 
 
 XII. 
 
 IT is a natural impossibility that a government should 
 have a right to punish men for their vices; because 
 ii^ is impossible that a government shoulc have any 
 rights, except such as the individuals composing it had 
 previously had, as individuals. They could not delegate 
 to a government any rights which they did not them- 
 selves possess. They could not contribute to the gov- 
 ernment any rights, except such as they themselves 
 possessed as individuals. Now, nobody but a fool or an 
 impostor pretends that he, as an individual, has a right 
 to punish other men for their vices. But anybody and 
 everybody have a natural right, as individuals, to punish 
 other men for their crimes ; for everybody has a natural 
 right, not only to defend his own person and property 
 against aggressors, but also to go to the assistance and 
 defence of everybody else, whose person or property is 
 invaded. The natural right of each individual to defend 
 his own person and property against an aggressor, and 
 to go to the assistance and defence of every one else 
 whose person or property is invaded, is a right without 
 which men could not exist on the earth. And govern- 
 ment has no rightful existence, except in so far as it 
 embodies, and is limited by, this natural right of indi- 
 viduals. But the idea that each man has a natural right 
 to sit in judgment on all his neighbor's actions, and 
 
120 VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 
 
 decide what are virtues, and what are vices, that is, 
 what contribute to that neighbors happiness, and what 
 do not, and to punish him for all that do not contribute 
 to it, is what no one ever had the impudence or folly to 
 assert. It is only those who claim that government has 
 some rightful power, ivhicli no individual or individuals 
 ever did, or ever could, delegate to it, that claim that 
 government has any rightful power to punish vices* 
 
 It will do for a pope or a king who claims to have 
 received direct authority from Heaven, to rule over his 
 fellow-men to claim the right, as the vicegerent of God, 
 to punish men for their vices ; but it is a sheer and utter 
 absurdity for any government, claiming to derive its 
 power wholly from the grant of the governed, to claim 
 any such power; because everybody knows that the 
 governed never would grant it. For them to grant it 
 would be an absurdity, because it would be granting 
 away their own right to seek their own happiness ; since 
 to grant away their right to judge of what will be for 
 their happiness, is to grant away all their right to pursue 
 their own happiness. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 E can now see how simple, easy, and reasonable a 
 matter is a government for the punishment of 
 crimes, as compared with one for the punishment of 
 vices. Crimes are few, and easily distinguished from all 
 other acts ; and mankind are generally agreed as to what 
 acts are crimes. Whereas vices are innumerable ; and 
 no two persons are agreed, except in comparatively few 
 cases, as to what are vices. Furthermore, everybody 
 wishes to be protected, in his person and property, 
 against the aggressions of other men. But nobody wishes 
 
VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 121 
 
 to be protected, either in his person or property, against 
 himself; because it is contrary to the fundamental laws 
 of human nature itself, that any one should wish to harm 
 himself. He only wishes to promote his own happiness, 
 and to be his own judge as to what will promote, and 
 does promote, his own happiness. This is what every 
 one wants, and has a right to, as a human being. And 
 though we all make many mistakes, and necessarily must 
 make them, from the imperfection of our knowledge, yet 
 these mistakes are no argument against the right ; be- 
 cause they all tend to give us the very knowledge we 
 need, and are in pursuit of, and can get in no other way. 
 
 The object aimed at in the punishment of crimes, there- 
 fore, is not only wholly different from, but it is directly 
 opposed to, that aimed at in the punishment of vices. 
 
 The object aimed at in the punishment of crimes is to 
 secure, to each and every man alike, the fullest liberty 
 he possibly can have consistently with the equal rights^ 
 of others to pursue his own happiness, under the 
 guidance of his own judgment, and by the use of his own 
 property. On the other hand, the object aimed at in the 
 punishment of vices, is to deprive every man of his natural 
 right and liberty to pursue his own happiness, under the 
 guidance of his own judgment, and by the use of his own 
 property. 
 
 These two objects, then, are directly opposed to each 
 other. They are as directly opposed to each other as 
 are light and darkness, or as truth and falsehood, or as 
 liberty and slavery. They are utterly incompatible with 
 each other ; and to suppose the two to be embraced in 
 one and the same government, is an absurdity, an impos- 
 sibility. It is to suppose the objects of a government to 
 be to commit crimes, and to prevent crimes ; to destroy 
 individual liberty, and to secure individual liberty. 
 
122 VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 "TT^INALLY, on this point of individual libert}' : Every 
 JL man must necessarily judge and determine for him- 
 self as to what is conducive and necessary to, and what 
 is destructive of, his own well-being ; because, if he omits 
 to perform this task for himself, nobody else can perform 
 it for him. And nobody else will even attempt to per- 
 form it for him, except in very few cases. Popes, and 
 priests, and kings will assume to perform it for him, in 
 certain cases, if permitted to do so. But they will, in 
 general, perform it only in so far as they can minister to 
 their own vices and crimes, by doing it. They will, in 
 general, perform it only in so far as they can make him 
 their fool and their slave. Parents, with better motives, 
 no doubt, than the others, too often attempt the same 
 work. But in so far as they practise coercion, or re- 
 strain a child from anything not really and seriously dan- 
 gerous to himself, they do him a harm, rather than a good. 
 It is a law of Nature that to get knowledge, and to 
 incorporate that knowledge into his own being, each 
 individual must get it for himself. Nobody, not even his 
 parents, can tell him the nature of fire, so that he will 
 really know it. He must himself experiment with it, and 
 be burnt by it, before he can know it. 
 
 Nature knows, a thousand times better than any 
 parent, what she designs each individual for, what 
 knowledge he requires, and how he must get it. She 
 knows that her own processes for communicating that 
 knowledge are not only the best, out the only ones that 
 can be effectual. 
 
 The attempts of parents to make their children virtu- 
 ous are generally little else than attempts to keep them 
 
VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 123 
 
 in ignorance of vice. They are little else than attempts 
 to teach their children to know and prefer truth, by 
 keeping them in ignorance of falsehood. They are little 
 else than attempts to make them seek and appreciate 
 health, by keeping them in ignorance of disease, and of 
 everything that will cause disease. They are little else 
 than attempts to make their children love the light, by 
 keeping them in ignorance of darkness. In short, they 
 are little else than .attempts to make their children 
 happy, by keeping them in ignorance of everything that 
 causes them unhappiness. 
 
 In so far as parents can really aid their children in the 
 latter's search after happiness, by simply giving them 
 the results of their (the parents') own reason and expe- 
 rience, it is all very well, and is a natural and appro- 
 priate duty. But to practise coercion in matters of 
 which the children are reasonably competent to judge 
 for themselves, is only an attempt to keep them in igno- 
 rance. And this is as much a tyranny, and as much a 
 violation of the children's right to acquire knowledge for 
 themselves, and such knowledge as they desire, as is 
 the same coercion when practised upon older persons. 
 Such coercion, practised upon children, is a denial of 
 their right to develop the faculties that Nature has given 
 them, and to be what Nature designs them to be. It is a 
 denial of their right to themselves, and to the use of 
 their own powers. It is a denial of their right to acquire 
 the most valuable of all knowledge, to wit, the knowledge 
 that Nature, the great teacher, and the only reliable 
 teacher, stands ready to impart to them. 
 
 The results of such coercion are not to make the chil- 
 dren wise or virtuouk, but to make them ignorant, and con- 
 sequently weak and vicious ; and to perpetuate through 
 them, from age to age, the ignorance, the superstitions, 
 the vices, and the crimes of the parents. This is proved 
 by every page of the world's history. 
 
124 VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 
 
 Those who hold opinions opposite to these, are those 
 whose false and vicious theologies, or whose own vicious 
 general ideas, have taught them that the human race are 
 naturally given to evil, rather than good ; to the false, 
 rather than the true ; that mankind do not naturally turn 
 their eyes to the light ; that they love darkness, rather 
 than light ; and that they find their happiness only in 
 those things that tend to their misery. 
 
 XV. 
 
 BUT these men, who claim that government shall use 
 its power to prevent vice, will say, or are in the 
 habit of saying, " We acknowledge the right of an indi- 
 vidual to seek his own happiness in his own way, and 
 consequently to be as vicious as he pleases ; we only 
 claim that government shall prohibit the sole to him of 
 those articles by which he ministers to his vice." 
 
 The answer to this is, that the simple sale of any 
 article whatever independently of the use that is to be 
 made of the article is legally a perfectly innocent act. 
 The quality of the act of sale depends wholly upon the 
 quality of the use for which the thing is sold. If the 
 use of anything is virtuous and lawful, then the sale of 
 it, for that we, is virtuous and lawful. If the use is 
 vicious, then the sale of it, for that use, is vicious. If 
 the use is criminal, then the sale of it, for that use, is 
 criminal. The seller is, at most, only an accomplice in 
 the use that is to be made of the article sold, whether 
 the use be virtuous, vicious, or criminal. Where the use 
 is criminal, the seller is an accomplice in the crime, and 
 punishable as such. But where the use is only vicious, 
 the seller is only an accomplice in the vice, and is not 
 punishable. 
 
VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 125 
 
 XVI. 
 
 BUT it will be asked, " Is there no right, on the part 
 of government, to arrest the progress of those who 
 are .bent on self-destruction ? " 
 
 The answer is, that government has no rights what- 
 ever in the matter, so long as these so-called vicious 
 persons remain sane, compos mentis, capable of exercis- 
 ing reasonable discretion and self-control; because, so 
 long as they do remain sane, they must be allowed to 
 judge and decide for themselves whether their so-called 
 vices really are vices ; whether they really are leading 
 them to destruction ; and whether, on the whole, they 
 will go there or not. When they shall become insane, 
 non compos mentis, incapable of reasonable discretion or 
 self-control, their friends or neighbors, or the govern- 
 ment, must take care of them, and protect them from 
 harm, and against all persons who would do them harm, 
 in the same way as if their insanity had come upon them 
 from any other cause than their supposed vices. 
 
 But because a man is supposed, by his neighbors, to 
 be on the way to self-destruction, from his vices, it does 
 not, therefore, follow that he is insane, non compos mentis, 
 incapable of reasonable discretion and self-control, within 
 the legal meaning of those terms. Menand women may 
 be addicted to very gross vices, and to a great many of 
 them, such as gluttony, drunkenness, prostitution, 
 gambling, prize-fighting, tobacco-chewing, smoking, and 
 snuffing, opium-eating, corset-wearing, idleness, waste 
 of property, avarice, hypocrisy, &c., &c., and still be 
 sane, compos mentis, capable of reasonable discretion and 
 self-control, within the meaning of the law. And so long 
 as they are sane, they must be permitted to control 
 
126 VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 
 
 themselves and their property, and to be their own 
 judges as to where their vices will finally lead them. 
 It may be hoped by the lookers-on, in each individual 
 case, that the vicious person will see the end to which 
 he is tending, and be induced to turn back. But, if he 
 chooses to go on to what other men call destruction, he 
 must be permitted to do so. And all that can be said 
 of him, so far as this life is concerned, is, that he made a 
 great mistake in his search after happiness, and that 
 others will do well to take warning by his fate. As to 
 what may be his condition in another life, that is a theo- 
 logical question with which the law, in this world, has no 
 more to do than it has with any other theological ques- 
 tion, touching men's condition in a future life. 
 
 If it be asked how the question of a vicious man's 
 sanity or insanity is to be determined? the answer is, 
 that it is to be determined by the same kinds of evidence 
 as is the sanity or insanity of those who are called virtu- 
 ous ; and not otherwise. That is, by the same kinds of 
 evidence by which the legal tribunals determine whether 
 a man should be sent to an asylum for lunatics, or 
 whether he is competent to make a will, or otherwise 
 dispose of his property. Any doubt must weigh in favor 
 of his sanity, as in all other cases, and not of his in- 
 sanity. 
 
 If a person really does become insane, non compos 
 mentis, incapable of reasonable discretion or self-control, 
 it is then a crime, on the part of other men, to give to 
 him or sell to him, the means of self-injury.* And such 
 a crime is to be punished like any other crime. 
 
 There are no crimes more easily punished, no cases in 
 which juries would be more ready to convict, than those 
 
 * To give an insane man a knife, or any other weapon, or tiring, by 
 which he is likely to injure himself, is a crime. 
 
VICES 'ARE NOT CRIMES. 127 
 
 where a sane person should sell or give to an insane 
 one any article with which the latter was likely to injure 
 himself. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 BUT it will be said that some men are made,. by their 
 vices, dangerous to other persons; that a drunkard, 
 for example, is sometimes quarrelsome and dangerous 
 toward his family or others. And it will be asked, 
 " Has the law nothing to do in such a case ? " 
 
 The answer is, that if, either from drunkenness or any 
 other cause, a man be really dangerous, either to his 
 family or to other persons, not only himself may be right- 
 fully restrained, so far as the safety of other persons re- 
 quires, but all other persons who know or have reason- 
 able grounds to believe him dangerous may also be 
 restrained from selling or giving to him anything that 
 they have reason to suppose will make him dangerous. 
 
 But because one man becomes quarrelsome and danger- 
 ous after drinking spirituous liquors, and because it is a 
 crime to give or sell liquor to such a man, it does not 
 follow at all that it is a crime to sell liquors to the hun- 
 dreds and thousands of other persons, who are not made 
 quarrelsome or dangerous by drinking them. Before a 
 man can be convicted of crime in selling liquor to a 
 dangerous man, it must be shown that the particular 
 man, to whom the liquor was sold, was dangerous ; and 
 also that the seller knew, or had reasonable grounds to 
 suppose, that the man would be made dangerous by 
 drinking it. 
 
 The presumption of law is, in all cases, that the sale is 
 innocent ; and the burden of proving it criminal, in any 
 particular case, rests upon the government. And that 
 particular case must be proved criminalj independently of 
 all others. 
 
128 VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 
 
 Subject to these principles, there is no difficulty in 
 convicting and punishing men for the sale or gift of any 
 article to a man 7 who is made dangerous to others by 
 the use of it. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 BUT it is often said that some vices are nuisances 
 (public or private), and that nuisances can be abated 
 and punished. 
 
 It is true that anything that is really and legally a 
 nuisance (either public or private) can be abated and 
 punished. But it is not true that the mere private vices 
 of one man are, in any legal sense, nuisances to another 
 man, or to the public. 
 
 No act of one person can be a nuisance to another, 
 unless it in some way obstructs or interferes with that 
 other's safe and quiet use or enjoyment of what is 
 rightfully his own. 
 
 Whatever obstructs a public highway, is a nuisance, 
 and may be abated and punished. But a hotel where 
 liquors are sold, a liquor store, or even a grog-shop, so 
 called, no more obstructs a public highway, than does a 
 dry goods store, a jewelry store, or a butcher's shop. 
 
 Whatever poisons the air, or makes it either offensive 
 or unhealthful, is a nuisance. But neither a hotel, nor a 
 liquor store, nor a grog-shop poisons the air, or makes it 
 offensive or unhealthful to outside persons. 
 
 Whatever obstructs the light, to which a man is legally 
 entitled, is a nuisance. But neither a hotel, nor a liquor 
 store, nor a grog-shop, obstructs anybody's light, except 
 in cases where a church, a school-house, or a dwelling- 
 house would have equally obstructed it. On this ground, 
 therefore, the former are no more, and no less, nuisances 
 than the latter would be. 
 
VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 129 
 
 Some persons are in the habit of saying that a liquor- 
 shop is dangerous, in the same way that gunpowder is 
 dangerous. But there is no analogy between the two 
 cases. Gunpowder is liable to be exploded by accident, 
 and especially by such fires as often occur in cities. For 
 these reasons it is dangerous to persons and property 
 in its immediate vicinity. But liquors are not liable to 
 be thus exploded, and therefore are not dangerous nui- 
 sances, in any such sense as is gunpowder in cities. 
 
 But it is said, again, that drinking-places are frequently 
 filled with noisy and boisterous men, who disturb the 
 quiet of the neighborhood, and the sleep and rest of the 
 neighbors. 
 
 This may be true occasionally, though not very fre- 
 quently. But whenever, in any case, it is true, the 
 nuisance may be abated by the punishment of the pro- 
 prietor and his customers, and if need be, by shutting up 
 the place. But an assembly of noisy drinkers is no more 
 a nuisance than is any other noisy assembly. A jolly or 
 hilarious drinker disturbs the quiet of a neighborhood 
 no more, and no less, than does a shouting religious 
 fanatic. An assembly of noisy drinkers is no more, and 
 no less, a nuisance than is an assembly of shouting 
 religious fanatics. Both of them are nuisances when 
 they disturb the rest and sleep, or quiet, of neighbors. 
 Even a dog that is given to barking, to the disturbance 
 of the sleep or quiet of the neighborhood, is a nuisance. 
 
 XIX.' 
 
 BUT it is said, that for one person to entice another 
 into a vice, is a crime. 
 
 This is preposterous. If any particular act is simply 
 a vice, theu a man who entices another to commit it, ia 
 
130 VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 
 
 simply an accomplice in the vice. He evidently commits 
 no crime, because the accomplice can certainly commit 
 no greater offence than the principal. 
 
 Every person who is sane, compos mentis, possessed of 
 reasonable discretion and self-control, is presumed to be 
 mentally competent to judge for himself of all the argu- 
 ments, pro and con, that may be addressed to him, to 
 persuade him to do any particular act ; provided no 
 fraud is employed to deceive him. And if he is persuaded 
 or induced to do the act, his act is then his own ; and 
 even though the act prove to be harmful to himself, he 
 cannot complain that the persuasion or arguments, to 
 which he yielded his assent, were crimes against himself. 
 
 When fraud is practised, the case is, of course, differ- 
 ent. If, for example, I offer a man poison, assuring him 
 that it is a safe and wholesome drink, and he, on the 
 faith of my assertion, swallows it, my act is a crime. 
 
 Volenti non fit injuria, is a maxim of the law. To the 
 ic filing no injury is done. That is, no legal wrong. And 
 every person who is sane, compos mentis, capable of exer- 
 cising reasonable discretion in judging o the truth or 
 falsehood of the representations or persuasions to which 
 he yields his assent, is " willing," in the view of the law ; 
 and takes upon himself the entire responsibility for his 
 acts, when no intentional fraud has been practised upon 
 him. 
 
 This principle, that to the loitting no injury is done, has 
 no limit, except in the case of frauds, or of persons not 
 possessed of reasonable discretion for judging in the 
 particular case. If a person possessed of reasonable dis- 
 cretion, and not deceived by fraud, consents to practise 
 the grossest vice, and thereby brings upon himself the 
 greatest moral, physical, or pecuniary sufferings or losses, 
 he cannot allege that he has been legally wronged. To 
 illustrate this principle, take the case of rape. To have 
 
VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 131 
 
 carnal knowledge of a woman, against her witt, is the 
 highest crime, next to murder, that can be committed 
 against her. But to have carnal knowledge of her, with 
 her consent, is no crime ; but at most, a vice. And it is 
 usually holden that a female child, of no more than ten 
 years of age, has such reasonable discretion, that her 
 consent, even though procured by rewards, or promises 
 of reward, is sufficient to convert the act, which would 
 otherwise be a high crimefinto a simple act of vice.* 
 
 We see the same principle in the case of prize-fighters. 
 If I but lay one of my fingers upon another man's person, 
 against his will, no matter how lightly, and no matter 
 how little practical injury is done, the act is a crime. 
 But if two men agree to go out and pound each other's 
 faces to a jelly, it is no crime, but only a vice. 
 
 Even duels have not generally been considered crimes, 
 because each man's life is his own, and the parties agree 
 that each may take the other's life, if he can, by the 
 use of such weapons as are agreed upon, and in con- 
 formity with certain rules that are also mutually as- 
 eented to. 
 
 And this is a correct view of the matter, unless it can 
 be said (as it probably cannot), that " anger is a mad- 
 ness *' that so far deprives men of ttieir reason as to 
 make them incapable of reasonable discretion. 
 
 Gambling is another illustration of the principle that 
 to the willing no injury is done. If I take but a single 
 cent of a man's property, without his consent, the act is a 
 crime. But if two men, who are compos mentis, possessed 
 
 * The statute book of Massachusetts makes ten years the age at 
 which a female child is supposed to have discretion enough to part with 
 her virtue. But the same statute book holds that no person, man or 
 woman, of any age, or any degree of wisdom or experience, has dis- 
 cretion enough to be trusted to buy and drink a glass of spirits, on his 
 or her own judgment! What an illustration of the legislative wisdom 
 of Massachusetts ! 
 
 9 
 
132 VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 
 
 of reasonable discretion to judge of the nature and prob- 
 able results of their act. sit down together, and each vol- 
 untarily stakes his money against the money of another, 
 on the turn of a die, and one of them loses his whole 
 estate (however large that may be), it is no crime, but 
 only a vice. 
 
 It is not a crime, even, to assist a person to commit 
 suicide, if he be in possession of his reason. 
 
 It is a somewhat common idea that suicide is, of itself, 
 conclusive evidence of insanity. But, although it may 
 ordinarily be very strong evidence of insanity, it is by 
 no means conclusive in all cases. Many persons, in un- 
 doubted possession, of their reason, have committed sui- 
 cide, to escape the shame of a public exposure for their 
 crimes, or to avoid some other great calamity. Suicide, 
 in these cases, may not have been the highest wisdom, 
 but it certainly was not proof of any lack of reasonable 
 discretion.* And being within the limits of reasonable 
 discretion, it was no crime for other persons to aid it, 
 either by furnishing the instrument or otherwise. And 
 ifj in such cases, it be no crime to aid a suicide, how ab- 
 surd to say that it is a crime to aid him in some act that 
 is really pleasurable, and which a large portion of man- 
 kind have believed to be useful ? 
 
 * Cato committed suicide to avoid falling into the hands of Caesar. 
 Who ever suspected that he was insane? Brutus did the same. Colt 
 committed suicide only an hour or so before he was to be hanged. He 
 did it to avoid bringing upon his name and his family the disgrace of 
 having it said that he was hanged. This, whether a really wise act or 
 not, was clearly an act within reasonable discretion. Does any one 
 suppose that the person who furnished him with the necessary instru- 
 ment was a criminal ? 
 
VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 133 
 
 sx. 
 
 BUT some persons are in the habit of saying that the 
 use of spirituous liquors is the great source of crime ; 
 that " it fills our prisons with criminals ; " and that this 
 is reason enough for prohibiting the sale of them. 
 
 Those who say this, if they talk seriously, talk blindly 
 and foolishly. They evidently mean to be understood as 
 saying that a very large percentage of all the crimes that 
 'are committed among men, are committed by persons 
 whose criminal passions are excited, at the time, by the 
 use of liquors, and in consequence of the use of liquors. 
 
 This idea is utterly preposterous. 
 
 In the first place, the great crimes committed in the 
 world are mostly prompted by avarice and ambition. 
 
 The greatest of all crimes are the wars that are car- 
 ried on by governments, to plunder, enslave, and destroy 
 mankind. 
 
 The next greatest crimes committed in the world are 
 equally prompted by avarice and ambition ; and are com- 
 nitted, not on sudden passion, but by men of calculation, 
 who keep their heads cool and clear, and who have no 
 thought whatever of going to prison for them. They are 
 committed, not so much by men who violate the laws, as by 
 men who, either by themselves or by their instruments, 
 make the laws; by men who have combined to usurp 
 arbitrary power, and to maintain it by force and fraud, 
 and whose purpose in usurping and maintaining it is, by 
 unjust and unequal legislation, to secure to themselves 
 such advantages and monopolies as will enable them to 
 control and extort the labor and properties of other men, 
 and thus impoverish them, in order to minister to their 
 own wealth and aggrandizement.* The robberies and 
 
134: VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 
 
 wrongs thus committed by these men, in conformity with 
 the laws, that is, their own laws, are as mountains to 
 molehills, compared with the crimes committed by all 
 other criminals, in violation of the laws. 
 
 But, thirdly, there are vast numbers of frauds, of vari- 
 ous kinds, committed in the transactions of trade, whose 
 perpetrators, by their coolness and sagacity, evade the 
 operation of the laws. And it is only their cool and clear 
 heads that enable them to do it. Men under the excite- 
 ment of intoxicating drinks are little disposed, and ut- 
 terly unequal, to the successful practice of these frauds. 
 They are the most incautious, the least successful, the 
 least efficient, and the least to be feared, of all the crimi- 
 nals with whom the laws have to deal. 
 
 Fourthly. The professed burglars, robbers, thieves, 
 forgers, counterfeiters, and swindlers, who prey upon so- 
 ciety, are anything but reckless drinkers. Their busi- 
 ness is of too dangerous a character to admit of such risks 
 as they would thus incur. 
 
 Fifthly. The crimes that can be said to be committed 
 under the influence of intoxicating drinks are mostly 
 assaults and batteries, not very numerous, and generally 
 not very aggravated. Some other small crimes, as petty 
 thefts, or other small trespasses upon property, are some- 
 
 * An illustration of this fact is found in England, whose government, 
 for a thousand years anJ more, has been little or nothing else than a 
 band of robbers, who have conspired to monopolize the land, and, as 
 far as possible, all other wealth. These conspirators, calling them- 
 selves kings, nobles, and freeholders, have, by force and fraud, taken 
 to themselves all civil and military power; they keep themselves in 
 power solely by force and fraud, and the corrupt use of their wealth ; 
 and they employ their power solely in robbing and enslaving the groat 
 body of their own people, and in plundering and enslaving other peo- 
 ples. And the world has been, and now is, full of examples substan- 
 tially similar. And the governments of our own country do not differ 
 so widely from others, in this respect, as some of us imagine. 
 
VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 135 
 
 times committed, under the influence of drink, by feeble- 
 minded persons, not generally addicted to crime. The 
 persons who commit these two kinds of crime are but 
 few. They cannot be said to " fill our prisons ; " or, if 
 they do, we are to be congratulated that we need so few 
 prisons, and so small prisons, to hold them. 
 
 The State of Massachusetts, for example, has a million 
 and a half of people. How many of these are now in 
 prison for crimes not for the vice of intoxication, but 
 for crimes committed against persons or property under 
 the instigation of strong drink ? I doubt if there be one 
 in ten thousand, that is, one hundred and fifty in all ; and 
 the crimes for which these are in prison are mostly very 
 small ones. 
 
 And I think it will be found that these few men aro 
 generally much more to be pitied than punished, for the 
 reason that it was their poverty and misery, rather than 
 any passion for liquor, or for crime, that led them to 
 drink, and thus led them to commit their crimes under 
 the influence of drink. 
 
 The sweeping charge that drink " fills our prisons with 
 criminals " is made, I think, only by those men who know 
 no better than to call a drunkard a criminal ; and who 
 have no better foundation for their charge than the 
 shameful fact that we are such a brutal and senseless 
 people, that we condemn and punish such weak arid un- 
 fortunate persons as drunkards, as- if they were criminals. 
 
 The legislators who authorize, and the judges who 
 practise, such atrocities as these, are intrinsically crim- 
 inals ; unless their ignorance be such as it probably is 
 not as to excuse them. And, if they were themselves 
 to be punished as criminals, there would be more reason 
 in our conduct. 
 
 A police judge in Boston once told me that he was in 
 the habit of disposing of drunkards (by sending them to 
 
138 VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 
 
 most, merely an accomplice of the drinker. And it is a 
 rule of law, as well as of reason, that if the principal in 
 any act is not punishable, the accomplice cannot be. 
 . 2. A second answer to the argument is, that if govern- 
 ment has the right, and is bound, to prohibit any one act 
 that is not criminal merely because it is supposed to 
 tend to poverty, then, by the same rule, it has the right, 
 and is bound, to prohibit any and every other act 
 though not criminal which, in the opinion of the govern- 
 ment, tends to poverty. And, on this principle, the gov- 
 ernment would not only have the right, but would be 
 bound, to look into every man's private affairs, and every 
 person's personal expenditures, and determine as to which 
 of them did, and which of them did not, tend to poverty ; 
 arid to prohibit and punish all of the former class. A 
 man would have no right to expend a cent of his own 
 property, according to his own pleasure or judgment, un- 
 less the legislature should be of the opinion that such 
 expenditure would not tend to poverty. 
 
 3. A third answer to the same argument is, that if a 
 man does bring himself to poverty, and even to beggary, 
 
 cither by his virtues or his vices, the government is 
 Bunder no obligation whatever to take care of him, unless 
 it pleases to do so. It may let him perish in the street, 
 or depend upon private charity, if it so pleases. It can 
 carry out its own free will and discretion in the matter ; 
 for it is above all legal responsibility in such a case. It 
 is not, necessarily, any part of a government's duty to 
 provide for the poor. A government that is, a legiti- 
 mate government is simply a voluntary association of 
 individuals, who unite for such purposes, and only for 
 such purposes, as suits them. If taking care of the poor 
 
 whether they be virtuous or vicious be not one of 
 those purposes, then the government, as a government, 
 has no more right, and is no more bound, to take care of. 
 
VICES ARE NOT CRIMES'. 139 
 
 them, than has or is a banking company, or a railroad 
 company. 
 
 Whatever moral claims a poor man whether he be 
 virtuous or vicious may have upon the charity of his 
 fellow-men, he has no legal claims upon them. He must 
 depend wholly upon their charity, if they so please. He 
 cannot demand, as a legal right, that they either feed or 
 clothe him. And he has no more legal or moral claims 
 upon a government which is but an association of 
 individuals than he has upon the same, or any other 
 individuals, in their private capacity. 
 
 Inasmuch, then, as a poor man whether virtuous or 
 vicious has no more or other claims, legal or moral, 
 upon a government, for food or clothing, than he has 
 upon private persons, a government has no more right 
 than a private person to control or prohibit the expen- 
 ditures or actions of an individual, on the ground that 
 they tend to bring him to poverty. 
 
 Mr. A, as an individual, has clearly no right to prohibit 
 any acts or expenditures of Mr. Z, through fear that such 
 acts or expenditures may tend to bring him(Z) to poverty, 
 and that he (Z) may, in consequence, at some future un- 
 known time, come to him (A) in distress, and ask charity. 
 And if A has no such right, as an individual, to prohibit 
 any acts or expenditures on the part of Z, then govern- 
 ment, which is a mere association of individuals, can 
 have no such right. 
 
 Certainly no man, who is compos mentis, holds his right 
 to the disposal and use of his own property, by any such 
 worthless tenure as that which would authorize any or 
 all of his neighbors, whether calling themselves a gov- 
 ernment or not, to interfere, and forbid him to make any 
 expenditures, except such as they might think would not 
 tend to poverty, and would not tend to ever bring him to 
 them as a supplicant for their charity. 
 
140 VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 
 
 Whether a man, wfao is compos mentis, come to poverty, 
 through his virtues or his vices, no man, nor body of 
 men, can have any right to interfere with him, on the 
 ground that their sympathy may some time be appealed 
 to in his behalf; because, if it should be appealed to, 
 they are at perfect liberty to act their own pleasure or 
 discretion as to complying with his solicitations. 
 
 This right to refuse charity to the poor whether the 
 latter be virtuous or vicious is one that governments 
 always act upon. No government makes any more pro- 
 vision for the poor than it pleases. As a consequence, 
 the poor are left, to a great extent, to depend upon pri- 
 vate charity. In fact, they are often left to suffer sick- 
 ness, and even death, because neither public nor private 
 charity comes to their aid. How absurd, then, to say 
 that government has a right to control a man's use of his 
 own property, through fear that he may sometime come 
 to poverty, and ask charity. 
 
 4. Still a fourth answer to the argument is, that the 
 great and only incentive which each individual man has 
 to labor, and to create wealth, is that he may dispose of 
 it according to his own pleasure or discretion, and for 
 the promotion of his own happiness, and the happiness 
 of those whom he loves.* 
 
 Although a man may often, from inexperience or want 
 of judgment, expend some portion of the products of his 
 labor injudiciously, and so as not to promote his highest 
 welfare, yet he learns wisdom in this, as in all other 
 matters, by experience ; by his mistakes as well as by his 
 successes. And this is the only way in which lie can learn 
 wisdom. When he becomes convinced that he has made 
 one foolish expenditure, he learns thereby not to make 
 
 * It is to this incentive alone that we are indebted for all the wealth 
 that has ever been created by human labor, and pccuoulated for the 
 benefit of mankind. 
 
VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 141 
 
 another like it. And he must be permitted to try his 
 own experiments, and to try them to his own satisfac- 
 tion, in this as in all other matters ; for otherwise he has 
 no motive to labor, or to create wealth at all. 
 
 Any man, who is a man, would rather be a savage, and 
 be free, creating or procuring only such little wealth as 
 he could control and consume from day to day, than to 
 be a civilized man, knowing how to create and accumu- 
 late wealth indefinitely, and yet not permitted to use or 
 dispose of it, except under the supervision, direction, and 
 dictation of a set of meddlesome, superserviceable fools 
 and tyrants, who, with no more knowledge than himself, 
 and perhaps with not half so much, should assume to con- 
 trol him, on the ground that he had not the right, or the 
 capacity, to determine for himself as to what he would 
 do with the proceeds of his own labor. 
 
 5. A fifth answer to the argument is, that if it be the 
 duty of government to watch over the expenditures of 
 any one person, who is compos mentis, and not criminal, 
 to see what ones tend to poverty, and what do not, 
 and to prohibit and punish the former, then, by the same 
 rule, it is bound to watch over the expenditures of all 
 other persons, and prohibit and punish all that, in its 
 judgment, tend to poverty. 
 
 If such a principle were carried out impartially, the 
 result would be, that all mankind would be so occupied 
 in watching each other's expenditures, and in testifying 
 against, trying, and punishing such as tended to poverty, 
 that they would have no time left to create wealth at all. 
 Everybody capable of productive labor would either be 
 in prison, or be acting as judge, juror, witness, or jailer. 
 It would be impossible to create courts enough to try, or 
 to build prisons enough to hold, the offenders. All pro- 
 ductive labor would cease ; and the fools that were so 
 intent on preventing poverty, would not only all come to 
 
142 VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 
 
 poverty, imprisonment, and starvation themselves, but 
 would bring everybody else to poverty, imprisonment, 
 and starvation. 
 
 6. If it be said that a man may, at least, be rightfully 
 compelled to support his family, and, consequently, to 
 abstain from all expenditures that, in the opinion of the 
 government, tend to disable him to perform that duty, 
 various answers might be given. But this one is suffi- 
 cient, viz. : that no man, unless a fool or a slave, would 
 acknowledge any family to be his, if that acknowledg- 
 ment were to be made an excuse, by the government, for 
 depriving him, either of his personal liberty, or the con- 
 trol of his property. 
 
 When a man is allowed bis natural liberty, and the con- 
 trol of his property, his family is usually, almost univer- 
 sally, the great paramount object of his pride and affec- 
 tion ; and he will, not only voluntarily, but as his highest 
 pleasure, employ his best powers of mind and body, not 
 merely to provide for them the ordinary necessaries and 
 comforts of life, but to lavish upon them all the luxuries 
 and elegancies that his labor can procure. 
 
 A man enters into no moral or legal obligation with his 
 wife or chidren to do anything for them, except what he 
 can do consistently with his own personal freedom, and 
 his natural right to control his own property at his own 
 discretion. 
 
 If a government can step in and say to a man, who 
 is compos mentis, and who is doing his duty to his 
 family, as he sees his duty, and according to his best 
 judgment, however imperfect that may be, " We 
 (the government) suspect that you are not employing 
 your labor to the best advantage for your family; we sus- 
 pect that your expenditures, and your disposal of your 
 property, are not so judicious as they might be, for the 
 interest of your family ; and therefore we (the govern- 
 
VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 143 
 
 merit) will take you and your property under our special 
 surveillance, and prescribe to you what you may, and may 
 not do, with yourself and your property; and your fam- 
 ily shall hereafter look to us (the government), and not 
 to you, for support " if a government can do this, all a 
 man's pride, ambition, and affection, relative to his family, 
 would be crushed, so far as it would be possible for 
 human tyranny to crush them ; and he would either never 
 have a family (whom he would publicly acknowledge to 
 be his), or he would risk both his property and his life in 
 overthrowing such an insulting, outrageous, and insuffer- 
 able tyranny. And any woman who would wish her hus- 
 bandhe being compos mentis to submit to such an 
 unnatural insult and wrong, is utterly undeserving of his 
 affection, or of anything but his disgust and contempt. 
 And he would probably very soon cause her to under- 
 stand that, if she chose to rely on the government, for the 
 support of herself and her children, rather than on him, 
 she must rely on the government alone. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 STILL another and all-sufficient answer to the argument 
 that the use of spirituous liquors tends to poverty, is 
 that, as a general rule, it puts the effect before the cause. 
 It assumes that it is the use of the liquors that causes 
 the poverty, instead of its being the poverty that causes 
 the use of the liquors. 
 
 Poverty is the natural parent of nearly all the igno- 
 rance, vice, crime, and misery there are in the world.* 
 
 * Except those great crimes, which the few, calling themselves gov- 
 ernments, practise upon the many, by means of organized, systematic 
 extortion and tyranny. And it is only the poverty, ignorance, and con- 
 sequent weakness of the many, that enable the combined and organized 
 few to acquire and maintain such arbitrary power over them. 
 
142 VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 
 
 poverty, imprisonment, and starvation themselves, but 
 would bring everybody else to poverty, imprisonment, 
 and starvation. 
 
 6. If it be said that a man may, at least, be rightfully 
 compelled to support his family, and, consequently, to 
 abstain from all expenditures that, in the opinion of the 
 government, tend to disable him to perform that duty, 
 various answers might be given. But this one is suffi- 
 cient, viz. : that no man, unless a fool or a slave, would 
 acknowledge any family to be his, if that acknowledg- 
 ment were to be made an excuse, by the government, for 
 depriving him, either of his personal liberty, or the con- 
 trol of his property. 
 
 When a man is allowed bis natural liberty, and the con- 
 trol of his property, his family is usually, almost univer- 
 sally, the great paramount object of his pride and affec- 
 tion ; and he will, not only voluntarily, but as his highest 
 pleasure, employ his best powers of mind and body, not 
 merely to provide for them the ordinary necessaries and 
 comforts of life, but to lavish upon them all the luxuries 
 and elegancies that his labor can procure. 
 
 A man enters into no moral or legal obligation with his 
 wife or chidren to do anything for them, except what he 
 can do consistently with his own personal freedom, and 
 his natural right to control his own property at his own 
 discretion. 
 
 If a government can step in and say to a man, who 
 is compos mentis, and who is doing his duty to his 
 family, as he sees his duty, and according to his best 
 judgment, however imperfect that may be, " We 
 (the government) suspect that you are not employing 
 your labor to the best advantage for your family; we sus- 
 pect that your expenditures, and your disposal of your 
 property, are not so judicious as they might be, for the 
 interest of your family ; and therefore we (the govern- 
 
VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 143 
 
 merit) will take you and your property under our special 
 surveillance, and prescribe to you what you may, and may 
 not do, with yourself and your property; and your fam- 
 ily shall hereafter look to us (the government), and not 
 to you, for support " if a government can do this, all a 
 man's pride, ambition, and affection, relative to his family, 
 would be crushed, so far as it would be possible for 
 human tyranny to crush them ; and he would either never 
 have a family (whom he would publicly acknowledge to 
 be his), or he would risk both his property and his life in 
 overthrowing such an insulting, outrageous, and insuffer- 
 able tyranny. And any woman who would wish her hus- 
 band he being compos mentis to submit to such an 
 unnatural insult and wrong, is utterly undeserving of his 
 affection, or of anything but his disgust and contempt. 
 And he would probably very soon cause her to under- 
 stand that, if she chose to rely on the government, for the 
 support of herself and her children, rather than on him, 
 she must rely on the government alone. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 STILL another and all-sufficient amswer to the argument 
 that the use of spirituous liquors tends to poverty, is 
 that, as a general rule, it puts the effect before the cause. 
 It assumes that it is the use of the liquors that causes 
 the poverty, instead of its being the poverty that causes 
 the use of the liquors. 
 
 Poverty is the natural parent of nearly all the igno- 
 rance, vice, crime, and misery there are in the world.* 
 
 * Except those great crimes, which the few, calling themselves gov- 
 ernments, practise upon the many, by means of organized, systematic 
 extortion and tyranny. And it is only the poverty, ignorance, and con- 
 sequent weakness of the many, that enable the combined and organized 
 few to acquire and maintain such arbitrary power over them. 
 
144 VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 
 
 Why is it that so large a portion of the laboring people 
 of England are drunken and vicious ? Certainly not be- 
 cause they are by nature any worse than other men. 
 But it is because their extreme and hopeless poverty 
 keeps them in ignorance and servitude, destroys their 
 courage and self-respect, subjects them to such constant 
 insults and wrongs, to such incessant and bitter miseries 
 of every kind, and finally drives them to such despair, 
 that the short respite that drink or other vice affords 
 them, is, for the time being, a relief. This is the chief 
 cause of the drunkenness and other vices that prevail 
 among the laboring people of England. 
 
 If those laborers of England, who are now drunken and 
 vicious, had had the same chances and surroundings in 
 life as the more fortunate classes have had ; if they had 
 been reared in .comfortable, and happy, and virtuous 
 homes, instead of squalid, and wretched, and vicious 
 ones ; if they had had opportunities to acquire knowledge 
 and property, and make themselves intelligent, comfort- 
 able, happy, independent, and respected, and to secure 
 to themselves all the intellectual, social, and domestic 
 enjoyments which honest and justly rewarded industry 
 could enable them to secure, if they could have had 
 all this, instead of being born to a life of hopeless, unre- 
 warded toil, with a certainty of death in the workhouse, 
 they would have been as free from their present vices 
 and weaknesses as those who reproach them now are. 
 
 It is of no use to say that drunkenness, or any other 
 vice, only adds to their miseries ; for such is human na- 
 ture the weakness of human nature, if you please 
 that men can endure but a certain amount of misery, be- 
 fore their hope and courage fail, and they yield to almost 
 anything that promises present relief or mitigation ; 
 though at the cost of still greater misery in the future. 
 To preach morality or temperance to such wretched per- 
 
VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 145 
 
 sons, instead of relieving their sufferings, or improving 
 their conditions, is only insulting their wretchedness. 
 
 Will those who are in the habit of attributing men's 
 poverty to their vices, instead of their vices to their 
 poverty, as if every poor person, or most poor persons, 
 were specially vicious, tell us whether all the poverty 
 and want that, within the last year and a half,* have been 
 brought so suddenly as it were in a moment upon at 
 least twenty millions of the people of the United States, 
 were brought upon them as a natural consequence, either 
 of their drunkenness, or of any other of their vices ? Was 
 it their drunkenness, or any other of their vices, that 
 paralyzed, as by a stroke of lightning, all the industries 
 by which thy lived, and which had, but a few days be- 
 fore, been in such prosperous activity? Was it their 
 vices that turned the adult portion of those twenty 
 millions out of doors without employment, compelled 
 them to consume their little accumulations, if they had 
 any, and then to become beggars, beggars for work, 
 and, failing in this, beggars for bread ? Was it their 
 vices that, all at once, and without warning, filled the 
 homes of so many of them with want, misery, sickness, 
 and death ? No. Clearly it was neither the drunken- 
 ness, nor any other vices, of these laboring people, that 
 brought upon them all this ruin and wretchedness. And 
 if it was not, what was it ? 
 
 This is the problem that must be answered ; for it is 
 one that is repeatedly occurring, and constantly before 
 us, and that cannot be put aside. 
 
 In fact, the poverty of the great body of mankind, the 
 world over, is the great problenrpf the world. That such 
 extreme and nearly universal poverty exists all over the 
 world, and has existed through all past generations, 
 
 * That is, from September 1, 1873, to March 1, 1876. 
 
146 VICES ARE NOT CRIMES. 
 
 proves that it originates in causes which the common 
 human nature of those who suffer from it, has not hitherto 
 been strong enough to overcome. But these sufferers are, 
 at least, beginning to see these causes, and are becoming 
 resolute to remove them, let it cost what it may. And 
 those who imagine that they have nothing to do but to 
 go on attributing the poverty of the poor to their vices, 
 and preaching to them against their vices, will ere long 
 wake up to find that the day for all such talk is past. 
 And the question will then be, iiot what are men's vices, 
 but what are their rights ? 
 
PART THIRD. 
 
IT has been thought necessary to illustrate the best 
 methods of conducting the temperance movement. To 
 that end, the following stories are submitted. 
 
 In the first "A Story of the Crusade " the best 
 combination of " Washingtonianism " and the " Woman's 
 Crusade " is portrayed. It is devoutly believed that 
 this combination would triumph anywhere and every- 
 where. 
 
 In the second story " Major Barren " a domestic 
 or family method is illustrated, which will prove very 
 potent wherever the victim of drink has a wife, or 
 mother, or sister, or other near friend, who will throw 
 herself into the deadly breach. 
 
 149 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE moral cyclone, popularly Toiown as " The Woman's 
 Crusade/' was the most remarkable development of the 
 century. That a town, with fifty or a hundred grog- 
 shops, should, in a single month, rid itself of the curse of 
 drink, is a most extraordinary phenomenon. Wealth, 
 avarice, custom, prejudice, and passion joined hands to 
 defend the groggeries j but they were swept away like 
 chaff before the wind. 
 
 It is not my purpose to discuss the moral and religious 
 forces which conjoined to accomplish the great revival 
 in the West, but I wish here simply to suggest that the 
 Woman's Crusade offers the richest material for the 
 story- writer. I have hoped that some of our favorite 
 story-writers would appear on this field. Rev. Edward 
 Everett Hale has just published " Our New Crusade," 
 but it entirely fails to present the principal idea of 
 the Woman's Crusade. 
 
 I have not drawn upon my imagination for any of the 
 facts in this story. Even the dragging of the barrels 
 of liquors out of a cellar, by women alone, occurred just 
 
 151 
 
152 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 as given. The only exaggeration is to be found in the 
 magnitude of Richards Hall. This feature has, unfortu- 
 nately, received an amount of consideration far from com- 
 mensurate with its importance. When crowds of men, 
 who have long been in the habit of spending their even- 
 ings in grog-shops, are turned into the street, Holly-tree 
 inns, reading rooms, bath rooms, amusement halls, or 
 other similar institutions must be opened. The fre- 
 quenters of dram-shops, who are generally attracted far 
 more by the light, warmth, and good fellowship, than by 
 the rum, have but small resources within themselves; 
 and, if we are willing to spend half the money which 
 rum costs us, directly and indirectly, to give them inno- 
 cent recreations, we shall make secure the fruits of our 
 temperance victory. 
 
A STOKY 
 
 OP 
 
 THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 
 
 OUR HERO AND HEROINE. 
 
 AMONG the many episodes of the Ohio Crusade, I 
 remember none more vividly than the story of Mary 
 Hart and John Lane, in D. 
 
 Mary was the daughter of an excellent widow, whose 
 husband shrieked out his life in delirium tremens. 
 
 John was the son of a widow, likewise ; his father 
 slept in a drunkard's grave. 
 
 Mary was twenty, wholesome, good, and true. John 
 was twenty-four, strong, manly, ambitious. They had 
 grown up together, loved each other, and, one year 
 before the Crusade, became engaged. With the hearty 
 approval of the two mothers, the young people deter- 
 mined that the wedding should be celebrated on the first 
 of January, 1874. 
 
 In the mean time, the lovers were much together, and 
 Mary often detected the odor of strong drink in John's 
 breath. It excited grave apprehensions, and as the 
 wedding day approached, she resolved, after long sleep- 
 lessness and heartache, to submit her trouble to her 
 
 153 
 
154 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. . 
 
 mother. Mrs. Hart had never suspected John of a pas- 
 sion for strong drink, thought Mary might be mistaken, 
 but the daughter soon convinced her. 
 
 When John dropped in after tea. Mrs. Hart sent Mary 
 up stairs for something, and when she had left the 
 room, the good mother asked John to step into the par- 
 lor ; she wished to speak with him. 
 
 The young man, supposing it concerned the prepara- 
 tions for the coming event, cheerfully stepped into the 
 little room, and took a familiar seat. The mother sat 
 down near him, and began, after an awkward silence, 
 with, 
 
 " John, I am afraid I can r t say what I want to." 
 
 " Why, Mrs. Hart, speak out. " If you are in trou- 
 ble, I am sure you can trust me, as you would your own 
 eon." 
 
 " But, John, I am afraid you will be offended." 
 
 " Mrs. Hart, I am no child, and no coward. Speak 
 right out. I can't imagine what it is, but whatever it 
 may be, I promise to help you. It is hard, indeed, if 
 we, who are so soon to be mother and son. may not speak 
 freely to each other. My dear mother, speak out." 
 
 " I thank you, John, for that appellation. It gives me 
 courage. My son, you know the story of my married 
 life ; but only God knows how deep and dark were my 
 sorrows ; His grace alone kept me from insanity and 
 death. John, my dear friend, how can I say it ! But 0, 
 I am so afraid you do not know the danger I fear 
 O, John, you know what I mean ! " 
 
 " Mrs. Hart, you don't mean to say you certainly 
 can't be afraid that I shall become a drinking man ? " 
 
 The mother reached out her hand, and seizing John's 
 arm, began to weep. 
 
OUR HERO AND HEROINE. 155 
 
 John went on : " What has led you to think so ? What 
 is there in me that suggests such a danger ? " 
 
 " But," exclaimed the mother, clutching at John's arm 
 again, " do you not sometimes drink liquor ? " 
 
 With an embarrassed manner, John said, " I will not 
 deny that I sometimes drink a social glass. You know 
 how it is ; if a man goes into society, he can't always 
 refuse to join in social customs. One must either shut 
 himself up, away from the world, or if he goes out into 
 it, he must join in its ways. But then I drink very sel- 
 dom. And if you and Mary wish me to be a teetotaler, 
 why, I will sign off altogether. I don't care a fig for the 
 stuff, and I know how it ruined my father. The fact is, 
 I hate it, and I wish it were banished from society." 
 
 The good mother burst into a flood of grateful tears. 
 She pressed John's hand with all her feeble strength, 
 exclaiming, 
 
 " 0, how glad I am to hear you say so ! How happy 
 we shall all be ! God bless you, my son, God bless 
 you ! 
 
 John rose and said, " Mrs. Hart, please say to Mary 
 that I will come in at eight o'clock, and we will try that 
 new song." 
 
 John stepped out at the front door, and Mrs. Hart, on 
 opening that into the sitting-room, .found her daughter 
 standing near the door, pale and trembling. Poor child, 
 when she came down stairs she saw at once what was 
 going on, and had been listening. She was not the sort 
 of person to listen at a key-hole, but could not help it. 
 She had heard every word, and was sure that John's 
 feelings were hurt. She exclaimed, 
 
 "I would die rather than hurt his feelings. I am 
 afraid his pride is wounded. 0, mother, I don't believe 
 
156 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 he will ever come back. I heard every word. Mother, 
 why didn't you speak more gently? You know how 
 proud and sensitive he is." 
 
 Notwithstanding Mary's apprehensions, John came at 
 eight o'clock, just as if nothing had happened ; and 
 although there was a little less freedom than usual be- 
 tween them, it was evident that John was not angry. 
 When the mother bade them good night, and kissed her 
 daughter, John turned up his face, and said softly, 
 
 " Mother, me too ? " 
 
AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR. 157 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR. 
 
 ON the next Sunday Mrs. Hart had company her 
 nephew, Frank Studley, from M. When John 
 dropped in after tea, as usual, it happened that Frank 
 was out of the room. But immediately afterwards he 
 stepped in, and on seeing John, rushed towards him, 
 exclaiming, " Why, Sanford ! how are you ? How the 
 dickens did you happen to be here ? " 
 
 Mary had risen as Frank entered, her face aglow with 
 the joy of introducing her cousin to her lover, and was 
 quite taken aback with this strange recognition, and with 
 hearing John addressed as Sanford. Immediately, and 
 before there was time for explanation, John said to 
 Frank, 
 
 " Won't you please step in here a moment ; " and they 
 passed into the parlor. The ladies were bewildered. 
 What could it all mean ? They had only time to glance 
 into each other's astonished faces, when the gentlemen 
 came back ; and with forced gayety, John explained that 
 it was all a joke ; and the ladies, although greatly puz- 
 zled, were satisfied that the mystery involved.no disgrace 
 or wrong ; for had they not known John all his life ? 
 
 John and Mary sang a number of songs, and at an early 
 hour John invited Frank to take a walk. Frank re- 
 turned after a little while, and found the ladies anxion&U' 
 
158 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 awaiting him. He declared that the whole thing was a 
 big joke, and no harm done. The mother pleaded with 
 Frank to explain, but he would tell her nothing. Mary 
 was satisfied that it was, as Frank said, some joke among 
 young fellows; but where the two young men could 
 have met before she could not divine, for her cousin had 
 not visited them in a number of years, and had resided 
 in a distant state until his settlement in M., a half 
 year before. Frank left for his home the next morn- 
 ing, and in the evening John came after tea as usual, 
 but he had never before brought such a face and man- 
 ner. He was pale, unsteady, and nervous. Mary ral- 
 lied him, but he would immediately fall back into a 
 moody silence. Mary took her seat by his side, and 
 leaned her head upon his breast. John pressed her to 
 his heart, and then suddenly sprang to his feet, walked 
 nervously back and forth across the room, and stopped 
 suddenly to gaze out of the window, when Mary put her 
 arms about him, and bursting into tears, implored him to 
 tell her his trouble. 
 
 Suddenly folding his arms, and standing firm and 
 resolute, he saidf 
 
 " Call in your mother. I have something to tell you." 
 
 The mother was summoned, and John asked them to 
 sit together in seats which he indicated, and then turn- 
 ing partly from them, and pressing his folded arms 
 tightly across his chest, bowing his head and looking, on 
 the floor, he spoke in a hard, dry voice : 
 
 " God helping me I will tell you all. I did not intend 
 to say a word, for I thought that after our marriage 
 Mary's love would help me out of my troubles ; but last 
 night I saw my father just as plain as I ever saw him 
 when he was alive, and with the saddest face I ever 
 
AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR. 159 
 
 looked at; he charged -me to come to you and confess 
 everything. From that hour, although it was early in 
 the night, I have not slept a moment, and have been 
 trying to frame the words in which to make my dread- 
 ful confession. About six months ago my demon came 
 again, but I determined not to submit. I fought and 
 struggled for nearly a week, but it was of no use, and I 
 saw I should disgrace myself with you, and so I hurried 
 to M., and taking a room at the Hotel, I ob- 
 tained a gallon of brandy, went to my room and began. 
 Just as soon as I recovered from one insensibility I 
 drank till I became insensible again, and so I went on 
 for six days and nights. Then my stomach became 
 dreadful, and the craving passed away. During the 
 two or three days while I was learning to eat again, and 
 getting ready to return home, I became acquainted with 
 Mr. Studley. I was known in M. as Mr. Sanford. 
 
 " After about three months the horrid thirst began to 
 come on again. I struggled a few days, and then went 
 back to M. to repeat my dreadful debauch. Be- 
 tween these two visits to M., I drank some spirits 
 every day, because a doctor in M., whom I consulted, 
 thought if, when I did not crave it, I would drink a 
 little daily, it might prevent the periodical attacks. And 
 since the second visit to M. I have been trying a 
 little brandy every day, hoping it might drive away my 
 cursed enemy. And now this fiend is upon me .again. 
 I shall struggle for a few days, but I know how it will 
 end. I shall go away somewhere, get a gallon of brandy, 
 and in a debauch drown out this cursed devil." 
 
 Mrs. Hart and Mary were sobbing on each other's 
 necks. 
 
160 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 John went on with the same dry, hard, monotonous 
 voice : 
 
 " For years I have pretended to go several times a 
 year to visit my uncle in Cincinnati. I have no uncle 
 there, and have never been in that city in my life. At 
 those times I went to a small village thirty miles from 
 here, where I always did just as in M. 
 
 " From my father I inherited this dreadful longing, 
 and nothing but death can release me. Gladly would I 
 part with my eyes, or my arms, to get rid of it ; but it is 
 all useless and hopeless. I am sure you would think it 
 the most horrible insanity if you could only see me when 
 I crawl away by myself, after I have resisted the crav- 
 ing as long as I can ; and locking the door, and feeling I 
 am secure, I take my demijohn in my hands and begin. 
 If you could look in upon me then, and know with what 
 a devilish delight I am filled, that I would go on drink- 
 ing, drinking, if I knew it would kill mother, and Mary, 
 and myself, and send my soul to hell, if you could only 
 see and know all this, you would know that it is a mad- 
 ness, an utter madness." 
 
 With clinched fist and a face terrible to look upon, 
 John moved quickly towards the door, and then turning 
 towards the two women who were weeping and sobbing, 
 he said, in a low, quivering voice, 
 
 " Farewell, Mary. I am not fit to be the husband of 
 the vilest woman on earth, and to marry you, the best, 
 sweetest and noblest being I ever knew never ! never ! 
 never ! ! Farewell. God bless you ; farewell. I am 
 going, I am going to hell." 
 
 He opened the door and fled 
 
 Mrs. Hart, although a delicate invalid, was strong in 
 an emergency. Leaving Mary at home, she went direct- 
 
AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR. 161 
 
 ly to widow Lane's, and found her bowed and silent, 
 waiting for her son to come down from his chamber. 
 
 Mrs. Hart stepped quickly to Mrs. Lane's side, and 
 kneeling, said in a low, tender voice, 
 
 " My sister, I know all. John has told us everything. 
 Shall you let him go ? Now that we understand, why 
 cannot he stay at home ? I have been reading a paper 
 by Dr. Siwel Oid, in which he says that periodical 
 drunkenness is a disease, and may be cured. I am con- 
 vinced he is right. Let me see John. Let rne^mplore 
 him to remain at home. I would beg him to go to our 
 house and stay, but this, I fear, he would not do ; but 
 surely he can stay here with his own mother, and you 
 and I can help him through. Poor fellow, he is nearly 
 wild. I assure you I believe in what Dr. Siwel Oid 
 says about the cure of this dreadful madness." 
 
 Just then heavy footsteps were heard coming down 
 stairs. As John opened the door into the sitting-room, 
 Mrs. Hart met him, and throwing her arms about him, 
 exclaimed, 
 
 " My dear son, let me plead with you ! Don't go 
 away ! Don't go off among strangers ! " 
 
 " But, my mother ? " said John, turning towards hia 
 mother. 
 
 " 0," exclaimed the poor mother, in a low, wailing 
 tone, " I have done wrong. I lived with one drunkard 
 almost twenty-five years, and I have told John that I 
 would not live with another. But I now see it is all 
 wrong. God forgive me." 
 
 Rising, the weeping, despairing mother went quickly 
 to her son, and taking him by the hand, cried out, 
 
 " If you must do this dreadful thing, if you can't resist 
 it, do stay at home, and let us take care of you." 
 11 
 
162 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 With a sudden burst of feeling John clasped his 
 mother in his arms, and said moaningly, 
 
 " My poor, dear, heart-broken mother ! Would to God 
 I were in my grave." 
 
 The juices had long since gone out of poor Mrs. Lane's 
 heart. She only waited 'for death, but this unusual emo- 
 tion towards her on the part of her son visibly touched 
 her, and she replied to his fond caress and tender 
 words, 
 
 " My^on, if you will .stay, I will do all I can for you." 
 
 John walked slowly to a chair in the corner of the 
 room, and burying his face in his hands, moaned out, 
 
 u 0, why was I ever born ? Why can't I hide myself 
 in the grave ? " 
 
 The women had joined hands, fallen on their knees, 
 and amid groans and sobs were trying to pray. 
 
A TERRIBLE STRUGGLE. 163 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 A TERRIBLE STRUGGLE. 
 
 JOHN started up at length, and exclaimed, 
 " Mother, if I am to stay at home, I will make 
 one more desperate struggle. I will go to my room 
 at once, and I wish you would send for Swartz, the 
 blacksmith." 
 
 When Mr. Swartz came, John took him into his confi- 
 dence, and begged him to put iron bars on the window, 
 and a strong bar and lock on the outside of the door. 
 
 Before dark the next night the work was completed, 
 and John Lane was locked in his room, his mother, Mrs. 
 Hart, and Mary sitting with him; while Mary was read- 
 ing from the work of Dr. Siwel Oid on the " Cure of 
 Drunkenness." Among others, she read the following 
 paragraphs : 
 
 "The use of tobacco in any form produces a thirst 
 which simple drinks will not satisfy. This narcotic 
 poison generally excites a thirst for strong drink, and 
 must be abandoned as preliminary to the cure of drunk- 
 enness." 
 
 And again Mary read, 
 
 " Our wretched food provokes an unnatural thirst.. 
 The miserable fries and grease and abominable com- 
 pounds, the rich and indigestible desserts, in brief, 
 
164 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 the vile stuffs which we eat, produce a thirst that 
 nothing relieves like alcoholic stimulus. 
 
 " Plain, well-cooked food would do more for the tem- 
 perance cause than all the societies in the world." 
 
 When the ladies were about to leave for the night y 
 John said to Mary, in a voice of unusual emotion, 
 
 " Mary, you and these good mothers must help me. 
 I know you will; I believe you would all die for me, 
 if need be. Mary, I believe what this author says is 
 true. I wish you would get some paper, and write a 
 pledge for me." 
 
 The paper was quickly .brought, and Mary took the 
 pen in hand, and wrote while John dictated the following 
 pledge. Mary was a good writer, but when she showed 
 me that pledge some months afterwards in a golden 
 frame in her own beautiful parlor, she explained that the 
 penmanship was not a good sample of. her writing, for 
 her hand trembled so that night, and her eyes were so 
 full of tears, that she could neither see the line nor 
 make good letters. It read, 
 
 " I will never use tobacco again so long as I live ; so 
 help me God. 
 
 " JOHN LANE. 
 "Witness, MARY HART." 
 
 When this pledge was signed and witnessed, John 
 said, in a low, trembling voice, 
 
 " I have never prayed, but now I ask you all to kneel, 
 and I want Mary to pray for me." 
 
 Mary said, " 0, John, I never made a prayer in my 
 life." " 
 
 John gazed into her face with an unutterable love, 
 
A TERRIBLE STRUGGLE. 165 
 
 and whispered, " My darling, pray for me. 1 know God 
 will hear yo u." 
 
 Going to John, and putting her arm about him, tfyey 
 knelt together, the two mothers kneeling down by 
 John, and putting their hands on his head and shoul- 
 ders. Mary sobbed out, 
 
 " Dear God, help John. 0, help him ! 0, thou canst 
 help him, and he can't help himself. And, dear God, 
 help us to help him, to cling to him, to love him with 
 all our hearts. Dear Jesus, if we lose John we lose 
 everything. 0, wilt thou help him, and help us to 
 help him ! " 
 
 Poor John groaned " Amen " at every sentence ; and 
 the two mothers constantly sobbed " Amen. God help 
 him ! " 
 
 Then John made his first prayer. 
 
 " Great God, I have always tried to help myself, but 
 I can't fetch it. You can help me j and if ever a poor 
 devil needed help, I need it now. 0, great God, I give 
 my case up into your hands. I have tried to do right 
 all by myself, but I find it's no use. 0, God, take me 
 into your strong arms, and carry me through this trou- 
 ble, and I will try never to do wrong again, as long as 
 1 live." 
 
 While John was uttering this extraordinary prayer, 
 Mary had her arms about his neck, and the two mothers 
 their hands upon his head, and were sobbing out, "Amen. 
 God help him. 0, help him ! " 
 
 When they had risen and taken seats, and were more 
 calm, Mrs. Hart said, " John, you have gone to the right 
 source for help. We will pray for you constantly, and, 
 John, you must pray for yourself. God will hear you, 
 and he will help you." 
 
1G\J A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 They sat a little time in silence ; then Mary went tim- 
 idly to John, put her arm about his neck, and said, 
 " John, may I not write a pledge against strong drink 
 for you?" 
 
 John released himself from her, sprang to his feet, and 
 walking rapidly back and forth through the room, said, 
 " No ; I will not sign such a pledge, for I know I should 
 break it. I must not pledge myself before God, and' 
 then break it, or everything will be gone." 
 
 John then urged the ladies to retire and leave him for 
 the night. Mr. Swartz was at hand to assist. He care- 
 fully locked the door, and remained in the house during 
 the night. John's last instructions for the night were 
 these : 
 
 " No matter what I may say or do, for ten days I am 
 not to leave this room. My madness is sure to last as 
 long as that. If I become wild and furious, let some 
 strong men control me. I don't know that there is any 
 danger of such extremes ; but, remember, I charge you 
 not to let me out." 
 
 The next morning, very early, John knocked loudly 
 on the door, and the three women (for Mrs. Hart and 
 her daughter had remained during the night) rose 
 quickly, having rested without undressing, ran up stairs, 
 and listened to a conversation between John and Mr. 
 Swartz. 
 
 The ladies knew that John had been walking the floor 
 all night, but they were not prepared for the strange 
 change which had come over him. He was actually 
 pleading with Swartz to let him out. He said to 
 Swartz, 
 
 " This is all nonsense. I never was more rational in 
 
A TERRIBLE STRUGGLE. 167 
 
 my life. The idea of my being here behind these bais, 
 like a criminal ! It is absurd." 
 
 Mary spoke up and reminded him that last night he 
 told them that if they let him out of this room in less 
 than ten days, he would never forgive them ; and then 
 she said, 
 
 " I will bring you some breakfast with coffee, just as 
 soon as it can be got ready." 
 
 John replied, in an altered tone, " 0, Mary ! I did not 
 know you were here. Excuse me." Then walking 
 quickly across the room, he threw himself heavily on 
 his bed, and began to groan. 
 
 As soon as the breakfast was ready, Mary brought it 
 to the door, and calling John, she asked, 
 
 " Will you promise me not to take any advantage of 
 our opening the door when I bring in the breakfast ? " 
 
 John replied, " I promise to take no advantage of you, 
 ever, in any way." 
 
 Mary said to Mr. Swartz, " Open the door. It is per- 
 fectly safe. 71 
 
 Mr. Swartz whispered, " He will jump right out, I'll 
 bet you." 
 
 The padlock was unfastened, the heavy bar taken 
 down, and Mary passed in with her tray. 
 
 It was determined that watchers, strong men, should 
 stay in John's room. The doctor was called, and among 
 other things advised hot baths. The great bath-tub 
 was procured, and the neighbors who volunteered, with 
 two hired men, gave him baths, and then rubbed his 
 skin by the hour with their naked hands ; but John was 
 terribly excited. On the fourth morning, the hour when 
 the poor fellow seemed to be the worst, he made a des- 
 perate attempt to escape. Two men were at the door 
 
168 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 on the outside, and two watchers inside. The ladies had 
 been trying to get a little sleep. When the door was 
 unlocked, John made a sudden plunge ; all the four men 
 got hold of him, but he extricated himself, ran down 
 stairs, and was rushing toward the front gate, when he 
 met Mary just coming from her home. She raised her 
 arms, and cried, 
 
 " 0, John ! " 
 
 He let her take hold of his arm, and lead him back to 
 his room. 
 
THE DAY DAWNS. 169 
 
 CHAPTER IY. , 
 
 THE DAY DAWNS. 
 
 ON tbe eighth night John slept soundly and long, and 
 awoke in a profuse perspiration. After a long con- 
 sultation with the doctor, Mary went up to John, with a 
 bounding heart, to ask him to drive with her. John was 
 languid, cold, and weak, but this proposition surprised 
 him into/ new life. 
 
 During the ride John said, 
 
 " My demon has gone out of me. I shall never pass 
 through another such struggle." 
 
 They stopped to rest at the house of a friend, and 
 while there heard read from a local paper the wonderful 
 news from Washington C. H. and Hillsboro'. On the 
 way home John said to his companion, 
 
 " I believe this is providential. You and our mothers 
 have saved me from a fate tenfold worse than death. 
 Women must save men from intemperance. These 
 women in Washington and Hillsboro' are doing the right 
 thing. Now, why can't we in D. have something of 
 that kind started ? I am sure our women are good and 
 brave enough. I feel that I should be safe if we could 
 only have a temperance movement in which I could take 
 a part. If I could take hold to help other people, I am 
 sure I should be safe. This helping other people to 
 keep out of a pit, helps you to keep your eyes open, and 
 
170 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 to keep out yourself. And then, Mary, I have never felt, 
 after one of those attacks, as I feel now. My nerves are 
 calm. I believe that tobacco has kept the fires smoul- 
 dering in me ; and then what that Dr. Siwel Oid says 
 about the influence of our diet stands to reason. If 
 our food is rich and indigestible, of course it produces 
 a thirst which simple water is not likely to satisfy. 
 I tell you, Mary, that with the tobacco poison out of 
 me, and a good, simple table, and careful attention to the 
 other laws of which he speaks, such as the morning 
 bath, plenty of good sleep, and exercise in the open air, 
 I tell you, my Mary, that if now, in addition, we can 
 make a good effort to save drunkards, and I can have a 
 hand in it, I shall be as safe as a mouse in a mill. And 
 this new movement seems to me to promise great things. 
 Ah, my darling, light begins to break through. I begin 
 to see my way out." 
 
 Just as he was leaving Mary at her own house, he said, 
 " Mary, if you please, I will bring mother over this even- 
 ing, and you may write that pledge against strong drink, 
 and I will sign it." 
 
 With quivering lips and streaming eyes, Mary looked 
 upward, and exclaimed, " Thank God ! I will prepare it 
 before you come, and on a large, handsome sheet. And 
 I will write the other one over again, on a large sheet, 
 for you to sign, and I will see if I can't write it better 
 than before." 
 
 " No, Mary, if you please, that other pledge must not 
 be touched. As long as we live we will keep it just as 
 it is. I have hung it up on the wall near my bed. It 
 seems to me to be covered all over with bright golden 
 letters the words of your prayer that first night. 
 And, Mary, I have tried to pray every night, kneeling 
 
THE DA Y DA WNS. 171 
 
 down before that pledge. I suppose I ought to shut my 
 eyes, but I don't ; I keep them fixed on that precious 
 pledge, all bright with your beautiful, loving prayer." 
 
 That evening there was a meeting at Mrs. Hart's, 
 in which the tears, and prayers, and love of the night at 
 Mrs. Lane's, when the anti-tobacco pledge was signed, 
 were gone all over again. 
 
 When the pledge against strong drink was signed, 
 Mary said, 
 
 " John, ask your mother to pray with us." 
 
 " No, Mary," said John ; " God will hear you better 
 than any one else, when it is for me." 
 
172 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 THE GREAT REVIVAL BEGINS. 
 
 next day John Lane brought his mother over to 
 J_ Mrs. Hart's, to talk about the new temperance move- 
 ment. After reading the glowing accounts in the news- 
 papers, John exclaimed with enthusiasm, 
 
 % " Now what's the reason you women can't start that 
 movement in D. ? God knows there is need enough 
 of it. Here we have a population of less than three 
 thousand, and at least twenty groggeries. Surely I need 
 say nothing of the poverty and domestic misery coming 
 out of these miserable holes. Let's call a meeting to- 
 morrow night. I am sure they will let us hold it in the 
 Methodist church. I hear Mr. Blaine, their minister, is 
 very much excited about it." 
 
 The meeting was held the following evening. The 
 church was crowded, and many passionate speeches were 
 made. 
 
 To everybody's surprise, quiet little Mrs. Hart rose at 
 the close of the meeting, and moved that we organize 
 the " Woman's Crusade," immediately, to-night. 
 
 The motion was carried with loud acclamation. 
 
 The chairman, Mr. Blaine, suggested, if the women 
 were about to organize a Woman's Crusade, it might be 
 best for the men to retire. 
 
THE GREAT REVIVAL BEGINS. 173 
 
 " No," exclaimed little Mrs. Hart ; " we want every- 
 body to help." 
 
 The details of organization had not yet been distinctly 
 published, and there was much doubt about methods. 
 
 At length little Mrs. Hart rose again, and said, 
 
 " You know, dear friends, that I never speak in pub- 
 lic, but the spirit of God has impressed me to say a few 
 words just now. We learn from the newspapers that 
 the women go to the rumsellers and plead and pray with 
 them. Let us organize and begin. If we make mis- 
 takes, we can correct them when we learn a better way. 
 I move that we appoint a committee of ten women from 
 each of the churches. I am sure there are ten women 
 in our church who would be very glad to go into this 
 work." 
 
 Mrs. Squire Edmonds, who was sitting by her hus- 
 band's side, and evidently acting under his instructions, 
 moved that the meeting select the chairman of each of 
 these committees, and then ask her to name the other 
 nine members. Mrs. Edmonds said in explanation that 
 a prominent woman in a church, accustomed to works 
 of benevolence, would be much more likely to know the 
 working members of her church, than a meeting like 
 this. This was approved as a very happy suggestion, 
 and in half an hour five committees, of ten earnest 
 women each, were elected. One of these committees was 
 from the Catholic church, and turned out to be one of 
 the most effective. 
 
 Mrs. Hart, who was made chairman of the committee 
 from the Methodist church, asked permission to name on 
 her committee three ladies who were not members of 
 any church, and Mrs. Lane, who was a Universalist. 
 
 Some general suggestions were made in regard to the 
 
174 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 management of the committees in visiting the dram- 
 shops, but finally it was concluded that every committee 
 should be left to its own discretion. It was the general 
 understanding that they should reason, plead, and pray 
 with rumsellers, and report progress at a public meeting, 
 to be held at the same church, on the following evening. 
 
 When the meeting was about to adjourn, John Lane 
 rose, though, like most of the speakers, he had never 
 said a word in a public meeting before, and said, 
 
 " Mr. Chairman : I hope this meeting won't dissolve 
 without setting the men to work. It seems to me rather 
 mean to ask the women to do it all. Set the men at it. 
 I move, if the women are going to take charge of the 
 rumsellers, that the men look after the drinkers. I think 
 that would be a good division of labor, and would work 
 first rate. So I move, Mr. Chairman, that we appoint 
 ten committees, of two men each, to go out and look up 
 the drinkers, and report at the meeting here to-morrow 
 evening." 
 
 Several persons thought it might work well, and so 
 the motion was carried, and the ten committees were 
 selected. Ten earnest men were first selected, and they 
 were instructed to name their companions, who were 
 then endorsed by the meeting. 
 
 The committees, women and men, all met the next morn- 
 ing at nine o'clock, at the ringing of the bell, in the same 
 church, for a prayer meeting, and to divide the town. 
 
 When the hour for the meeting in the evening ar- 
 rived, it was obvious that the Methodist church would 
 not hold half of the people, and so the Presbyterian bell 
 was rung, and it was announced that the male committees 
 would make their reports at the other church. Of course 
 the women at the Methodist church were the great 
 attraction. 
 
THE GREAT REVIVAL BEGINS. 175 
 
 Mrs. Hart made the first report. She said, 
 
 " We called first on old Mr. Jakes. He received us 
 very politely. We talked with him for some time. He 
 did not dispute us when we said that drink was the 
 cause of nearly all our troubles. But he contended that 
 his place was not half as bad as some others. We asked 
 him, before we left, if we might sing a verse, and make a 
 prayer. He made no objections ; so we sang one verse 
 of ' Nearer, my God, to Thee ' : and then we all knelt 
 while Mrs. Thompson led in prayer. We offered the 
 pledge which we had prepared for dealers to sign, in 
 which they pledge themselves before God that they will 
 never again sell intoxicating drinks. He declined to 
 sign the paper, but promised to think of it. 
 
 " We went next to Poulson's saloon, but it was shut 
 up, and the curtains let down, just before we reached it. 
 Stopping at the door we sang a verse of ' A charge to 
 keep I have/ <fcc., and then went to ' The Shades.' Billy 
 Spooner came to the door to receive us, and very politely 
 invited us in, and asked what we would have to drink* 
 We talked with him for some time, and then asked him 
 if we might sing and pray. He said that nothing was 
 so much needed in his establishment as prayer, and he 
 hoped we would drop in often. He declined to sign our 
 dealer's pledge, but said in case he concluded to do so, 
 he would call upon us. 
 
 " We then went to Richards's wholesale liquor house. 
 He received us with cold politeness, and went on writing 
 in his large account-book. He not only declined to sign 
 our dealer's pledge, but would prefer we should not sing 
 or pray in his place of business, and advised us not to 
 call again. 
 
 " We then called at the little shanty known as ' The 
 
176 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 International/ It is kept by Mr. Johnson, a colored 
 man. He was extremely polite to us, and when we had 
 finished praying, to our astonishment he himself engaged 
 in a most devout prayer. And when we sang he joined 
 with us, and sang louder than any of us, and promised 
 that if the white gentlemen would stop selling, he would." 
 
 Although this report of Mrs. Hart was not especially 
 encouraging, still Mr. Elaine thought it was wonderful 
 that they were not insulted and hustled out. 
 
 The reports of the other women were not unlike Mrs. 
 Hart's. Several of the places were closed against them. 
 Squire Edmonds, who was present at the women's meet- 
 ing, and who knew more about things than the rest of 
 them, suggested that a committee of three women should 
 be elected to call upon all the business men in town, to 
 get their names to a pledge to close their places of busi- 
 ness every morning at nine o'clock, or at the ringing of 
 the bells, that everybody might assemble in the churches 
 to pray an hour for the success of the Crusade. This, 
 contrary to general opinion, it was found very easy to 
 carry in a vote, and to accomplish, in fact. The business 
 men did not like to stand out against popular feeling, 
 and then they thought that if all closed, each would get 
 his own share of business. 
 
 I had almost forgotten to tell you of the reports of the 
 men's committees at the Presbyterian church. 
 
 John Lane reported that he and his partner, James 
 Peabody, called first on Michael O'Reilly, over in the 
 " Sandbank." For a wonder, they found Mike sober ; but 
 when they told him of their errand, the stout fellow 
 ordered them out. But at length they secured a patient 
 listening. He then acknowledged that what they said 
 of the great harm of whiskey was all true ; that it was 
 
THE GREAT REVIVAL BEGINS. 177 
 
 the great curse of his people, and made it easy for the 
 English to rule over them. When we asked him to sign 
 the teetotal pledge, he said he would think of it. We 
 urged him, and promised to stand by him like brothers. 
 He signed at last, and he is here to-night. I asked him 
 to say before this meeting, whether he intends to keep 
 this pledge. Michael rose in the midst of great enthusi- 
 asm, and said, 
 
 " God helping me, I will keep my pledge." 
 
 John Lane crowded his way through the aisle to 
 Michael, and taking him by the hand, exclaimed, 
 
 *' My brother, if you are ever in trouble, come to me ; 
 or send to me, and I will serve you to the utmost of my 
 ability. God bless you, and help you to keep the pledge. 
 I have just signed the same pledge myself, and I intend 
 to keep it." 
 
 Nearly all the male committees made reports, which 
 were more or less encouraging. It was agreed that each 
 committee among the men would give at least one hour 
 every day to looking up some drinking man, and with 
 brotherly love try to win him. 
 
 Both meetings adjourned, and went home full of pur- 
 pose and enthusiasm. The reports on the next evening 
 were in the presence of immense meetings, running over 
 with enthusiasm, but no great victories were announced. 
 12 
 
178 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 GLORIOUS SUCCESS. 
 
 ON the fourth evening the report of Mrs. Hart " turned 
 on the tap in everybody's eyes/' as the world's peo- 
 ple phrase it. To use a novel expression, "there was 
 not a dry eye in the house." 
 
 Standing up there with her modest, pale face, she 
 repeated, in her low, sweet voice, the story of " Richards's 
 Surrender.' 7 The people already knew all about it, but 
 it was so glorious, that they cheered and laughed, and 
 cried all over again. The story, much condensed, was 
 this : 
 
 " We went to Richards's again this morning, and he 
 received us much as before, though Mrs. Dame says she 
 saw a tear in his eye, and she noticed that when we 
 knelt to pray, a quick flush passed over his face. When 
 we were about to leave, we again asked him if he would 
 not sign our pledge, when he said, 
 
 " Ladies, I shall be much obliged to you if you will 
 not call here again. It annoys me." 
 
 " I told him,'' said Mrs. Hart, " that we must do our 
 duty l We believe God requires this effort at our hands. 
 We must come every day till you close this place, if it 
 takes a year. If you admit us, as you have so kindly 
 done thus far, we shall be glad to come inside ; but if you 
 
GLORIOUS SUCCESS. 179 
 
 exclude us, we shall sing and pray on the sidewalk, or in 
 the street. 7 
 
 " ' Ladies/ said Mr. Richards, l you don't mean to say 
 that you intend to continue these visits ? 7 
 
 " ' Yes/ exclaimed we all, ' we shall come every day 
 if God lets us live, till you close. 7 
 
 " l Then/ said Mr. Richards, 1 1 will close up now. 7 " 
 
 When she reached this point, the hundreds present 
 sprang to their feet, and cheered till they were exhaust- 
 ed, while the women, and not a few of the men, were 
 busy with the tallest kind of boohooing. When the meet- 
 ing was sufficiently composed to permit Mrs. Hart to 
 proceed, she began again ; but the meeting cried out, 
 
 " Take the platform ! the platform ! the platform ! " 
 
 Squire Edmonds and Colonel Dodge, the two most re- 
 spectable conservatives in town, sprang forward, and 
 offered to conduct Mrs. Hart to the platform, and when 
 they landed her by the side of the desk, and, bowing, 
 were about to retire, the audience cried out to the two 
 gentlemen, 
 
 " Stay there ! stay there ! " 
 
 Mr. Elaine, who was presiding, a quick-witted man ; 
 and, as a Methodist minister, quite accustomed to stormy 
 meetings, said in a loud voice, 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen, I move that Colonel Dodge 
 presides at this meeting. 77 
 
 Half the men present seconded the motion, and a dozen 
 voices exclaimed, 
 
 " Rising vote ! rising vote ! 77 
 
 Before the chairman had time to put the motion, 
 everybody was standing and cheering, and all but the 
 old people and the fat ones were up, on the seats, while 
 many of the children were lifted by their parents far 
 
180 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 above the general level. It took the chairman some time 
 to get the meeting seated, and then Colonel Dodge rose 
 in his dignified way, and said, 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen, you will please excuse me. I 
 am not well, and must ask to be excused/' 
 
 Mrs. Dame rose and said, 
 
 '* Mr. Chairman, I move that Mrs. Hart conduct Colo- 
 nel Dodge to the chair." 
 
 This caused a great laugh, and when dear little Mrs. 
 Hart started to come down from the platform to conduct 
 the colonel to the chair, the meeting went wild. The 
 colonel could not resist her gentle pull at his arm, though 
 he would have given anything to have been at home. 
 When his tall form, red face, and white cravat appeared 
 on the platform, led by Mrs. Hart, who seemed like a 
 little child leading a great man, the meeting became still 
 more tumultuous. This was the strangest thing that 
 ever happened in D. or anywhere. Colonel Dodge was 
 the richest man in town, the man of purest blood, his 
 grandfather having been a county judge ; the colonel 
 himself was a " graduate," had an immense library, which 
 hardly any one was allowed to enter, was a regular wine 
 drinker, smiled contemptuously at temperance people 
 and all other lunatics, and was altogether at the very 
 head of society. 
 
 When he walked up on the platform, and was standing 
 before the meeting and getting ready to speak, the en- 
 thusiasm knew no bounds. At length, when order was 
 sufficiently restored, Colonel Dodge said, 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen, this is the first time I ever 
 presided at a temperance meeting. (Applause.) But 
 you know women will have their own way. (Enthusias- 
 
GLOR.:OUS SUCCESS. 181 
 
 tic applause.) And now what is the further pleasure of 
 the meeting ? " 
 
 " Report 1 Mrs. Hart's report ! " was the cry from all 
 sides. 
 
 " The colonel turned to dear little, pale, timid Mrs. 
 Hart, and, with a profound bow, which is popularly sup- 
 posed to characterize " gentlemen of the old school," 
 said, in his grand style, " Madam, you will please pro- 
 ceed with your report." 
 
 The brave little woman stepped forward, and began 
 just where she had left off. 
 
 " I was just saying, when the great shout began, that 
 Mr. Richards said if we had made up our minds to 
 call every day till he stopped, he might as well stop now. 
 We asked him if he would sign our pledge never to sell 
 any more. He declined, but said that he would probably 
 not resume the business. We asked him what he was 
 going to do with' his stock, which you know was very 
 large. He replied that he would send it back to Cincin- 
 nati. Then we began to plead with him. We said, 
 * You are a rich man, and you have made your money 
 out of this dreadful business. We are trying to stop it. 
 We have no hope of making money out of our effort. 
 Now, you can give us great help if you will only let us 
 have your liquors to pour out on the ground/ 
 
 " l But, ladies, I have a large and valuable stock, and 
 I can't afford to throw it away.' 
 
 " We plead very hard with him. We told him if he 
 would only let us pour his stock into the street, when 
 the news spread that Mr. Richards had given up, all the 
 rest would give up at once. Mr. Richards then said, 
 with a pleasant smile, 
 
 " ' I will tell you what I will do, ladies. If you will 
 
182 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 get the barrels out of the cellar without asking the help 
 of any man, I will give them all to you to pour into the 
 street. If you ladies will get them out yourselves, you 
 shall have them all. 7 (Loud applause.) 
 
 " Off went our bonnets, and shawls, and gloves, and 
 down we went into the cellar (wild applause), and in 
 half an hour the eighteen barrels were all on the side- 
 walk. (Wilder applause.) Then the question was, who 
 shall break in the heads of the barrels. Mrs. Sewall, 
 -who is one of our committee, noticed in the crowd poor 
 Mrs. Smith, the wife of Bill Smith, and Mrs. Sewall said, 
 1 There is Mrs. Smith ; she has lived in such a hell for 
 twenty years with her drunken husband, let her knock 
 in the heads of the barrels. 7 ' But, 7 said Mrs. Phillips, 
 there 7 s Mrs. Ben Jenks ; she has had a harder time, for 
 her husband has nearly beaten her to death. 7 
 
 " So it was agreed that these two women should have 
 the axes. (Loud and long applause.) Some one had 
 begun to ring the Methodist bell, and then they had 
 started the other two bells, and they rung them just as 
 fast as they could. Then the crowd and everybody 
 was there began to sing, with wonderful power, 
 
 * All hail the power of Jesus' name,' 
 
 and, in the midst of all this, with weeping, shouting, and 
 ' Bless God ! 7 ' Glory to God ! 7 and ' Hallelujah ! 7 from 
 hundreds, the two women began with their axes. Soon 
 the stuff was running down the street ; some one touched 
 it off with a match ; there was a great blaze, a great 
 black smoke rolled up and over the tops of the buildings 
 there never was such another scene on earth. 77 
 
 At this point everybody was standing, and they could 
 hardly restrain themselves till Mrs. Hart had finished the 
 
GLORIOUS SUCCESS. 183 
 
 above sentences. Then there was loud and long-con- 
 tinued shouting. Some one began, 
 
 " Nearer, my God, to Thee," 
 
 which was sung to the end. This calmed the intense 
 excitement, and the audience staid till eleven o'clock 
 to hear the reports of the several committees. 
 
 Everybody was convinced, before they left the house, 
 that Colonel Dodge was right, when he said from the 
 chair, 
 
 " I am convinced, ladies and gentlemen, that we are in 
 the midst of a great and most beneficent revolution." 
 
 Mrs. Hart reported that when they reached the shanty 
 known as the International, its colored proprietor said^ 
 in answer to their earnest invitation to sign the " Deal- 
 er's Pledge," that if they would have " the bells rung, 
 and the crowd would come and sing and shout just 
 as they did at Mr. Richards's, they might have his stock 
 too, every drop of it." But he said that, unless they 
 made just as much fuss as they did up at Mr. Richards's, 
 he would not give up. So the bells were rung, and the 
 people came together again and sang until Mr. Johnson 
 was satisfied ; and he brought out his stock, which con- 
 sisted of a pint of whiskey and about three pints of ale. 
 
 I must hot forget to say a word of the reports over at 
 the Presbyterian church, from the men committees. John 
 Lane was the mainspring over there, as was Mrs. Hart 
 in the women's meeting. 
 
 He made a most interesting report of success among 
 well-known hard cases, several of whom were present 
 to speak for themselves. 
 
 When John announced that a fast young man, known 
 as Jack Stedman, had signed the pledge and was present, 
 
184 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 and although he had said he should not speak a word, he 
 thought they had better call him out, the audience began 
 to turn their heads and look for a familiar face. He 
 was the only remaining member of an old, wealthy fam- 
 ily, one of the first settlers. He had received, by in- 
 heritance from his father, Judge Stedman, a large fortune, 
 but had wasted it on fast horses and wines ; but, not- 
 withstanding his bad habits, had continued to enjoy a 
 certain consideratkm, which such an inheritance always 
 commands. 
 
 The audience called loudly for Stedman, and when at 
 length they caught sight of him, they all turned their 
 eyes in that direction, and shouted. Few men can resist 
 such an appeal, and Jack was certainly not one of them. 
 He rose in a back corner, and began ; but the crowd 
 cried, " Platform ! platform ! platform ! " until Stedman 
 went forward. When he walked up on the platform, and 
 stood near the desk, his handsome face all aglow, the 
 crowd sprang to their feet, swung hats and handker- 
 chiefs, and shouted themselves hoarse. 
 
 But I have not space to go through with the three 
 weeks' struggle in D. I must simply say that, at the 
 end of that time, there was but one drinking place in D., 
 and that was the den of a bad Irishman, known as Mack. 
 It was located in a back, narrow, dirty lane, called Broad- 
 way. Mack was very popular with a certain class of 
 low fellows, who were always ready to laugh at his vul- 
 gar stories, and to back him up in his defiance of de- 
 cency. 
 
 Mack refused to admit the women to his place, and so 
 the five committees went each in turn two or three times 
 a day to Mack's den, and, knocking at his door and find- 
 
GLORIOUS SUCCESS. 185 
 
 ing themselves refused, sang a verse, made a prayer, 
 and gave way to the next committee. 
 
 One morning, when Mrs. Hart, with her party, paid 
 the first visit, the ladies were greatly surprised to find 
 when they knocked, the door was quickly opened, and 
 they were invited in. They asked permission to pray, 
 which Mack acceded to with great apparent heartiness. 
 The ladies sang a verse, and then knelt on the floor and 
 engaged in prayer. While thus occupied, with their 
 eyes closed, Mack threw a quantity of red pepper on the 
 stove. The sneezing was instant and prodigious. There 
 was nothing for it but to retreat. 
 
186 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 WONDERFUL YOUNG LAWYER. 
 
 C\ EORGE WASHINGTON HOWARD, a low, drunken 
 U young lawyer in town, offered to help Mack out of 
 the dilemma by getting an injunction against the women. 
 He obtained such a document from a drunken judge 
 against ninety-seven ladies who were known to be en- 
 gaged in the crusade, and had the paper served on them 
 all, forbidding them under heavy penalties from disturb- 
 ing in any way the lawful business of the aforesaid Rob- 
 ert Emmet McEttrick. In these documents, and upon 
 large posters, on which the awful prohibition, and the 
 names of the trespassers upon the rights and dignity, 
 &c.j <fcc., of the aforesaid Robert Emmet McEttrick, 
 were published, George Washington Howard was careful 
 to have his name printed in large letters, as counsel for 
 the plaintiff. 
 
 This dreadful paper frightened the women, and their 
 husbands were afraid it might cost them money; and 
 thus came about the first pause in the crusade at D. 
 
 I have said that Broadway was a very narrow lane. 
 It happened that the land on the opposite side belonged 
 to Judge McGraw, one of the eminent men of the state. 
 He had read the newspaper account of the proceedings 
 at D., and went over to see what it really was. Learn- 
 ing the situation, he said to the ladies, " If you wish to 
 
WONDEREUL YOUNG LAWYER. 187 
 
 use my land opposite that fellow's den, you can do so, 
 and you may pray and sing as long as you please. Things 
 have come to a pretty pass among us, if women, over- 
 whelmed with the sorrows of intemperance, are not at 
 liberty to go to the* places from which all their troubles 
 spring, and simply cry, 
 
 "' Spare us ! 0, spare us ! ' 
 
 " I rather think we haven't got along quite so far to- 
 ward the absolute despotism of rum, that we shall stand 
 by and see our mothers and wives, sisters and daughters 
 kicked out when they go to plead for mercy. Yes, la- 
 dies you may use my land as long as you please, and 
 no one shall disturb you." 
 
 The young men of the place built a shanty for the 
 ladies on the Judge's land, immediately opposite Mack's 
 saloon. In one day it was completed ; a big stove was 
 put in, and the women were there singing and praying. 
 A large window opened toward Mack's den, and the 
 women had a clear view of all who went into his place, 
 and of all the goings on. 
 
 Of course we know now that this was not the best way 
 to conduct the Woman's Crusade, but they did not know 
 it then. 
 
188 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 DEAR LITTLE MARY HART. 
 
 AFTER three clays' prayer and singing in their " Tab- 
 ernacle," as the young men had named it, Alary 
 Hart, who had been very quiet but earnest in her 
 mother's committee, proposed to go over alone to Mack's 
 den. He had imported from a neighboring town a band 
 of music, not a good one, indeed, but very noisy, 
 and they had been playing all the morning, as loud as 
 possible, to drown the praying and singing in the Taber- 
 nacle, which was scarcely more than twenty feet from 
 the den. 
 
 The women in the Tabernacle were quite divided 
 about the wisdom of Mary's going over to the den. 
 Several of them were of the opinion that the thirty or 
 forty great, coarse, drunken men over there would just 
 swallow the poor child would eat her up. Mary told 
 the ladies, if they would excuse her a few moments, she 
 would return and tell them whether she would go. Every- 
 body knew, or thought she knew, where the girl had 
 gone. When one of them wondered, or pretended to 
 wonder, where she had gone, the rest of them in chorus 
 said, " Of course she has gone to consult John," 
 
 They were right. She went to ask John if he had any 
 objection to her going over alone to the den, where there 
 were thirty or forty rough, wild, drunken men singing, 
 
DEAR LITTLE MARY HART. 189 
 
 hooting, and swearing, all mixed up with the most horrid 
 music by a brass band of drunken Germans. 
 
 If I were to write a volume about John Lane and 
 Mary Hart, I could not give you a clearer conception 
 of them than by repeating this conversation. 
 
 ' Yes, my darling ; I am perfectly willing you should 
 go. I think you are right when you say that they may 
 receive o/?e, while they would not receive a number. 
 And then, Mary, when they see your beautiful, sweet 
 face, they will be disarmed. My dear, do you wish me 
 to go to the Tabernacle and watch, while you visit the 
 den?' 7 
 
 " No, John ; I think it will be better that they should 
 think there are none but women there. If they know 
 there is a strong man standing behind me, they may 
 think there is a chance for a fight." 
 
 So little Mary went back to the Tabernacle, and told 
 the ladies, in her quiet way, that she would go, and that 
 she should plead with them to break up their dreadful 
 business, and should pray for them, perhaps kneeling in 
 their midst. Before she left, they prayed that God 
 " would go with thy maid-servant, and put thy loving 
 arms round about her, and sustain her, and defend her 
 in the presence of her enemies ; that Thou wilt shut the 
 mouths of the lions, and that she may pass through the 
 fiery furnace without so much as the smell of fire upon 
 her garments," &c. Then they all kissed her, and shook 
 hands with her, and blessed her. When she was about 
 to step out of the Tabernacle, she pressed her mother's 
 hand, and whispered, 
 
 " Don't be afraid, mother. When God has given us 
 back our precious John, you needn't be afraid that poor, 
 little, good-for-nothing me will be lost." 
 
190 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 Mary said, as she started, 
 
 " Please, ladies, don't let them see you watching at the 
 window." 
 
 So, that their faces might not be seen from the Den, 
 they drew back into the very rear part of the Tabernacle ; 
 but every eye was fixed upon the saloon. When Mary 
 started to cross the street, the drunken horns were play- 
 ing a staggering, noisy tune ; but, as the sweet, girlish 
 face approached the den, the music and the noise of the 
 drunken crowd suddenly stopped. Mary walked slowly 
 and timidly up to the door, and knocked. Mack himself 
 opened it, and a conversation ensued between him and 
 the young girl, which the occupants of the Tabernacle 
 could not hear ; but it ended by Mack's saying, in a loud 
 voice, 
 
 " Of course you can come in, if you want to." 
 
 Mary passed in, and the door was shut. The women 
 listened with all their ears ; but, although some of them 
 thought they heard Mary's voice in prayer, they proba- 
 bly did not hear a sound from the den. Indeed, it 
 seemed to be as silent as the grave. When it was 
 thought that Mary's voice was heard praying, Mrs. Ster- 
 ling, an awfully devout woman, whispered to a lady 
 standing near her, 
 
 " It does seem dreadful that she should pray, when she 
 has never experienced religion, nor joined a church." 
 
 Mrs. Dame, a genuine Christian, exclaimed, 
 
 " 0, don't, Mrs. Sterling ! This is no time for such 
 nonsense as that. Such talk is all well enough when we 
 have nothing on hand. Do you suppose, if the house is 
 on fire, that you need belong to a church to pray for 
 help to get out? Those nice distinctions are all well 
 enough for fair weather; but, when a storm comes on, 
 
DEAR LITTLE MARY &ART. 191 
 
 then let everybody who has a heart call upon the Lord. I 
 reckon he lets all His children call upon Him when they 
 want to." 
 
 It was about three o'clock in the afternoon when Mary 
 left the Tabernacle of the Lord to cross over to the Abode 
 of Satan ; and, although it was not definitely agreed be- 
 tween Mary and the friends she left behind her, that she 
 should return in any definite time, there seemed to 
 be a general expectation that she would be back in a 
 very few moments. At half past three they began to 
 wonder, and to be a little frightened. By four there was 
 great anxiety in the Tabernacle, and Mrs. Sterling pro- 
 posed that they should all go over in a body ; she was 
 sure they would not kill them all, that some one would 
 be left to tell the tale ; and then she told how, when she 
 was a girl, there was not a boy in the town that could 
 catch her. 
 
 Pale little Mrs. Hart, with a strange smile, said, 
 
 " I know Mary, and I think I know a little something 
 of human nature ; and I tell you, ladies, my daughter 
 could not be safer if she were right here in my arms." 
 
 " How can you say so ? " exclaimed Mrs. Sterling ; 
 " why, those men are just wild beasts, and they are all 
 crazy with drink. I would not trust a daughter of mine 
 there any quicker than I would trust her in a den of 
 tigers. 0, Mrs. Hart, it is dreadful! When I think 
 what might happen, I declare it seems like flying right 
 in the face of Providence, like fairly courting death. I 
 tell you, Mrs. Hart, those creatures are totally depraved. 
 Don't you believe in tqjal depravity, Mrs. Hart ? " 
 
 " I do not, Mrs. Sterling ; and you do not ; and there 
 never, was a sane m.an_or woman .an, this world .who 
 did 1 " 
 
192 A STORY OF THE Off/0 CRUSADE. 
 
 " But, Mrs. Hart, I reckon I know what I believe, and 
 I tell you I do believe in absolute, total, moral depravity." 
 
 " Then, Mrs. Sterling, why do not these men over 
 there kill Mary? If they are totally depraved, they 
 would stop at nothing." 
 
 " How do you know but that they have ? For my 
 part, I am afraid they have eaten her alive. I don't 
 believe you will ever see a thread of her again, as long 
 as you live."- 
 
 With the same curious smile Mrs. Hart said in her 
 low, sweet voice, 
 
 " We will see." 
 
 And now it is half past four ; and now it is five ; but not 
 a word has come from the den. They could see great 
 coarse men leaning against the windows, but not a sound 
 came across to them. 
 
 Just then the kerosene was lighted in the den, and 
 immediately afterward the women saw a big, coarse 
 fellow, whose immense shoulders had been resting 
 against the window-frame, suddenly turn round A and 
 kneel down, with his face against the window, and close 
 his eyes. 
 
 Little .pale Mrs. Hart, with quivering lips and tears in 
 her eyes, dared not trust her voice, but touching Mrs. 
 Sterling's arm, she pointed toward the big fellow in the 
 window, and they all instinctively knelt and remained in 
 silence for some moments, when dear little Mrs. Hart 
 broke out into such a prayer as her companions never 
 heard before. One of the ladies said afterward that it 
 would have melted a heart of stone ; that they all wept 
 and sobbed, so that it was almost impossible at one time 
 to hear Mrs. Hart's words. 
 
 While they were still on their knees, they were star- 
 
DEAR LITTLE MARY HART. 193 
 
 tied by the band, and loud singing over the way. It 
 was, 
 
 *' Praise God, from whom all blessings floir." 
 
 And then the big, coarse, red-faced fellow knelt at the 
 window again, and all was still for a few moments. Then 
 burst out, 
 
 " All hail the po-wer of Jesus' name," 
 
 from the den. 
 
 The women collected about dear, pale, little Mrs. 
 Hart, and caught at her arms, and cried and sobbed out, 
 " God bless you, dear sister," as if she somehow were 
 managing things over the way. 
 
 Mrs. Hart suddenly turned toward Mrs. Sterling, with 
 the exclamation, 
 
 " It is a falsehood, it is blasphemy, it is a horrible 
 insult to God, to say that man is totally depraved." 
 
 Mrs. Sterling bowed her head, and was silent. The 
 ladies said they never knew her to be silent before. 
 
 Pretty soon the big fellow at the window went down 
 on his knees again, and this time the women did not 
 kneel, but kept their eyes fixed on the den. Soon they 
 saw big tears roll down the big fellow's cheeks, and then 
 they heard masculine groans and amens, which grew 
 louder and louder. The women were greatly excited, 
 and Mrs. Sterling cried out, " Let us go over at once," 
 and started toward the door. 
 
 " But," exclaimed Mrs. Dame, " what does Sister Hart 
 say?" 
 
 She was not in the group which had been gazing at 
 
 the den, and they turned and saw her standing in a back 
 
 corner, glorified. Of course she ought to have been 
 
 prostrate on the ground, crying, " Unclean, unclean, uu- 
 
 13 
 
194 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 clean ! " but there she stood with her eyes turned up- 
 ward, and her face all aglow with triumphant joy. Dear 
 little Mrs. Hart had had a hard life, and she had almost 
 never known even moments of triumph. The women 
 gazed upon her, and at length Mrs. Sterling approached 
 her, with the question, 
 
 " Don't you think we had better go over there, and 
 help Mary ? She must be nearly dead by this time." 
 
 " No, dear friends, we will not disturb them. God is 
 with her. She needs none of our help." 
 
 And now there came across to them, 
 
 Nearer, my God, to Thee," 
 
 and this time without the band. Then they heard a 
 man's voice in prayer, and many voices joined in loud 
 " Amens," and " God have mercy on us." This was fol- 
 lowed by 
 
 "Jesus, lover of my soul," 
 
 sung without the band. 
 
 And this again by a long silence, which did seem as 
 if it never would come to an end. Mrs. Sterling declared 
 it a shame that they left that poor child to fight out the 
 battle alone with that crowd of great wicked men, and, 
 turning to Mrs. Hart, she said, 
 
 " I am astonished, Sister Hart, that you let that poor, 
 dear child, who never was strong, fight out this dreadful 
 battle, all by herself. I think we ought all to go over in 
 a body. Come, Sister Hart, let us go at once. You go 
 ahead. If they come at us, I am sure there ain't a man 
 among them that can catch me ; I can run like a streak. 
 I think it is downright cruel to let that poor, dear child 
 bear the whole brunt of it. I am willing to bear my 
 
DEAR LITTLE MARY HART. 195 
 
 part. Come, let us go over. I am dying to know what 
 is going on." 
 
 The door of the den now opened, and Mary, a little 
 paler than usual, but looking just like her mother, with 
 that triumphant joy in her face, came quickly across the 
 street with a sheet of paper in her hand. 
 
 The women opened the door of the Tabernacle, and 
 stood ready to grab her when she entered. 
 
 Mrs. Hart was at the back part of the Tabernacle, and 
 as Mary stepped into the door, she glanced quickly about 
 the room, and catching sight of her mother, she threw 
 up her arms, crying out, with quivering voice, " Mother ! " 
 
 In the presence of such intense emotion the women 
 separated, and let her pass through. With a little cry 
 of joy the two were folded in each other's arms, and the 
 women all stood about them ejaculating. But Mary 
 quickly released herself, and holding up her paper, 
 said, 
 
 " Mother and ladies, Mr. McEttrick says he will stop 
 if we will help him a little. I will read you what he 
 asks us to do. 
 
 " ' First. To buy his stock of liquors and his fixtures. 
 
 " ' Second. To pay his rent of seventy dollars now due. 
 
 " i Third. To have the suit which has been begun 
 against him for selling to minors, withdrawn. 7 " 
 
 Mrs. Hart said, when the reading was finished, 
 
 "Ladies, in order to consider these propositions, we 
 must come to order. Please take seats. And now what 
 do you think of Mr. McEttrick's demands ? " 
 
 Mrs. Sterling, who was always ready to speak on all 
 occasions and on all subjects, had, in fact, one of those 
 minds which are set on a hair trigger, rose and opened 
 her miraculously large mouth, when Mary said, 
 
 ' 
 
196 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 " If Mrs. Sterling will permit me one moment. You 
 know, ladies, that Mrs. McEttrick is dying of consump- 
 tion ; and Mr. McEttrick thinks, on that account, the 
 women ought to help him." 
 
 Mrs. Sterling then said, 
 
 " It seems to me, Mrs. Chairman and ladies, that we 
 ought to help Mr. McEttrick ; and I believe that we la- 
 dies can go around this town,, and collect money enough, 
 before noon to-morrow, to make up ah 1 he asks." 
 
 Mrs. Sterling said a great deal more, she always did, 
 but I do not care to put it down. There were forty- 
 six ladies present that evening ; and a dozen or more 
 expressed the opinion that the saloon-keeper ought to be 
 helped, and that they could easily raise the money. 
 
 Mrs. Hart asked if any other lady wished to speak, and 
 as no other lady responded, she said, 
 
 " If the ladies will excuse me for expressing an opinion, 
 I feel it my duty to say, that I think it would be a great 
 blunder to hire him to stop. In the first place, all the 
 others who have received nothing would feel that we 
 had been guilty of partiality ; and then, I confess, it 
 seems to me wrong to hire people to stop doing wrong. 
 I think, however, it would be right to take poor Mrs. 
 McEttrick and nurse her, while her husband is establish- 
 ing himself in some other business. I should be perfectly 
 willing to take her into our house, and keep her as long 
 as she lives ; and I am sure you ladies would help me 
 take care of her." 
 
 It was always so. When Mrs. Hart made up her mind, 
 the rest of them were sure, in the end, to agree with her. 
 
 " But," said Mary, " how about that suit which they 
 have begun against him for selling to minors ? " 
 
 Mrs. Hart replied, 
 
DEAR LITTLE MARY HART. 197 
 
 " Let us first attend to all the rest of his demands, and 
 then we will consider the suit." 
 
 " Excuse me, mother/' said Mary ; " I see I was out of 
 order." 
 
 It was finally voted that they should offer to take Mrs. 
 McEttrick, but that they would not buy the stock of 
 liquors, nor the fixtures, nor could they decide about the 
 suit. 
 
 Mary was sorry to go back to the saloon with this re- 
 port, because the men had been very kind to her ; but 
 it was obviously the right answer ; so she went back and 
 said to Mr. McEttrick, 
 
 " As to the suit against you, the ladies can't decide ; 
 it is not in their power. But, Mr. McEttrick, I will pledge 
 myself to have that suit withdrawn, if you will stop. I 
 am perfectly sure I can induce Mr. Cheney to withdraw 
 it ; so you may regard that as settled. My mother and 
 myself will take Mrs. McEttrick to our house, and take 
 care of her until you are settled in some other business. 
 The ladies will not buy your stock of liquors nor your 
 fixtures. They have refused in other cases, and cannot 
 be guilty of partiality ; and they think it is your fault, 
 and not theirs, that you have become involved in a bad 
 business." 
 
 Upon this report there was a loud and somewhat angry 
 discussion ; but, after an hour alternating between the 
 loud voices of men and periods of what seemed perfect 
 silence, but which were, in fact, the times when Mary 
 was speaking in her low, quiet, sweet voice, the dear 
 girl came across the street again, to ask, if the terms 
 given by the ladies were accepted, whether her mother 
 would take Mrs. McEttrick immediately. 
 
 " Yes, yes," said little Mrs. Hart. 
 
198 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 11 But,' 7 put in Mrs. Sterling, " suppose they get her 
 off on to you, and then they go right on with their dread- 
 ful business. I wouldn't touch her unless her husband 
 will bring out his liquors first, and pour them into the 
 street, and then take his oath in the presence of us all, 
 and before God, that he will never sell any more. I 
 wish I could go over there a minute, and look into their 
 faces. / could tell whether they are trying to cheat us ; 
 but Mary has had so little experience, she can't tell about 
 these dreadful men." 
 
 Mrs. Hart begged Mrs. Sterling not to go ; but that 
 earnest female felt she should die if she could not go 
 over there and see how things looked, and hear what 
 those horrid men had to say for themselves. At any 
 rate, Mrs. Sterling insisted that the man should pour out 
 his liquors, and make a little speech. 
 
 But Mary ran back to Mr. McEttrick's to report that, 
 if he chose, he might take his wife to their house that 
 very night. 
 
 It was accomplished next morning; and, when the 
 poor emaciated creature was placed between the snowy 
 sheets in Mrs. Hart's best bed, which had been moved 
 into the parlor, and her poor, weary head sank into the 
 soft pillow, and she saw Mrs. Hart and Mary going si- 
 lently about, arranging numberless little comforts, she 
 could not refrain from grateful tears, and a whispered 
 Thank God." 
 
 Mary had taken Mr. McEttrick's promise that he would 
 stop, without asking him when, or what he should do 
 with his liquors. These he sent back to Cincinnati, 
 where he still owed for them, and his bar was closed 
 from the hour his wife was carried out of the door. 
 
 Not a place was now open for the sale of intoxicating 
 
DEAR LITTLE MARY HART. 199 
 
 drinks in D., though it was charged that one of the drug 
 store',3 sold liquors for drinking purposes. The ladies 
 called upon the proprietor, and he pledged himself 
 again this time very solemnly that he would sell no 
 more for use as a beverage. 
 
200 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 THEY PREPARE TO CLINCH THE NAIL. 
 
 NOW that the drinking places were all broken up. and 
 scores of men were afloat with nowhere to spend 
 their evenings, and nothing to occupy their minds, Mrs. 
 Hart began to say that we must have something to take 
 the place of the grog-shops. A meeting was called in 
 the Methodist church, which happened to be the largest 
 in town, both as to its building, and the hearts of its 
 members, and the subject of " What shall take the place 
 of the dram-shops in our social life ? " was seriously dis- 
 cussed. John Lane was exceedingly interested in this 
 question. The male committees, which, before the work 
 was accomplished, had grown into sixteen, of two men 
 each, had now almost every man in town on their pledge ; 
 but John knew very well that unless something was in- 
 troduced to take the place of the grog-shops, they would 
 fall back again. So he sat near the desk ready to sup- 
 port any movement which promised to fill the aching 
 void. 
 
 It was observed, with some surprise, that Mr. Rich- 
 ards, the converted wholesale dealer, was present. It 
 was the first of the temperance meetings he had 
 attended, and as he had been for some years an invalid, 
 and seldom went out in the evening, everybody was 
 astonished to see him there. Mr. Elaine was chosen 
 
THEY PREPARE TO CLINCH THE NAIL. 201 
 
 president, and after the usual introductory exercises, 
 explained the object of the meeting, and he did it re- 
 markably well, considering that he was a clergyman. 
 With common sense and genial philosophy he showed 
 how indispensable it was to the success of the temper- 
 ance cause that, in the place of the abandoned rum- shops, 
 there should be organized amusement-halls, coffee-rooms, 
 reading-rooms, <fcc., &c. 
 
 The speeches, for a wonder, were all sensible, and 
 remarkably good-natured, the town critic and snarler 
 being providentially absent with articular rheumatism. 
 
 Near the close of the evening, Mr. Richards rose and 
 said, 
 
 " Mr. Chairman, if you will permit me to say a word, 
 I would remark that I have not believed much in this 
 temperance movement, for I have thought that, as soon 
 as the excitement was over, everything would go back 
 to the old way. But now you propose something which 
 gives me confidence. But let me say, before I go on, 
 that I have no doubt if I speak a word in favor of tem- 
 perance, you will all think me a hypocrite ; and yet it is 
 absolutely true that there has not been a day in ten 
 years that I would not have given twenty thousand dol- 
 lars, besides losing the profits of a large business, to 
 have secured the triumph of the temperance cause. But 
 T knew that this cursing rum-sellers from the pulpits 
 would never do any good ; so, as the business would go 
 on, I could see no good reason why I should not have 
 the profits as well as anybody. I have tried to manage 
 the business as decently as possible. I have never 
 allowed any drinking in my place, beyond the tasting 
 incident to purchases, and I never drink myself. 1 know 
 my business was one link in the chain, but no more 
 
202 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 wrong than the raising and selling of grain, with the 
 knowledge that a large part of it finds its way to the dis- 
 tilleries, for a considerable part of the alcohol and liquors 
 which passed through my house found their way into 
 medicinal, chemical, and mechanical uses. 
 
 " But what I wish to say here to-night is, that you will 
 do a very wise thing, if you push the enterprise you 
 now have in hand ; if you fill the void left by the dis- 
 appearance of the. drinking places, you will gather the 
 fruits of your victory, you will clinch the nail. And to 
 show you that I am in earnest, I offer the building which 
 I occupied so long in my business, to be devoted to the 
 important uses which have been named. You may have 
 the whole building five years for nothing, and if then 
 you wish to continue the occupancy, we shall have no 
 difficulty in making terms/' 
 
 John Lane sprang to his feet, and cried out, 
 
 " Three cheers for Mr. Richards." 
 
 They were given with a will ; then three more, and 
 three more, and finally a tiger. 
 
 John Lane then proposed the appointment of a busi- 
 ness committee, to consider the whole subject, and 
 report at a meeting on the following evening. It was 
 carried with a shout. John immediately made another 
 motion. 
 
 " I move you, Mr. Chairman, that our generous friend, 
 Charles Richards, Esq., be the chairman of that com- 
 mittee." 
 
 There was no chance to put the motion, for every- 
 body sprang to his feet, or her feet, and shouted, " Aye ! " 
 Mr. Richards objected, but it was of no use. Twelve 
 others were elected, six men and six women. Two of 
 the men were nominated by John Lane, and they were 
 
THEY PREPARE TO CLINCH THE NAIL. 203 
 
 two of those who had kept grog-shops in the place. 
 Three of the women belonged to what is called the 
 working class, and one of them had kept a saloon. 
 
 They could stand no more in one evening, and ad- 
 journed. 
 
 If you could have followed Mrs. Hart and Mary home 
 that night, you would have seen between them as they 
 walked along a large, strong man. They were in very 
 earnest, passionate conversation. I won't tell you who 
 the man was, but you may have three chances to guess. 
 When the three reached Mrs. Hart's, they found Mrs. 
 Sterling there, full and running over. She began at 
 once. 
 
 " I don't believe this movement will ever prosper. I 
 tell you, Sister Hart, God will never bless it ; never ! 
 never ! never ! He will never bless it in the world 1 " 
 
 " What is the matter with you, Sister Sterling ? " 
 
 " How can you ask me ? Was there ever such dese- 
 cration of the House of God ? Nine cheers, and that 
 horrible leopard I Was there ever such a frightful 
 noise ? I felt as if I should scream 1 And then to 
 appoint that miserable Richards as chairman. They 
 might have spared themselves the trouble of putting me 
 on that committee, for I shall never go, nor touch it." 
 
 Just then poor Mrs. McEttrick began to cough in the 
 next room ; and before she was quiet again, Mrs. Ster- 
 ling left to give a piece of her mind to Mrs. Dame, her 
 next door neighbor. 
 
 Before the adjournment of the meeting, Mr. Richards 
 had asked the chairman to request the committee to 
 meet next morning at nine o'clock, at his place of busi- 
 ness. 
 
 All but Mrs. Sterling were present at the appointed 
 
204 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 hour, and Mr. Richards suggested that before they be- 
 gan their discussion they should look over the premises. 
 The building was seventy feet long, thirty feet wide, 
 and four stories high above the basement. 
 
 John kept saying to Mary, by whose side he walked, 
 " Splendid ! splendid ! Perfect ! Complete ! Just the 
 thing ! It could not have been made better, if it had 
 been gotten up for the purpose." 
 
 When they had returned to the office, Mr. Richards, 
 addressing John, asked, 
 
 " Mr. Lane, what are your plans ? " 
 John, turning his eyes toward Mary, said, 
 " Mr. Chairman, if you please, I think we better ask 
 the ladies first." 
 
 " Mrs. Hart," said Mr. Richards, " give us your ideas." 
 " I have had no experience in such things," replied 
 Mrs. Hart ; " but I have one thought which I should like 
 to express. I am opposed to making this institution a 
 religious one. To make it attractive to all classes, it 
 must not be solemn and prayerful, but jolly, and free and 
 easy. Praying people must do their praying in church 
 and at home. I take the liberty to say this, because I 
 believe it indispensable to the success of our work, and 
 I thought it would be less likely to give offence if it 
 came from me, as my neighbors know that religion has 
 been the great solace and support of my life for many 
 years. 
 
 " As to the various features or departments of amuse- 
 ment, P have no particular suggestions to offer. I will, 
 however, remark, that I suppose dancing will be promi- 
 nent. I never danced in my life, and I believe my 
 daughter never has ; but I have always observed that 
 dancing has great attractions for young people, partly, 
 
THEY PREPARE TO CLINCH THE NAIL. 205 
 
 I suppose, because solemn people denounce it; but then, 
 I presume, it really has, of itself, great attractions." 
 
 The discussion lasted for several hours ; but when the 
 people assembled in the evening to hear from the com- 
 mittee, dear little Mrs. Hart, who had been selected to 
 read their report, could only announce that they had de- 
 cided to devote the basement, which was very high and 
 well ventilated, to dancing. There the dancers would 
 not disturb others by shaking the floor. They had taken 
 into their counsels a number of the most devoted of the 
 dancing young people of the town, and they all agreed 
 that the basement would make a perfect ball-room. 
 
 Mrs. Hart had also to report that they had determined 
 to devote the first story to a coffee and reading room. 
 The other three stories the committee reserved for fur- 
 ther consideration. Within three days it had been de- 
 termined to devote the second story to a library, a dress- 
 ing room for ladies, a similar room for gentlemen, and a 
 smoking room (with a secret resolution on the part of 
 the ladies to make a gentle but earnest war on that nasty 
 habit). The third story was to be devoted to chess, 
 checkers, backgammon,' cards, and other table games. 
 The upper story was given up to billiards, with a secret 
 determination on the part of a number of young ladies to 
 give their spare time to that story until they could 
 divide the honors with their gentlemen friends. 
 
 At the fourth meeting for considering their new 
 scheme, they voted to call their institution " Richards 
 Hall." When that vote was unanimously passed, Mr. 
 Richards rose and made a hit, a palpable hit. He 
 said, 
 
 "Mr. Chairman, and ladies and gentlemen: This build- 
 ing must be handsomely fitted up, aiid it will require 
 
206 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 money. This fitting up should be paid for by the rich 
 men of the town, and then the contingent expenses 
 should be met by regular dues, which ought to be the 
 same for everybody. When the building is ready, I 
 shall move that the dues be made three dollars a year. 
 Let the poor working girl feel that she pays as much as 
 anybody, and has the same rights. I am opposed to 
 making it a charitable institution ; charity demoralizes 
 people. 
 
 " But, first of all, we must have the money to fit up. 
 "With the advice of the business committee, I have pre- 
 pared a subscription paper for this purpose, and have 
 taken the liberty to solicit a few subscriptions. Our 
 friend, Colonel Dodge, put his name down first ; but that 
 was simply because I called on him first. The colonel, 
 who, I am glad to see, is with us to-night, put his name 
 down for $1000 (applause), and said he should save it in 
 a few years in taxes, if this thing succeeded as he be- 
 lieved it would. Squire Edmonds is down for $300 (ap- 
 plause) ; Daniel Eddy, who, you know, can't write very 
 well, contrived to make his mark for $500. (Applause.) 
 Carl Swartz I found shoeing a horse, and when I ex- 
 plained to him, he put down the horse's foot, took an old 
 steel pen, and went to digging at my paper, and made a 
 large, dirty spot on it ; but when I read l Carl Swartz, 
 $200,' I forgave him. (Loud and long-continued ap- 
 plause, the audience rising to their feet.) He says he 
 will give that, if necessary, every year, to save his boys 
 from the grog-shops. John Lane is down for $250. (Ap- 
 plause.) 
 
 " Well, I haven't been round much, but I have felt the 
 pulse of our people enough to see that the money will 
 come. We estimate that the expense will be about 
 
THEY PREPARE TO CLINCH THE NAIL. 207 
 
 $4000, besides the library and the billiard tables. The 
 business committee think the billiard tables should be 
 purchased by those who wish to use them. It is pretty 
 clear to the committee that the funds left after the pay- 
 ment of the working expenses should every year be 
 devoted to the library ; but whether there should be 
 a special subscription for the first purchase of books, we 
 cannot decide. Some one has suggested that perhaps, if 
 our institution promises well, the town library might be 
 transferred to our rooms. 
 
 " But, Mr. Chairman, to return to our subscription for 
 fitting up the rooms." 
 
 At this point Colonel Dodge rose and said, 
 
 " Mr. Chairman (if the gentleman will permit me to 
 interrupt him), I have always thought that Mr. Kichards 
 could read, but I now see that I was mistaken. That 
 subscription paper he has not read as I saw it to-day. 
 He told us that the first subscription was mine ; but, if 
 he will be kind enough to use my glasses, I think he will 
 find that the first name is one ' Charles Richards, $1000.' " 
 
 The audience here sprang to their feet, and John Lane 
 called for three cheers for Charles Richards. When 
 these had been given with a gusto, and three more, and 
 three more, and until the people were unable to shout 
 any longer, a poor widow, Mrs. Burrows, whose husband 
 and only son had fallen victims to drink, rose and said, 
 in a trembling voice, 
 
 " If you please, friends, put my name down on that 
 paper for one dollar." 
 
 The house was instantly silent, and then were heard 
 sobs on every hand. 
 
 The first words spoken were by Mr. Richards, who 
 said, 
 
208 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 " Mr. Chairman, if there is no objection, I shall place 
 Mrs. Burrows's name first on our list of subscribers." 
 
 The chairman said, 
 
 " If there is no objection, Mr. Richards will be author- 
 ized to place Mrs. Burrows's name first on the list." 
 
 Before the meeting was over, the subscriptions for the 
 new building amounted to $4650 ; and, before the end 
 of the first month, the paper footed up $6325. 
 
 The good work went rapidly forward. Everybody 
 offered to assist, and everybody was welcomed. Scores 
 of the young people were there every evening, as busy 
 as bees. It was at first resolved to have no carpets and 
 no pictures till they got a little ahead. But the second 
 story, which, you recollect, was divided between the 
 library, two dressing rooms, and a smoking room, it 
 was determined should have throughout, all except the 
 smoking room, a handsome velvet carpet. John Lane 
 and Mary Hart were appointed a committee to visit a 
 neighboring town, and select the carpet. But I can't go 
 into details. Nothing else was talked of in D. for several 
 weeks. 
 
 Wednesday evening, February 4, was selected for the 
 dedication. 
 
 Long before that day the whole story about John Lane 
 had come out, and, of course, it was understood that the 
 glorious temperance movement and Richards Hall really 
 took their rise with him. 
 
 Now I must go back a little. You remember I told 
 you that John and Mary were to be married on the first 
 day of January, 1874. Well, it so happened that on that 
 day John was up in his bedroom, in his mother's house, 
 passing through that fearful struggle which I have de- 
 scribed to you. When John got out, and felt himself able 
 
THEY PREPARE TO CLINCH THE NAIL. 209 
 
 to converse with Mary, he said to her, what was very 
 natural for an honorable man to say, 
 
 " I can't ask you to become my wife, and I never will 
 ask you, until you are perfectly satisfied that I am safe. 
 I should not be willing to become your husband until at 
 least six months have passed away, so that I may be 
 able to know that my demon would not return ; that I am 
 safe. So we will let the period of our marriage remain 
 undecided, until you are satisfied that in marrying me 
 you would not tie yourself to a madman." 
 
 Mary wept, and protested, but she had had long con- 
 versations with her prudent mother, who had prepared 
 her daughter's mind for the postponement, which she 
 was sure John would propose. 
 
 During one of the last days of January, Jane Dodge, 
 daughter of Colonel Dodge, and the most beautiful and 
 aristocratic young lady in town, got to thinking, one 
 morning, before she rose. The outcome of that thinking 
 you shall hear. 
 
 After breakfast she went over to Mrs. Hart's to com- 
 municate her bright thought to Mary, and she did it about 
 in this way : 
 
 " This morning the happiest idea came to me, that 
 ever entered my head. And what do you think it is ? 
 It is just this : that on the night of our great inaugura- 
 tion, you and John are married. Wouldn't it be splen- 
 did ? I could hardly wait to get my breakfast, before I 
 came over to tell you about it. Why, Mary, what a 
 thrilling interest it would give to the occasion ; for you 
 know this whole movement started with John ; and now, 
 after we have all learned about his history, and see, as 
 we all do, that this temperance movement, and this new 
 scheme of ours, will not only save all our young people, 
 14 
 
210 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 but lift John Lane to the highest place among us, what 
 a capital idea it would be ! What a glorious plan, that 
 you and he should be married on the night of the open- 
 ing ! Why, Mary, I will help you every way, and if you 
 will let me, I will be one of your bridesmaids. I am sure 
 my Charley would like nothing better than to appear as 
 groomsman on that occasion." 
 
 To Jane's astonishment, Mary sat silent. Her eyes 
 filled with tears, but she said not a word. When Jane 
 urged her, and urged and urged, Mary said, 
 
 " I must not tell you about it, but it cannot be." 
 
THEY CLINCH THE NAIL. 211 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 THEY CLINCH THE NAIL. 
 
 fTlHE memorable Wednesday night arrives. Every- 
 JL body in town, young and old, has been waiting for it 
 most impatiently. It did seem, at one time, that it would 
 not come at all ; but as a matter of fact, it has, and the 
 people of D., young and old, men, women, and children, 
 are all on tiptoe. Of course, everybody knew that all 
 of the inhabitants of the town could not get into those 
 rooms, but it was hoped that somehow Providence would 
 manage it. The basement had been beautifully deco- 
 rated, and a capital band of music, of ten pieces, is seated 
 in the little gallery of the dancing-hall, ready to begin. 
 Very soon after dark the music and the happy feet are 
 busy. A great many of the old men and women visit 
 that room, more or less, during the evening, just to see 
 what idiots young people can make of themselves ; and 
 the old folks laugh and rub their hands, nudge each 
 other, and really do not seem to suffer very much by 
 witnessing this scene of foolishness. 
 
 The next story above is as busy as thirty of the best 
 young ladies in town, who have volunteered to serve as 
 waiters, can make it, carrying refreshments hither and 
 thither, occasionally letting fall a tray of dishes, which 
 only adds to the general happiness. 
 
 If you go up a story higher, and choose to step into 
 
212 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 the smoking-room, you will find Colonel Dodge, Squire 
 Edmonds, old Steve Delemater, and Captain Calver, 
 trying a new brand that has been ordered for that par- 
 ticular room. Of course, the ladies' dressing-room is not 
 to be visited, and I can't describe its wonders : but you 
 will see many persons gathered about the library cases, 
 examining the few hundred books that have already 
 found their way there ; and on the walls, pictures, and 
 other works of art, which have either been given or 
 loaned by the well-to-do citizens, or which have been 
 purchased by the Art Committee. 
 
 If you go up to the next story, you will see every 
 table occupied with chess, or checkers, or backgammon, 
 or cards, and you will hear an amount of jabber and 
 boisterous mirth which will make it almost impossible to 
 hear yourself think. 
 
 And then, if you go to the upper story, you will find 
 some of the nobby young men of D., who have never had 
 a chance before to show off to their lady friends, busy 
 in what has been called the Gentleman's Game. The 
 people are as full as they can hold. The converted 
 saloonatics and their wives and daughters are present, 
 as good as anybody. They are greeted and welcomed 
 as heartily as our best citizens. 
 
 At ten o'clock, loud singing is heard from the first 
 story, and everybody that can, crowds in. But what is 
 that excitement at the door ? The crowd separates, and 
 two figures make their way to the platform. Before 
 anybody seems to know what it means, the two turn 
 their faces so that we know them. It is John Lane and 
 Mary Hart, and she has on a white dress, and orange 
 blossoms in her hair. Before the burst of feeling is 
 fairly developed, Mr. Blaine rises, and lifting his hands, 
 
THEY CLINCH THE NAIL. 213 
 
 says, " Let us pray." When the prayer is finished, he 
 proceeds at once to perform the ceremony. When that 
 is ended, and the concluding prayer is said, then begins 
 the hand-clapping, and wonder and laughter. Within 
 two hours the happy couple pass through every room of 
 the building, receiving the congratulations of everybody, 
 and But how can I describe such a scene ? Dear 
 reader, if you could have been there, if you could have 
 known all the circumstances, and have loved Mary Hart 
 as they all did, and admired John Lane as they all did, 
 if you could have been in the midst of the great revival, 
 and felt its heart-throbs as they did, you would not 
 have slept a minute that night, nor much the next. 
 
 As we all learned subsequently, Mary, after long con- 
 sultations with her mother, told John, a few days before 
 the dedication, that she would take the entire responsi- 
 bility ; he need not wait. He took her in his arms, and 
 sobbed out, 
 
 " My darling, you shall never be sorry. God helping 
 me, your eyes shall never be filled with tears on my 
 account, unless they be tears of joy." But I must not tell 
 you about this part, for really it is all a great secret. 
 
 Two months after the consecration of Richards Hall, 
 and when there were nearly twelve hundred members, 
 composed of all classes, and calling" into play every kind 
 of knack, and tact, and talent, including a really fine dra- 
 matic club, and everything was working well, John and 
 Mary concluded to make their wedding tour, -and the 
 whole town went to the depot to see them off. It was 
 very strange, for if they had been married six months 
 before, only a few relatives and friends would have fol- 
 lowed them to the station ; but you see Richards Hall 
 had made the town all one family. 
 
214 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 The crowd and the flowers, and the cheers and tears, 
 the hand-shaking and kissing, made the conductor and 
 passengers stare. The conductor cursed his luck, be- 
 cause he had not ten empty cars to accommodate the 
 crowd. But when all this fuss gave him only one stal- 
 wart young man and one timid little girl, he wondered 
 and wondered who they could be. Some one on the 
 train started the story that it was the Prince of Wales. 
 It was agreed all round that it must be some particularly 
 big bug. 
 
 John and Mary made the tour of the eastern cities, 
 and while in one of them, spent two days with Dr. Siwel 
 Oid. From him I learned the story which I am writing 
 with great pleasure to myself, and, I trust, dear reader, 
 not without some interest to you. 
 
GOOD! GOOD' CAPITAL JOKE! 215 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 GOOD! GOOD! CAPITAL JOKE. 
 
 A DOZEN of the bright young people were at work in 
 Richards Hall, putting some ornaments on the win- 
 dows and walls, a few nights after John and Mary had 
 left, and all at once Charley Beck, Jane Dodge's lover, 
 cried out, 
 
 " Stop, every one of you, and listen to me. I have got 
 the brightest plan you ever heard of: and now, girls, I 
 want you to remember that this is my plan. It is this. 
 When Mr. and Mrs. John Lane, Esq., return from the east, I 
 propose we give them a surprise. The fact is, those two 
 young people have really done more for the town, in 
 pushing this temperance movement and Richards Hall, 
 than everybody else in it. Why, if we could cipher it up, 
 we should find, I do believe, that the good they have 
 done, in a money point of view, would amount to more 
 than fifty thousand dollars. Now, you know John hasn't 
 much money. I propose we give him a boost ; and I will 
 tell you what my plan is. Bob Clark has to give up his 
 new house, and go to Philadelphia. Now, there is a 
 house that I should like to see John Lane and his wife 
 in. It is just my idea of a cottage in which love can 
 flourish. Bob told me to-day he would sell the whole 
 concern, furnished (and it is the prettiest furnished house 
 we ever had in this town), for $3500, and it never cost 
 
216 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 less than $6000 ; but, as long as he is able, I don't care. 
 Now, what do you say ? Remember, now, this is my 
 idea." 
 
 Jane Dodge, who was to be married to Charley Beck 
 as soon as Colonel Dodge was satisfied that this temper- 
 ance movement had helped Charley to permanently shift 
 the switch in his social habits, walked up to her lover, 
 and putting her hands upon his head, said, 
 
 " Charley, Charley ! this head is altogether too bright. 
 You must have a poultice put on it. Really, you are 
 getting dangerous." 
 
 But the notion took like wildfire. No one but Mrs. 
 Hart, Mrs. Lane, and Mr. Richards were in correspond- 
 ence with the absent ones, and these were put under 
 solemn pledges not to communicate what was going on. 
 
 When Mr. Richards was applied to for a subscription, 
 he said, 
 
 " Well, I have given as much as I can afford to for this 
 temperance business, but I will write my name once 
 more; so here goes for $500." 
 
 Colonel Dodge declared that he really believed there 
 was a conspiracy in town to ruin him, to make a pauper 
 of him, to send him to the poorhouse ; but he would not 
 be beaten by Richards, and so he put his name down for 
 $500. 
 
 And they went around, and there really was but little 
 difficulty in raising the needed funds ; though they did 
 finally lack $100, and could not see just where to make 
 it up. Then Mr. Richards declared that, as he was about 
 ruined any way, he might as well die for an old sheep as 
 a lamb ; so he put down an extra hundred. 
 
 The money was collected, paid to Bob Clark, and a 
 deed of the house and a bill of sale of the furniture were 
 
GOOD! GOOD! CAPITAL JOKE! 217 
 
 made out in the name of Mary Lane. Then everybody 
 was aching to have the .wanderers return. News came 
 that they would reach D. by the Thursday evening 
 train. 
 
 Stepping out at the station, John and Mary were sur- 
 prised, and really a good deal hurt, that no one was there 
 to receive them. But pretty soon Richards stepped in, 
 and greeting them, said, " This way," and took them to 
 his own carriage, the handsomest in town. John pro- 
 tested ; and, besides, he must attend to the baggage. 
 
 Mr. Richards said to him, 
 
 " Give me the checks. I'll attend to your baggage ; 
 but you must get in there, and go where you are driven. 
 It's all right." 
 
 The carriage was driven directly past Mrs. Hart's, 
 where they intended to stay, and John opened the door 
 and cried out, 
 
 " Here I here ! You are driving by. We want to 
 stop at Mrs. Hart's." 
 
 "The driver said, 
 
 " If you please, sir, it is all right. I have my instruc- 
 tions." 
 
 Soon they caught sight of that beautiful little cottage^ 
 which Mary had admired a hundred times, but the in- 
 terior of which she had never seen. They saw now that 
 it was brilliantly lighted. They were driven up to the 
 door, the carriage was opened by Charley Beck, while a 
 bevy of girls stood close behind, and behind these all the 
 bright young fellows in town ; and all were clapping their 
 hands and crying, 
 
 " Welcome 1 Welcome home ! Welcome home ! " 
 
 But such a scene is indescribable. Dear little Mary 
 was almost carried by Charley Beck and Jack Stedman, 
 
218 A STORY OF THE OHIO CRUSADE. 
 
 first into the little reception-room, then into the parlor, 
 and the folding doors were opened, and there, in a per- 
 fect little dining-room, was a table with beautiful china. 
 Tea was ready. Charley Beck, Jane Dodge, and Jack 
 Stedman insisted upon serving as waiters. When all 
 the surprise, and the laughing, and the weeping, and the 
 supper were over, then the more formal part of the pro- 
 gramme was begun. 
 
 They all assembled in the parlor and dining-room, 
 leaving a little space in the middle, where stood Mary 
 and John. Mr. Richards, then taking out of his pocket 
 the deed of the estate, and the receipt for the furniture, 
 and handing them to Mary, spoke his little speech. 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Lane : We, the citizens of D., have pur- 
 chased this house and its contents in } T our name. They are 
 yours. These papers make them so. We have long known 
 you and your mother, and your noble husband and his 
 mother, and we esteem and love you all. We all know that 
 this most beneficent temperance revolution, and our 
 amusement-rooms, may be traced to you and your husband. 
 We feel that, in giving you this home, we give you no 
 more than you deserve. We lose nothing in the gift ; 
 every dollar presented to you in 'the purchase of this 
 home is money well invested. It will do us more good 
 in giving than you in receiving. May you and your 
 noble husband continue long in our midst, and make this 
 home a little rendezvous for the earnest workers in every 
 good cause." 
 
 " What's a ronvue ? " whispered old Dave Spear. 
 
 Long before Mr. Richards's speech was finished, dear 
 little Mary was very pale, and was clinging to John's 
 arm. Some one said, 
 
 " She is fainting." 
 
GOOD! GOOD! CAPITAL JOKE! 219 
 
 " No," cried Mary, " I am not fainting ; but what can I 
 say ? what can I do ? how can I bear all this ? " 
 
 John put his great, strong arm around her, and said, 
 " Dear, dear friends, I have no words with which to thank 
 you. I can't tell you ; I wish I could, but it's no use. 
 May God bless you ! May God bless you ! " 
 
 Soon, as if by some preconcerted signal, everybody 
 vanished, and John and Mary found themselves alone. 
 
 The next day there were two cottages for rent in D., 
 the former residences of the widows Hart and Lane. 
 
THE WOMAN'S CRUSADE. 
 
 fjlHE Woman's Crusade in Ohio astonished the world. 
 _L Now the people wonder that the women's movement 
 in New England should accomplish so little. People 
 have said to me, " The thing don't seem to work so well 
 here." 
 
 The Ohio thing would work just as well here as it did 
 in Ohio. The secret is, that the New England thing is 
 not at all like the Ohio thing. It would be difficult to 
 imagine two things more widely different. I have urged 
 here and there, again and again, in New England, the 
 employment of the Ohio tactics. The reply has generally 
 been, that the means adapted to Ohio are not adapted to 
 the refined tastes of New England. This is an entire 
 misapprehension of the case. 
 
 Let me illustrate. I have recently held two mass 
 temperance meetings in a neighboring city, and explained 
 the methods which were so triumphantly successful in 
 the West. After the second meeting, in an interview 
 with the President of the Woman's Prayer League, I 
 urged immediate action. Her reply was, 
 
 " We are holding weekly prayer meetings, and praying 
 God to close the dram-shops of this city. He will close 
 them if He sees fit.". 
 
 221 
 
222 THE WOMAN'S CRUSADE. 
 
 I said, " Suppose to-morrow morning you rise, and, 
 gathering your family, you pray, l Give us this day our 
 daily bread.' Rising from your knees, you look at the 
 table, and find that the bread has not come. 
 
 " The children cry, ' Ma, I am hungry.' 
 
 " You say, t Let us pray again,' and you repeat with 
 still greater fervor, < Lord, give us this day our daily 
 bread'.' 
 
 " Rising from your knees, you again examine the table, 
 and still it is bare. No one denies that God could give 
 you the bread if He chose ; but you may go on praying, 
 ' Give us this day our daily bread,' until you starve ; 
 not a crumb will appear. 
 
 " The women of Ohio prayed no more earnestly than 
 you pray ; but they worked as well as prayed, and that 
 was the secret of their wonderful success. You pray, 
 1 Give us this day our daily bread,' and wait for the bread 
 to come. The women in Ohio uttered the same prayer, 
 and then they went to work and made the bread. That 
 is the difference between the Woman's Temperance 
 Movement in Ohio and the Woman's Temperance Move- 
 ment in New England.'* 
 
 The lady asked me again if I did not think God could 
 close up the dram-shops if He chose. 
 
 But, again, it is said that the tactics adapted to Ohio 
 are not adapted to the refined tastes of New England. 
 That the women of Ohio are quite as refined as those of 
 New England, needs no proof or illustration with those 
 who are familiar with society in both sections ; and to 
 say that the most refined ladies of that great and noble 
 state the wives of judges, congressmen, clergymen, 
 the wives of the richest citizens, and ladies who stand 
 highest in society were the leaders in the Woman's 
 
THE WOMAN'S CRUSADE. 223 
 
 Movement in Ohio, is to repeat what is already familiar 
 with the public. 
 
 No ; it is not that the methods employed in Ohio are not 
 adapted to New England ; but the explanation is this : 
 New England is given to essays, speeches, the " evolu- 
 tion of ideas ; " while the West combines with thought, 
 action ! action ! action ! ! 
 
 There is not a locality in the country where the tactics 
 employed by the Ohio women would fail. 
 
 Again, there is a general idea in New England that the 
 temperance revolution is to be achieved through public 
 meetings'. The rum- seller and the drunkard are away 
 over there, a mile off. The rum-seller is on one side of 
 the bar, the drunkard is on the other. The evil work 
 goes on. We long to put a stop to it ; it is the aim and 
 object of the temperance movement. We gather in a 
 church, sing, pray, and preach about the horrors of in- 
 temperance and the beauties of temperance, and, when 
 the meeting is over, and we are walking past the rum- 
 shop, we hear them inside singing, " We who drink are 
 jolly good fellows," &c. 
 
 But to go back to the meeting. The good man, in his 
 prayer, asks God to bless the truths which are spoken, 
 to send them home to the hearts of every rum-seller in 
 the land, <fec. 
 
 Riding through Kansas recently, I saw here and there 
 prairie chickens flying in the distance. .If a man had 
 loaded *his rifle, put the breech against his breast, and, 
 pointing it upward, had shut his eyes and pulled, no mat- 
 ter though he was starving, his prayers that God would 
 direct the shot to the bird would probably not be an- 
 swered. If he would have his prayer answered, he must 
 
224 THE WOMAN'S CRUSADE. 
 
 get up close to the game, and take good aim at the bird's 
 heart. And if at the temperance meeting the speakers 
 fire off their temperance platitudes into the air, no mat- 
 ter how earnestly they may pray that God would direct 
 the shot so as to hit that nun-seller a mile away, it will 
 probably not hit. If they would have their prayer an- 
 swered, they must get dose to the man, and take aim 
 straight at his heart. 
 
 Nothing could be more pitiful than the present man- 
 ment of the Woman's Temperance Movement in some 
 parts of New England. I have in mind a small city 
 which has three hundred and forty known grog-shops. 
 The good women of that city have organized a prayer 
 league, and about a dozen of them meet onee a week to 
 pray God to close the dram-shops. The newspapers of 
 the town report now and then that " the ladies of the 
 Prayer League are busy and hopefr.l." Exactly what 
 they are doing is to meet once a week to pray. They 
 do not propose to do anything else. When you urge 
 them to move on the works of the enemy, they stop 
 all discussion by asking if you think God could not re- 
 move the curse if He chose; if you think His arm is 
 shortened. 
 
 I never argue this, but always admit that Gocl could 
 close all the dram-shops if He chose ; though I did ven- 
 ture the other day to ask one of these ladies why, if she 
 trusted the closing of dram-shops exclusively to prayer, 
 she did not leave the conversion of the heathen with God. 
 Why send missionaries ? Why not confine their efforts to 
 prayer ? And I asked her if she had ever heard of con- 
 versions among the heathen, except through missionaries 
 and other similar means. 
 
THE WOMAN'S CRUSADE. 225 
 
 IMPORTANT SUGGESTIONS. 
 
 I submit the following suggestions in regard to the 
 management of the New Temperance Movement : 
 
 We will consider the case of a town of ten thousand 
 inhabitants, eight churches, and fifty grog-shops. The 
 people resolve to banish rum. A meeting is called in the 
 largest church, and results in the appointment of eight 
 committees of ten women each, and twenty committees 
 of two men each. 
 
 The women committees devote themselves to rum- 
 sellers, the men committees to rum-drinkers. 
 
 The women go to the homes of rum-sellers, and to their 
 places of business. They talk, plead, and pray. Each 
 committee pursues the course which seems, under the 
 circumstances of each case, lady-like and Christian, and 
 they devote about two hours each day to their work. 
 
 The men look up the drinkers, and with brotherly love 
 win them to sign the pledge arid keep it ; and they de- 
 vote at least an hour each clay to their work. 
 
 Meetings are held every evening for prayer, and to 
 hear the reports of the committees. 
 
 It is a most effective measure to send out a committee 
 of influential ladies to induce business men to close their 
 places of business for an hour every day, that all may 
 meet in the churches for prayer and consultation. I 
 think an effort to accomplish this did not fail anywhere 
 in Ohio, and it always proved a powerful aid. 
 
 As soon as the grog-shops are closed, or nearly all 
 closed, the opening of holly-tree inns, amusement halls, 
 &c., must be taken in hand. 
 15 
 
A BRIEF HISTOEY OF THE WOMAN'S 
 CRUSADE. 
 
 WHEN a boy I became familiar with the sorrows 
 which intemperance brings to a home. I learned 
 to hate intoxicating drinks. My observations in my 
 own and other countries, during nearly half a century, 
 have not abated that hatred. When the darkness became 
 such that my mother could not see her way, she climbed 
 into the attic, and we young people could sometimes 
 hear her cry, " Lord, how long ! how long ! " When 
 she came down, her face shone like an angel's. The 
 clouds were never so dense over our home, that mothers 
 visit to the upper story did not part them, and let in the 
 light of heaven. And now more than forty years after 
 those sorrowful days, I believe that woman's prayer, and 
 patience, and love, are more potent in the cure of intem- 
 perance, than all other agencies combined. 
 
 In this faith I tried, twenty-one years ago, to organize 
 what is now known as the " Woman's Crusade." Several 
 unsuccessful attempts were made. The first consider- 
 able success was achieved in Dixon,' Illinois. It was 
 about sixteen years ago. Dixon was quite a city even 
 then, and had thirty-nine drinking places. They were 
 closed in one week, and remained closed for some time. 
 I shall never forgive myself for not remaining on the 
 
 227 
 
228 HISTORY OF THE WOMAN'S CRUSADE. 
 
 * 
 
 ground, helping to organize social and literary clubs, and 
 amusement halls, and other substitutes for the lighted, 
 warmed, social dram-shops, and thus have fairly inaugu- 
 rated the " Woman's Crusade." But at that time I was 
 engaged in an effort to introduce a new system of physi- 
 cal training into the schools of the country, and gave 
 only Sunday to the temperance work. 
 
 A few months later a Sunday was given to the tem- 
 perance cause in Battle Creek, Michigan. There were 
 about fifty drinking places, and the city had the rep- 
 utation of being a " hard town." The groggeries were 
 swept away like chaff before the wind ; and the Rev. 
 Charles Jones, a highly esteemed clergyman^ in charge 
 of the Congregational church in that city, and now 
 located at Saxonville, Mass., thinks that then and there 
 we just missed the inauguration <pf a great and benefi- 
 cent revolution. Within the twenty-one years I have 
 made about twenty attempts. One of the more re- 
 cent ones was in Manchester, N. H., the largest city 
 in that State. It was in the summer of 18G9. In 
 that city I made an earnest effort, with a fuller sense 
 of the importance of the work. Some time was spent 
 in preparing for it. The Hon. Luther Clark, United 
 States Senator, was engaged to preside, all the promi- 
 nent clergymen of the city were on the platform, and 
 many other influential gentlemen, with whom I had 
 conversed privately, were present, prepared to give 
 their aid and co-operation. The meeting was a grand 
 success. The next morning, by invitation of the mayor, 
 the committees elected at the mass meeting assembled 
 in the common council chamber, and at once made 
 preparations to begin the good work. I was called back 
 to my home that day by a misfortune in my private 
 business affairs, and was compelled to remain at home 
 
HISTORY OF THE WOMAN^S CRUSADE. 229 
 
 for some time. I will not say that my presence in Man- 
 chester would have prevented all mistakes, but certainly 
 the friends of the cause made a serious one as soon as I 
 had left them. Instead of going out and beginning their 
 visits at the dram-shops immediately, they resolved to 
 appoint committees to circulate a petition to rum-sellers, 
 among all the women of the city. They went at this 
 with great energy, and within a week had the names of 
 nearly all the women in the city, and then they gave 
 another week or ten days to printing these in a pamphlet. 
 It made quite a volume. This cost a good deal of money ; 
 but worse than this, the enthusiasm which had been 
 kindled at the great meeting died away, and when their 
 volume of names was ready, there was no one ready to 
 circulate it, or only a few, and they were not borne 
 on by a grand passion, as committees must be in all great 
 moral revolutions. 
 
 In the autumn of 1873 I wont to Ohio, to lecture 
 before the lyceums, on the " Higher Education of Our 
 Girls," and having a spare evening at Hillsboro',.1 pro- 
 posed to give them my old lecture, " The Duty of Chris- 
 tian Women in the Cause of Temperance ?? a lecture 
 which in twenty years I had delivered more than three 
 hundred times. The circumstances were not peculiar, 
 and I had no unusual expectations. But before the lec- 
 ture was done, it was evident there was a deep, strong 
 passion pervading the audience, and when I asked if 
 the women were inclined to organize 'and attempt the 
 suppression of the dram-shops, more than a hundred 
 sprang to their feet. The public are pretty familiar with 
 what followed. I went the next day to Washington 
 C. H., one of the brightest towns in the State, and on 
 Christmas day organized the temperance movement 
 there. Washington C. H. was a town of about three 
 
230 HISTORY OF THE WOMAWS CRUSADE. 
 
 thousand inhabitants, and very drunken. They had told 
 me atHillsboro', " If you wish to work in the temperance 
 cause, go over to Washington, and you will find enough 
 to do." 
 
 In eight weeks the following appeared in that most 
 excellent paper, the Cincinnati Gazette, and similar 
 accounts in all the leading papers of the country : 
 
 " ON THE FIRST BATTLE-GROUND. 
 
 " WASHINGTON C. H., Feb. H. 
 
 " If, some six months ago, some one had stood before 
 this community, and prophesied that yesterday Washing- 
 ton would be dressed in holiday attire to celebrate the 
 victory over King Alcohol, to rejoice over the closing up 
 of every rum-hole and saloon in the place, such a prophet 
 would have been thought a fit candidate for the lunatic 
 asylum. Yet hundreds of hearts beat in deepest grati- 
 tude that, inthe providence of God, such grand results 
 have been secured. 
 
 " The festivities of yesterday began with some general 
 exercises at Music Hall, R: A. Robinson presiding over 
 the meeting. 
 
 " At twelve M., an adjournment was made for dinner, 
 which had been most bountifully prepared by the citi- 
 zens in their homes, for invited guests and visitors. 
 
 " At one o'clock all gathered at the depot, and on the 
 
 arrival of- the Columbus train, was received 
 
 with martial music, shouts of welcome, and cordial hand, 
 shaking. The procession then moved to Music Hall, 
 where the following appropriate address of welcome was 
 delivered by Mrs. M. G. Carpenter: 
 
 " t : In the name of the women of Washing- 
 ton, I welcome you. Eight weeks ago, when you first 
 
HISTORY OF THE WOMAN'S CRUSADE. 231 
 
 came among us, you found us a people of warm hearts 
 generous impulses fully alive to the evils of intemper- 
 ance, and needing only the magnetism of a master mind 
 to rouse us to a determined resistance of its ravages. 
 
 Yours was that mind, . Your hand pointed 
 
 out the way. You vitalized our latent activities, and 
 roused us all, men and women together, and we have 
 gone forth to the battle side by side, as God intended 
 we should, ourselves perfect weakness, but God mighty 
 in strength. He sent you here. He put the thought 
 into your heart. He prepared our hearts to receive it. 
 And now he has brought you among us again to gladden 
 you with the fruition of hope long deferred to see the 
 seed sown years ago by your mother, springing up, bud- 
 ding, and bearing fruit. , I welcome you to 
 
 the hearts and homes of Washington. 7 
 
 " replied substantially as follows : 
 
 " l Madam and Friends : I cannot make a speech on 
 this occasion. I have always been on the frontier, al- 
 ways engaged in the battle of reform. And now to find 
 something really accomplished, to find a town positively 
 free from the curse of liquor-selling, it really seems as if 
 there is nothing for me to do. I feel as one without 
 working harness. But I will say this : none but God can 
 ever know how much I owe to this town, nor how fortu- 
 nate it was for me and for many others that I came here. 
 I will not say that this is the only community in which 
 the work could be begun. The heroism and self-sacrifice 
 displayed in other places would make such a remark 
 invidious/ &c., &c." 
 
 I have given you the results in one of the Ohio 
 towns. 
 
THE CURE FOR A BALKY MULE. 
 
 ONE day last spring, while coming up Fulton Street, in 
 the city of New York, rny attention was attracted to 
 a crowd a little way up the street. Upon .reaching it, 
 I elbowed my way through, and found it was a case of 
 balky mule. The mules were very small, and the load 
 of brick was large, and in the steepest part of the hill 
 the rear mule concluded to retire from business. 
 
 The driver was a big brute, and flourished a savage 
 black- snake whip. One fellow in the crowd cried out, 
 " Cut him under the belly." 
 
 Another cried, " Hit his ears. That'll fetch him." 
 
 And still another, " Build a fire under him. There's 
 some straw ! Build a fire under him. That'll fetch him 
 sure." 
 
 The driver was meantime busy with his black-snake, 
 and re-enforced it with the most terrific profanity. I 
 stepped toward him, and expostulated. 
 
 " Don't, for mercy's sake, don't ! That won't do any 
 good." 
 
 " Who are you ? You mind your own business, and 
 I'll tend to my mule ; " and the crowd hooted, " Out with 
 him ! out with him ! Give him the whip." 
 
 Just then a big negro stepped forward, and said, 
 
 232 
 
THE CURE FOR A B^LKY MULE. 233 
 
 "Boss, if you'll stop lickin' the little cuss, I've got 
 some medson 'fill cure 'im." 
 
 " You shet up your black yaup, or I'll give it to you," 
 was the driver's gentle reply. 
 
 With a broad grin the negro repeated, 
 
 " Boss, if you'll stop lickin' J im, I've got some medson 
 'fill cure ? irn." 
 
 As the teams were accumulating above and below, 
 and as the crowd was rapidly augumenting, and two or 
 three policemen were trying to clear the street, and as 
 the driver saw that his tortures did no good, he cried 
 out, 
 
 " Here, you nigger, what is your medicine ? " 
 
 " I want to talk to the little cuss. I want to whisper 
 to 7 im." 
 
 With a nine-jointed oath the driver consigned the 
 black man to the infernal regions ; but the negro per- 
 sisted, 
 
 " Look a heah, boss. I was born among the mules, and 
 brought up among the mules, and I tell ye, I know all 
 about mules." 
 
 " Well, try yer medicine, quick." 
 
 The negro at once put his cheek against the mule's 
 nose, and began with his hand to pat his neck, rub his 
 ears, and repeat in a low, soft voice, 
 
 " Poor fellow ! poor fellow ! poor fellow ! " 
 
 After a few moments the negro said, 
 
 " Now, boss, if you'll tech up t'other one, this one'll 
 go, I reckon." 
 
 The driver touched the other mule, which had been 
 willing to go all the time ; not anxious, but rather willing ; 
 and when that one started, and the negro said to his mule, 
 in a pleasant, coaxing voice, " Come, old feller, don't 
 
234 THE CURE FfR A BALKY MULE. 
 
 be a fooling" off he went, leaping and tearing up the hill 
 as hard as he could go. 
 
 I looked round upon the crowd, and saw scarcely a 
 face that did not show disappointment. They evidently 
 felt that they had been cheated out of a feast. They 
 were eager to have the poor creature beaten and tor- 
 tured into submission. 
 
 This is the spirit in which drunkards were treated 
 until the Washingtonian days. They were loathed and 
 kicked. They were solemnly assured that not only was 
 there no place on earth for them, except the gutter and 
 the drunkard's grave, but that the gates of heaven were 
 shut against them. 
 
 A few drunkards in Baltimore, in their despair, looked 
 up to God, and in his love he pitied and helped them. 
 He taught them that love was all-sufficient. The good 
 work began. Brotherly love triumphed everywhere. 
 No more scowls, no more curses, for the drunkard ; but 
 everywhere men went down to him in his darkness and 
 sorrow, put the arms of their fraternal love about him, 
 and led him up into the light. In an evil hour the pro- 
 hibitory law came, and love died out. 
 
 In the same bitter spirit we continued to treat the 
 rum-seller until last winter, when the women of Ohio, 
 filled with the spirit of Washingtonianism, went about 
 pleading and praying with rum- sellers. That wonderful 
 movement, known as the " Woman's Crusade," will never 
 be fully comprehended. The results in the way of clos- 
 ing rum-shops were astonishiug. More were closed in 
 three months, in Ohio alone, than have been closed in the 
 whole country, by prohibitory law, since the inaugura- 
 tion of that law, a quarter of a century ago. And what 
 is most important, under the " Crusade," the dealers, in 
 
THE CURE FOR A BALKY MULE. 235 
 
 great part, stopped willingly, and then heartily co-oper- 
 ated with the women in their good work. One such 
 abandonment of the business is worth more to the cause 
 of temperance than a hundred closures by the con- 
 stable. 
 
TEEATMENT OF THE INSANE. 
 
 THE insane, all over Europe and America, were treated 
 with dreadful cruelties. They were confined in stone 
 cells, chained by both ankles to the floor, the left wrist 
 often chained too, only the right arm left at liberty to 
 feed themselves ; and they were left often for weeks at a 
 time in their filth, their meagre food being pushed in 
 through a hole in the door. They received no other 
 attention, unless they made a noise, in which case a long 
 stick was thrust through the hole in the door, and the 
 poor creatures were beaten over the head. Such was 
 the treatment of the insane up to eighty-four years ago. 
 
 Let me conduct you into the directors' room, in an 
 Insane Asylum in Paris, eighty-four years ago the first 
 day of last January. 
 
 Eight pompous Frenchmen occupy large arm-chairs. 
 One of them, a gross, red-faced, bald man, occupies the 
 largest chair, and sits a little apart. He is evidently 
 their chairman. This is the Board of Directors of an im- 
 mense Insane Asylum. They are awaiting the arrival of 
 the newly-appointed medical director the famous Dr. 
 Pinel. 
 
 Now he enters, a large man with a striking face it 
 is at once remarkably strong and singularly tender. The 
 
 236 
 
TREATMENT OF THE INSANE. 237 
 
 directors rise to receive him, and the chairman intro- 
 duces such of them as had not before met the distin- 
 guished gentleman. There seems nothing remarkable 
 in this meeting, but it is fraught with great and benefi- 
 cent consequences. Dr. Pinel takes the proffered seat 
 at the right hand of the chairman, and a general conver- 
 sation ensues. 
 
 Soon the chairman ventures to express surprise that 
 Dr. Pinel should have accepted the appointment. 
 
 " Surely," says the chairman, " you could not have 
 accepted the place for the honor or the money, and we 
 have been wondering what could have influenced you." 
 
 Dr. Pinel, in a voice of marvellous sweetness, replies, 
 
 " Gentlemen, so far from refusing the appointment, I 
 sought it. My purpose is one which, I fear, may not 
 interest you, and which you may not even fully compre- 
 hend. The treatment of the insane is everywhere bar- 
 barous and brutal, a shame and disgrace to our civiliza- 
 tion. I propose to introduce another and a better system. 
 I propose to introduce a system composed of reason, 
 patience, gentleness, and love." 
 
 " But," exclaims the coarse, insensible chairman, " do 
 you think you can cure that barber with love ? Listen : 
 that is his voice you hear now. Do you think you can 
 manage him with love ? " 
 
 " Gentlemen," responds Dr. Pinel, " we might as well 
 begin now, and if you will wait for me an hour, I will 
 try my new system on him." 
 
 " I have no objection, Monsieur le Docteur ; but don't 
 go into his cell, for; when I told him this morning that 
 you had been appointed superintendent, he exclaimed, 
 1 Let me get at him, and I will cut his throat. 7 So keep 
 on the outside, and out of his reach." 
 
238 TREATMENT OF THE INSANE. 
 
 Dr. Pinel tells the story : 
 
 " I walked quietly down the corridor, and looking 
 through the little hole in his cell door, I said, 
 
 " ' Good morning, my brother/ 
 
 " Clutching at my face with his free hand, he yelled at 
 me, 
 
 " ' I'll brother you I Let me get hold of you. Ill 
 brother you.' 
 
 " I continued in the kindest manner and voice to 
 repeat, 
 
 " ' My brother, I love you, and have come to serve 
 you. I will do everything in my power to make you 
 comfortable and happy. My dear brother, God knows I 
 would die for you if need be.' 
 
 " He continued for some minutes to spit at me and 
 curse me, when all at once his hands dropped by his 
 sides, he became pale, and turned his face away as if 
 ashamed. 
 
 " I then said, 
 
 " ' My brother, I unlock the door and come in to you.' 
 
 " The poor fellow exclaimed, half ashamed and half 
 frightened, 
 
 " ' 0, doctor, don't come in, for God's sake, don't come 
 in ! don't ! don't ! 0, I shall kill you ! I know I shall ! ' 
 
 " l My brother, you would sooner kill yourself than 
 hurt a hair of my head. I am coming in.' 
 
 " I then unlocked the door, and stepped into the cell. 
 I stood immediately in front of the insane man. A 
 sudden impulse seized me, and opening my arms, the 
 poor fellow opened his, and enfolding each other, we 
 wept on each other's neck. 
 
 " I then said, l My brother, I now unlock your limbs.' 
 
 " He cried out, ' 0, don't. I shall certainly hurt you.' 
 
TREATMENT OF THE INSANE. 239 
 
 " ' No/ was my reply ; ' you would not ; you could not 
 harm me.' 
 
 " I unlocked his ankles and his wrist, and then putting 
 my arm about him, I led him down the corridor to the 
 wash-room, where with my own hands I bathed him. 
 Then taking him to the great wardrobe, I dressed him 
 in good clothes, and conducted him to the room where 
 the directors were still waiting. When I opened the 
 door, and the chairman got sight of my companion's face, 
 he sprang up, and cried out, 
 
 " < My God, let me get out ! ' 
 
 " I backed up against the door, so that he could not 
 escape, and said, 
 
 " ' Don't be alarmed j my brother here is clothed, and 
 in his right mind.' 
 
 " When we were quietly seated, the chairman, who 
 was disposed to justify his suspicions, said, with consid- 
 erable passion, 
 
 " ' This man told me this very morning, that he would 
 cut your throat, if he could get at you.' 
 
 ".' Ah ! ' said I, l and that reminds me that I have not 
 been shaved this morning, and my brother must shave 
 me.' 
 
 " He quickly knelt at my side, and clinging about my 
 knee, exclaimed, 
 
 " ' My brother, don't tempt me now. I see it all. I 
 shall come to it, but not now.' 
 
 " * 0,' I said, ' we must show these gentlemen. It is 
 very important. Yes, my brother, now ! Bring the 
 soap and razor.' 
 
 " With a pale face and trembling hand he shaved me 
 very nicely ; and from that hour we began the new sys- 
 tem, with the full co-operation of the board.'' 
 
240 TREATMENT OF THE INSANE. 
 
 From that day the new gospel for the insane began to 
 be preached all" over the civilized world. One of the 
 German states has abandoned its large, gloomy stone 
 buildings, with its cells and bars, and their hundreds of 
 insane are kept in little villages, and there, living out in 
 the sunshine and fresh air, and surrounded by birds, 
 flowers, the love of women, and the prattle of children, 
 they recover with a rapidity which astonishes medical 
 men. Within a few years, in this country, the bolts and 
 bars must give way for a better system. 
 
 Nine people in ten, when they hear of a wrong-doer, 
 no matter who or what he is, double up their fists, and 
 cry out, 
 
 Why don't you hit him ? Hit him ! Smash him ! " 
 
 With the great majority of people, this is the first 
 impulse, and I suppose it is still the habit with many 
 parents, when their children do wrong, to beat their 
 heads. 
 
 And if their neighbors, whom they do not love as 
 well as their children, do wrong, their first impulse is to 
 hit them hard. They cry out, 
 
 " Arrest them ! fine them ! imprison them ! " 
 
 We have come, fiot so very far back, from peoples and 
 tribes that lived in the base of their brains, and we have 
 not yet risen quite out of their low level of passion and 
 brute force. 
 
MAJOR BARRON. 
 
 CHAPTER FIRST. 
 HIS ENGAGEMENT. 
 
 MAJOR BARRON, formerly of Lynchburg, Virginia, 
 removed to the city of C., Ohio, while still a young 
 man. When the war broke out, he was about twenty-five 
 
 years of age ; went out in the Ohio regiment as a 
 
 captain, and returned home, at the close of the war, with 
 the rank of major. He did not lose a leg, but he ac- 
 quired a passion for strong drink, and when he returned 
 home, Nelly Stearns, to whom he had been engaged for 
 six years, was solemnly warned by many friends. 
 
 At the dinner given in honor of their return, the major 
 was called out for a speech, and disgraced himself. At 
 the close of the dinner, he so far forgot himself as to go 
 directly to Nelly's beautiful home, end walk into the 
 drawing-room, drunk. 
 
 When the major was helped away, poor "Nelly fled to 
 her chamber, overwhelmed with mortification and grief. 
 Opening the drawer in which she had packed away the 
 hundreds of letters received from him during his absence 
 in the army, she took up the bundles, one after another, 
 fondly kissed them, and exclaimed, 
 
 " Is it possible ? God have mercy on me ! I could 
 16 241 
 
242 MAJOR BARRON. 
 
 not have believed it, but it is true. I saw him. He is 
 lost ! He is lost ! 0, what shall I do ? What shall I do ? 
 Father and mother will never consent never ! never ! 
 And if they did, how could I ? If he would come, before 
 our marriage, intoxicated, into my very home, what 
 would he not do after our marriage? The dream is 
 over. I must give him up. Yes, I must give him up. 
 When they told me about it, I did not believe them ; 
 but now I have seen it myself." 
 
 Three hours later, Major Barren sent a note to Nelly 
 Stearns. It was written with a trembling hand, and 
 was full of remorse. He was so nearly insensible when 
 calling at her home, that he began his note with say- 
 ing, 
 
 " If I called upon you this afternoon in an unfit con- 
 dition, I beg you will excuse me. It shall never happen 
 again. I am distressed with the thought that I have 
 wounded your feelings," <fcc., &c. 
 
 Nelly read the note, and sat a long time holding it in 
 her hand, and gazing out of the window. Then she 
 went to the drawer, and took out the last letter he had 
 written, before leaving the South. She read it over and 
 over, stopping to wipe away her tears at the end of each 
 expression of passionate love. She recalled the scene 
 of the afternoon, and again read the note of apology. 
 Was it all a dream? and should she awaken to find that 
 her lover was the same pure, chivalrous being that she 
 had followed to the front, when he first went out to fight 
 the enemies of his country? But a glance at the scrawl 
 she had just received recalled her to the wretched 
 truth. 
 
 The relation between Nelly Stearns and her parents, 
 was one of great confidence and singular tenderness. 
 After supper, Nelly sent to ask her father and mother to 
 come to her chamber. 
 
MAJOR BARRON. 243 
 
 They found her sitting on a low stool in the corner, 
 with a pale face and reddened eyes. The mother went 
 quickly to her daughter, and knelt by her side. Nelly 
 threw her arms about her mother's neck, and burst into 
 tumultuous grief. They all wept together, and when 
 the paroxysm had passed, they sat down to consider what 
 should be done. The day for the marriage had not been 
 appointed ; but it was understood, before the major left 
 the South, that the wedding should occur immediately 
 upon his return. The father said, 
 
 " After what has happened, he will not expect the mar- 
 riage to occur very soon. It never shall take place at 
 all, with my consent, until I am perfectly satisfied that 
 this dreadful affair was a pure accident, or until I am 
 convinced, beyond a doubt, that he has reformed." 
 
 The mother hoped it would all be explained when they 
 saw Clarence, and she proposed that they send over a 
 note requesting him to come to them. Nelly was sitting 
 on the little stool in the corner, her pale face buried in 
 her hands, saying nothing, but occasionally responding 
 to what her parents said, by a low moan. When Mrs. 
 Stearns proposed to send the note, asking Clarence to 
 come over and see them, Nelly moaned out, 
 
 " 0, I can't see him ; it is impossible. But, of course, 
 you ought to see him, father." 
 
 So Mr. Stearns wrote the note, and late in the even- 
 ing, Major Barren came, and was shown into the draw- 
 ing-room, where he found Mr. and Mrs. Stearns waiting 
 to see him. They both rose and received him in a man- 
 ner becoming the situation. He took a seat on the other 
 side of the room, and Mrs; Stearns began at once : 
 
 " Clarence, we are overwhelmed. We tried to think 
 there was some mistake, some misunderstanding ; but no ; 
 you have disgraced yourself, disgraced us, and broken 
 all our hearts. How could you have done so ? " 
 
244 MAJOR BARRON. 
 
 The good woman had said all she could, and broke 
 down. Mr. Stearns said, 
 
 " Major, your condition to-day, as described by my 
 wife, was certainly most unexpected and mortifying. 
 We had been informed, by a person in your regiment, 
 that you were using intoxicating drinks ; but we scarcely 
 believed it, or supposed it was in some way incident to 
 the exposures and trials of a military campaign. We 
 were not prepared for the exhibition in this room to- 
 day." 
 
 Major Barron replied, 
 
 " My friends, I shall not defend myself. I came over 
 because you requested it, and I will hear everything you 
 choose to say. It was a disgrace an outrage. Indeed, 
 Thave no language with which to characterize it, and I 
 trust you will feel at liberty to speak your minds. I 
 know I deserve the worst that can be said. Indeed, I 
 but utter my real convictions when I say that I deserve 
 to be shot, or, a hundred fold worse, to be cast off by you 
 and your daughter." 
 
 The mother, who had partially recovered from her emo- 
 tion, interrupted the major with, 
 
 " How could you do it, Clarence ? I never would have 
 believed it possible ! " 
 
 " Indeed," exclaimed Mr. Stearns, " it is most inexpli- 
 cable. I can't comprehend it." 
 
 " But," said Major Barron, " while, as I have said, I 
 shall not defend myself, I may say that if you could have 
 spent a month in the service, even what occurred to-day 
 would not astonish you. When men get away from 
 women, and especially when in the army, which, in an 
 enemy's country, leads a reckless, wild, dare-devil life, 
 drink, drink, drink, is the order on every hand. They 
 count the dead and wounded, and then they think they 
 have all the losses of the war. They don't count the 
 
MAJOR BARRON. 245 
 
 thousands who, while in the army, learn to drink that 
 dreadful poison yes; tens of thousands of them. Al- 
 most every man in my regiment has fallen. God alone 
 knows what a sacrifice the country has made in the bad 
 habits which men have learned in the army. During 
 the first year I adhered to my temperance principles, 
 and 'a number of others in our regiment did. But when 
 I was promoted to the rank of major, I gave a dinner. 
 At that dinner I drank wine for the first time in my life. 
 I had no idea, then, that drinking one glass would lessen 
 my power to resist the next one, and that the second 
 glass would lessen still more my power to resist the 
 third. I was taken home drunk. Drunk? Yes, drunk! 
 The next morning, when 1 awoke, I was ashamed of my- 
 self, and wanted to hide. I felt that I must crawl away 
 somewhere out of human sight ; but soon my fellow offi- 
 cers came in, and were so hearty and brotherly, tha' my 
 shame quickly passed away. Some of them proposed, 
 seeing my haggard face, that I should take something to 
 .set me right. Fool that I was ; I drank a glass of whis- 
 key, and within a few hours was dead drunk again. 
 
 " The colonel, who was my true friend, and has 6een 
 through everything, came to me when I was sober again, 
 and after some very kind-hearted, brotherly talk, advised 
 me not to drink more than a single glass at a time. He 
 said, 
 
 " t A single glass hurts no one/ 
 
 " I did not then know that with me a single glass 
 meant drinking till 1 was dead drunk, and I have never 
 since been able to realty convince myself of this, although 
 1 know -that 1 never take one glass without following it 
 up by others. 1 have never been able to convince my- 
 self, when the opportunity for drinking one glass is pre- 
 sented, that I can't restrain myself. Now you call 
 understand the whole, miserable, wretched story. 
 
246 MAJOR BARRON. 
 
 11 The colonel, who has been more than a brother to 
 me. has protected me from disgrace and expulsion. But 
 for his brotherly forbearance I should have been turned 
 out of the service long ago. Of course I have not 
 looked forward to a marriage with your daughter with- 
 out the solemn purpose to abandon intoxicating drinks ; 
 but I have been surrounded by companions who are in 
 the habit of drinking constantly, and so I have been post- 
 poning the final relinquishment of this bad indulgence 
 until I should be out of the service." 
 
 The parents and the major, after the first awkwardness 
 and emotion were overcome, talked freely, and until a 
 late hour. He left a kind message for Nelly, and when 
 he was gone, the parents went directly to Nelly's cham- 
 ber, and found the poor child paler than before, but with 
 the same wretched expression, crouching in the corner 
 on the same stool. They repeated to her the principal 
 portion of the conversation with Clarence, and the mother 
 helped the poor child to her bed. 
 
 CHAPTER SECOND. 
 THE ENGAGEMENT IS BROKEN. 
 
 THE family heard nothing of Major Barron for a num- 
 ber of days, and then he sent a sad note to Nelly, ask- 
 ing an interview, and suggesting that it should take place 
 in the presence of the parents. At the appointed time 
 they met in the Stearns's drawing-room, and after a few- 
 moments of embarrassment fell into an old-time chat. 
 Before leaving, the major, with painful emotion, said, 
 " I asked this interview that I might speak frankly 
 with you, Nelly, and with your parents, about our mar- 
 
MAJOR BARRON. 247 
 
 riage. Under the circumstances, it seemed to me only 
 honorable that the conversation on that subject should 
 not be between you, Nelly, and myself alone, but that 
 your parents should be present. 
 
 " Let me say that I should not be willing to marry you, 
 if, under the circumstances, you were willing. This 
 dreadful weakness, which I never knew until I entered 
 the army, makes it impossible that we should discuss 
 the marriage as a near event, and, for the relief of all 
 concerned, that you may be free and escape the embar- 
 rassments which must exist, under a mere postpone- 
 ment of the marriage day, I have resolved to ask you, 
 Nelly, and your parents, to permit me to release you 
 from the engagement ; or, if you choose to put it in any 
 other form, I shall not object. I can't ask you to release 
 me : that would hurt me, because I should feel it might 
 hurt you. But if you will permit me to release you, and 
 your parents will consent ; when I feel that I am worthy 
 of your love, and you feel, if you ever can, that I am 
 worthy of you, I shall come again. I can never love any 
 other woman.'' 
 
 At this point poor Nelly burst into convulsive weep- 
 ing, walked quickly to Major Barren, and reached out 
 her hands. He kissed them eagerly, and she quickly 
 passed out of the room. The major remained a few mo- 
 ments longer, and the parents thanked him for his hon- 
 orable conduct. They assured him that their daughter's 
 choice had been a source of great pleasure and pride 
 to them ; and nothing but the recently discovered fault 
 could have induced them to think of a postponement 
 of the engagement. They thought, as he did, that, 
 tinder the circumstances, it would be well to consider 
 the engagement as broken, and to leave both parties 
 free. If, in the providence of God, he and Nelly should 
 come together again, they hoped it would be with the 
 
248 MAJOR BARRON. 
 
 same hearty indorsement and complete satisfaction tliat 
 had marked their relations during the past. As the 
 major was about leaving, with a great deal of feeling he 
 said, 
 
 " I think it best that I should not meet your daughter 
 again for half a year. 1 shall never use any more intox- 
 icating drinks ; but I think, in justice to her and you, 
 that at least six months should pass before I come here 
 again. 
 
 " If you please," added the major, " give a good by to 
 Nelly, and say to her that, if half a year from this time I 
 find her disposed to receive me again, I shall come. In 
 the mean time, I am going away to begin life anew in 
 an eastern city. During the half year of my absence I 
 shall strive to make myself more worthy of Nelly than I 
 have ever been." 
 
 With a faltering voice he said, " Good by." 
 
 MAJOK BARROX IX BALTIMORE. 
 
 Major Barren was a lawyer, and a singularly bril- 
 liant advocate. lie possessed that sort of nervous in- 
 tensity which is as dangerous to its possessor as beauty 
 to a woman. It is as difficult for a successful young 
 man of that nervous, intense temperament, to pass 
 through the temptations of social life, without accident, 
 as for a young woman, with little intelligence and moral 
 purpose, and great personal attraction, to reach her 
 twentieth birthday without accident. 
 
 Major Barren would gladly have concealed from his 
 friends at C. his new place of residence ; but in these 
 days a man in public life does not easily hide himself 
 from any portion of the people. So within a week after 
 the major announced in the Baltimore papers that he had 
 
MAJOR BARRON. 249 
 
 opened an office for the practice of law, the Stearnses 
 knew all about it, and learned that he had gone to the 
 " hotel to board. Mr. Stearns remarked at the break- 
 fast table, the next morning after he had heard the news, 
 that he was very sorry Clarence had gone to a hotel, and 
 more especially to a Baltimore hotel, where the habits 
 were likely to be of a dangerous sort. The ladies entered 
 into this apprehension, and thought that if the Conways, 
 cousins of Mr. Stearns, who resided in Baltimore, would 
 get acquainted with Clarence, and invite him to make 
 their house his home, it might protect him. Mr. Stearns 
 at once wrote a letter, and Colonel Coriway, who was 
 himself a lawyer, called upon Major Barren and gave the 
 invitation. The major knew the relation between the 
 Conways and the Stearnses, and at once divined the 
 jsource of the movement. After some days he called, 
 and found them in an aristocratic neighborhood, in a 
 beautiful house, and that the family consisted of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Conway and two fine daughters. Mary and Kate, 
 who were in the secret, urged the major to come and be 
 their brother. The result was, that although he per- 
 fectly comprehended the motive, and although it was -a 
 confession of weakness, he consented ; and within a 
 month after his arrival in Baltimore, he was at home 
 with the Conways, and was like a brother to the girls. 
 The Stearnses were delighted ! 
 
 MARY CONWAY'S BIRTHDAY. 
 
 Not a word passed between Major Barron and the 
 Conway family in regard to his relations with Nelly 
 Stearns, nor in regard to the unfortunate weakness which 
 had so changed his plans. But every day a letter was 
 written by one of the girls to Nelly, in which the conver- 
 
250 MAJOR BARRON. 
 
 sation, and the games, and everything in which they 
 thought Nelly might be interested, were given. 
 
 Colonel Con way, like most gentlemen in Baltimore, had 
 wines at dinner, and his sideboard was always abun- 
 dantly supplied. The young ladies were in the habit of 
 drinking more or less with their dinners, and, without a 
 thought of danger to their companion, frequently asked 
 him to join them in a glass of wine ; but he uniformly 
 declined. One day at dinner, Mary, the older daughter, 
 and a remarkably intelligent and fascinating girl, begged 
 the major to take a glass of wine with her it was her 
 birthday. The major politely declined, but she urged 
 him. 
 
 "You have never drank a glass of wine with me. 
 Come, this is my birthday, and you know that won't 
 come again in a year. Just take one glass.'/ 
 
 The glass was passed, the major sipped, but before 
 dinner was over, he had drank that and two other 
 glasses ; and when he passed his glass again, Mary, with 
 a blush, said, 
 
 " Major, I don't think you ought to drink any more. 
 You know I only asked you to drink one glass." 
 
 The major replied, 
 
 " 0, you think, then, that I have drank as much as is 
 good for me ? " 
 
 " 0, no ; not that ," said Mary. " I will give you one 
 glass more, but no more remember." 
 
 They sat up waiting Clarence's return till midnight. 
 
 THEY FOUND HIM AT LAST. 
 
 At the urgent solicitation of his wife and daughter, 
 Colonel Conway went down town to find the major. He 
 did not find him that night ; but the next morning, he 
 
MAJOR BARRON. 251 
 
 found him at a small hotel in a low street. He had al- 
 ready begun to seek relief from the headache and 
 despair by a glass or two of whiskey. When the de- 
 bauch was ended, the major did not return to the Con- 
 ways, but went back to the hotel, and sent for his trunk. 
 Mary Conway, who felt that she was responsible for the 
 calamity, drove down in the family carriage, walked into 
 the major's office, and begged him to return to the house. 
 The major very politely but firmly declined. Miss Con- 
 way urged so hard that, at last, he was compelled, in self- 
 defence, to say, 
 
 " I am afraid to sit at your table. I could not ask you 
 to abandon wines. Your father has been accustomed to 
 them all his life ; but I cannot drink a glass without the 
 dreadful consequences which came from the one I drank 
 with you. I feel, if I sit with you at your table, I might 
 again indulge the insane thought that, for once, I could 
 drink t>ne glass without drinking a second, and a third, 
 and a twentieth. It is every way safer for me to remain 
 here at this hotel, where I can be by myself. I am afraid 
 that I am a lost man. I am perfectly satisfied it is a 
 moral impossibility for me to drink one glass, and not 
 follow it by many ; and I begin to fear that it will be 
 impossible for me to resist the multiplied temptations to 
 drink the one glass." 
 
 At last Mary said there was somebody at the house 
 who wished to see him. 
 
 THE MEETING. 
 
 " Tell me, is it Miss Stearns ? " 
 
 " Yes, major ; it is Miss Stearns, and she is dying to see 
 you." 
 
 " Does she know of my recent fall ? " 
 
252 MAJOR BARRON. 
 
 11 Not one word. We have not written her a word, and 
 she shall know nothing of it." 
 
 " I will go with you immediately." 
 
 They drove at once to Colonel Conway's, where the 
 major had the great pleasure to meet his idol. 
 
 Major Barren was a proud man, and at the bar pos- 
 sessed remarkable poise and power ; but he had a warm 
 heart, and loved this girl as he had never loved any other 
 creature. When the family had retired and left the major 
 with Nelly, he dropped on his knees by her, and, putting 
 his face in her lap, began to weep. Nelly was over- 
 whelmed. What could this mean ? The strongest, 
 noblest man she had ever known w r as bowing at her 
 feet, and weeping like a child. She cried out, 
 
 " 0, Clarence, what does it mean? 0, do tell me what 
 is the matter ! " 
 
 Suddenly, still remaining on his knees, he raised his 
 head, and exclaimed, 
 
 " Nelly, I have fallen again ! T am lost ! You must 
 give me up ! All your prayers, and hopes, and tears, 
 must go for nothing ! I haven't moral strength enough 
 to live in this world ! " 
 
 This sudden and tender appeal gave Nelly, strength, 
 and she begged him to sit by her, and tell her all about it. 
 
 He told her the whole story, accusing himself some- 
 what too severely, and refusing to tell her under what 
 circumstances he drank the first glass. He simply told 
 her that a friend asked him to join in a glass, and all 
 the dreadful debauch had come in consequence of it. 
 
 " Nelly," he exclaimed, " you must not trust me ! I 
 can't trust myself. I believed I could. I believed I was 
 strong enough when separated from my army companions, 
 but I have now lost all confidence. I can't be shut up in 
 prison, and I must meet the temptation everywhere ; and 
 I am so constituted that I cannot resist it. 
 
MAJOR BARRON. 253 
 
 "But," lie continued, "I am not the first miserable 
 wretch who has fallen in this way. My grandfather died 
 of delirium tremens, and I have no doubt my father would 
 have died of the same horrid malady, had he not been 
 lost at sea. Here I am, following in their footsteps,, and 
 I tell you, before God, that if you were to offer to marry 
 me to-day, or twelve months from now, and if, during the 
 whole twelve months, I had entirely abstained, I should 
 not then have any confidence in myself 
 
 " I came here to Baltimore, directly from you, full of 
 courage and bright hopes. I have been here but a few 
 weeks, and, without any great temptation, have fallen. 
 It is all over." 
 
 They sat till near daylight, talking, weeping, and al- 
 most despairing. 
 
 At breakfast the next morning, the Conways, in Nelly's 
 presence, urged the major to come again and live with 
 them. When Nelly informed her lover that she intended 
 to remain some time, he consented. And again the major 
 was a part of the happy family. 
 
 The major resumed his business, and spent his even- 
 ings with Nelly. 
 
 A FAMOUS TRIAL. 
 
 The trial of a famous murder case then came on, and 
 Major Barron was engaged as junior counsel. He made 
 a great hit in the opening speech, and for two weeks was 
 occupied day and night, with very little sleep or rest. 
 The prisoner was acquitted, and several dinner parties 
 were given by his friends. Major Barron was believed 
 to have turned the tide in fact, to have extricated the 
 accused from a web of circumstances that seemed at one 
 time impossible of solution. He was a conspicuous figure 
 in the social entertainments. 
 
254 MAJOR BARRON. 
 
 I need hardly say to those who have had any acquaint- 
 ance "with high life in Baltimore, that wines occupied the 
 principal place in the refreshments on these occasions. 
 Major Barron was in that strained, nervous condition, 
 which makes the will so weak in resisting temptation to 
 indulgence of appetite, and he actually wavered again 
 and again, when ladies, not knowing his peculiar weak- 
 ness, urged him to join them in a glass. But Nelly was 
 with him at most of the receptions, and he contrived to 
 make his way through them all without falling. 
 
 Poor Nelly could not comprehend her lover's weakness, 
 and had no thought that but for her presence he would 
 have succumbed. She felt, now that Clarence fully 
 comprehended the danger of the first glass, he was safe, 
 and the future bright. So, after remaining some weeks 
 with the Con ways, she returned to her home, carrying to 
 her parents the bright hopes which filled her own soul. 
 
 It was their custom to write to each other daily, and 
 Major Barron was entirely frank in telling Nelly from 
 time to time of the temptations which beset him. 
 
 DESPAIR AND COURAGE. 
 
 At length came a morning in which the looked-for 
 letter did not arrive at C., and the next morning, and 
 the next. Mr. Stearns telegraphed Colonel Conway. to 
 ask if Major Barron was sick. The reply was, 
 
 " He is not sick ; letter coming." 
 
 The Stearnses were overwhelmed, and from being con- 
 fident and happy, became correspondingly wretched and 
 hopeless. 
 
 Colonel Conway's letter arrived two days after, with 
 the information that Major Barron had suddenly disap- 
 peared, and they had not heard from him for nearly a 
 
MAJOR BARRON. 255 
 
 week ; that inquiries had been made at his office, at the 
 hotels, and at other places throughout the city. He had 
 been heard from once, as in a very " unhappy condition," 
 then all trace of him was lost. 
 
 The poor mother could not restrain her tears. Nelly's 
 face was pale, but she did not weep. She went to her 
 room, and returned in a little time in a travelling dress, 
 and, with a calm, quiet manner and voice, said, 
 
 u I am going to Baltimore, and I shall remain there as 
 long as I can help him." 
 
 The parents said nothing of improprieties ; nothing of 
 the danger of travelling alone ; nothing of their premo- 
 nitions ; for they saw in Nelly's face something which 
 forbade all interference. 
 
 CHAPTER THIRD. 
 THE NOBLEST HEROISM. 
 
 THE next train took Nelly Stearns to Baltimore. Mrs. 
 Conway and daughters were full of sympathy, but 
 Nelly was very calm. She simply said, upon learning that 
 they had heard nothing from Clarence, 
 
 " I shall find him, and, if you please, I will go alone." 
 It was early in the morning when she reached Balti- 
 more, and before noon she had inquired at all the hotels 
 and many other places /or a " tall, handsome gentleman, 
 with light hair, blue eyes, a soft voice, and pleasant 
 manners," --but she could hear nothing of him. Before 
 night, she had visited all the places where policemen, 
 who kindly proffered their assistance, thought the gen- 
 tleman might be found. Just after dark, she met an 
 officer who thought he had seen such a person in - 
 
256 MAJOR BARRON. 
 
 Street the most abandoned neighborhood in the whole 
 city. Nelly turned into this street, where she saw, in 
 the open doors, women, whose dreadful occupation she 
 quickly divined, dallying with low, drunken men. She 
 would have been overwhelmed, only that her heart was 
 filled with another thought. She passed quickly through 
 the street, but seeing nothing of the object of her search, 
 asked some of the creatures that she saw in the door- 
 ways whether they had seen such a person as she 
 described. 
 
 A large, coarse, brutal man, half intoxicated, noticing 
 the girl, staggered out of the door, and tried to put his 
 arm about her, and began to speak to her in a wheedling 
 tone ; but when he caught sight of Nelly's face, he 
 quickly turned back. The girls were touched by her 
 anguish, and very politely answered her questions. They 
 had seen nothing of the person whom she described. 
 
 Just then a blear-eyed creature came staggering 
 along : one of the girls called him, 
 
 " Jack, pr'aps you know something about this yer 
 gentleman/' 
 
 After a few irregular movements, Jack came to a 
 stand, and trying to think for a while, said he knew 
 where that polite gentleman might be found, but wouldn't 
 skow the girl for less than a fiver. When this was 
 explained to Xelly, she took out her purse, gave the man 
 five dollars, and then followed him. He turned down a 
 dirty, narrow lane, utterly vile and sickening in its 
 sights and smells, and at length .began to climb a flight 
 of outside stairs, with his bare feet, and Nelly fol- 
 lowed close upon him. Reaching a loathsome upper 
 room, sickening with stenches, she found lying on the 
 floor, with torn clothes, and filthy, bleeding face, her 
 lover, Majoi Clarence Barren ! 
 
MAJOR BARRON. 257 
 
 She did not scream, she did not weep, but said calmly 
 to the men, who were lounging about, 
 
 " If yon will help me get this gentleman into a carriage, 
 I will pay you well." 
 
 She resolved, as soon as they were in the carnage, not 
 to return directly to the Conways', but to take Major 
 Barren to a hotel. Fearing she might not be received, 
 with such a man, at one of the best hotels, she inquired 
 of a p'olicemen for some small hotel, where they would 
 receive her, with an intoxicated man. The policeman 
 thought that the International a very small hotel on 
 B Street would take them. Thither she was driven, 
 and in half an hour Major Barren, still insensible, was 
 lying on a bed, and Nelly was kneeling by his side, and 
 with wash-bowl and towels was trying to remove the 
 filth and blood-stains from her lover's head and face. 
 
 She at once sent a messenger to Colonel Conway's, 
 with a note, written without the slightest tremor, asking 
 for a quantity of the major's under- clothing ; and imme- 
 diately sent to his room two men, she had picked up in 
 the house, to remove the major's clothing, bathe him, 
 and dress him in clean clothes. Soon she was by his 
 side again, and there she remained watching and 
 waiting. 
 
 FAITHFUL CHARLEY. 
 
 I have forgotten to mention that when Major Barron 
 first went South, Jie took with him a beautiful spaniel 
 puppy, which turned out -a remarkably handsome and 
 intelligent dog. He was a great pet in the regiment. 
 Everybody knew him, and talked to him, and he thereby 
 acquired a rare intelligence. His devotion to Major 
 Barron was the subject of frequent remark, and not a 
 few of his fellow-officers and soldiers had shed tears 
 17 
 
258 MAJOR BARRON. 
 
 over Charley's devotion to his master, during his fits of 
 intoxication. Major Barren had brought Charley back 
 with him to C., and took him to Baltimore. Indeed, 
 they were inseparable companions. 
 
 When Nelly found the major in that dreadful place, 
 lying flat on the floor, with his face exposed, and the flies 
 crawling over it, Charley was lying close by, his face 
 nearly touching the major's. It was almost impossible 
 to induce the dog to permit the two men to lift the major, 
 and carry him down stairs to the carriage. He would 
 not at first allow even Nelly to put her hands upon his 
 master, or to brush the flies away ; but at length he re- 
 membered her, and became satisfied that they intended 
 no harm to his master. He walked close at their heels, 
 while his master was being borne to the carriage, and 
 springing in, lay down under his feet. During their 
 stay at the hotel, the dog insisted upon lying on the bed 
 near the major, and, indeed, never left him for a moment. 
 This accounts for the fact that the major's valuable 
 watch and a considerable sum of money were found on 
 his person, no one caring to examine his pockets while 
 exposed to the teeth of such a vigilant and determined 
 watch-dog. 
 
 THE MAJOR RETURNS TO CONSCIOUSNESS. 
 
 When the major returned to consciousness, he at first 
 seemed hardly to realize Nelly's presence, but after a 
 time started suddenly, gazed at her, rubbed his red eyes, 
 tried with his dried mouth and tongue to speak her 
 name, and then began to talk incoherently. As soon as 
 he exhibited evidences of returning consciousness, Nelly 
 sent below for strong coffee and some delicate nourish- 
 ment. Several times during the morning she gave him 
 
MAJOR BARRON. 259 
 
 a cup of coffee, and such nourishment as he would take. 
 At ten o'clock he was sufficiently restored to compre- 
 hend the situation, arrd said to Nelly, 
 
 " This is all useless. You are wasting yourself upon 
 the most miserable wretch on God's earth, and I will not 
 consent to it. I will not consent to it ! If you will* be 
 kind e*nough to step out, and let me dress, I will go away. 
 I will go out of the country. I will not consent that 
 you shall be tortured any longer with such a despicable 
 wretch. There is no use in all your prayers, and love, 
 and agony. It will all do no good. You can't save me ! 
 I can't save myself 1 God can't save me ! I am lost I 
 I am lost ! I must go to hell 1 Nelly, let me go, and I 
 promise you, solemnly, that you shall never hear from 
 me again. Go home to your friends. Forget me. You 
 don't know, you can't realize, how utterly unworthy of 
 one word from you, I am ! " 
 
 Nelly made no answer. She did not weep, nor moan, 
 but with the sponge she had in her hand she continued 
 to bathe his face, and by and by asked him what she 
 might order for his dinner. He declared he wanted no 
 dinner. He wanted nothing to eat ; but he insisted that 
 he would no longer pollute her with his presence. She 
 ordered some dinner, and with great tenderness fed and 
 nursed him. At night she had a settee brought in, and 
 when he needed no special attention, lay down and tried 
 to rest. 
 
 The next morning she had his clothes brought in, for 
 she had had them taken out of the room, and concealed, 
 that he might not be able to rise and go out before he 
 had fully recovered. After breakfast a carriage was 
 called, and they rode for some hours. At night they 
 were driven to Colonel Conway's, and were received 
 without any expressions of wonder, without any com- 
 ments ; and the major, with an air of reserve and morti- 
 fication, fell gradually back into his usual life. 
 
2CO MAJOR BARRON. 
 
 CHAPTER FOUR. 
 THE DAY DAWNS. . 
 
 "VTELLY STEARNS remained at Colonel Conway's for 
 1.1 a month, and one evening, when she and the major, 
 who had meantime recovered his cheerfulness, were 
 sitting alone, she said, after a long silence, 
 
 " Clarence, I think we had better be married. I must 
 make a home for you. I have been consulting a medical 
 man, who seems to me the wisest and the best physician 
 I have ever met. He tells me there is no doubt, if your 
 health could be made good, if you could have the best 
 food, and regular sleep, and a uniform, pleasant, social 
 life, with the very best hygienic conditions, you would 
 be perfectly safe. -I have taken the liberty to tell him, 
 without mentioning any names, all the circumstances of 
 our relations, and I asked him if he thought there was 
 any danger in our being married. He assured me that 
 it would be entirely right for us to marry. I have taken 
 the liberty to arrange an interview, for both of us, with 
 him to-morrow evening.' 7 
 
 Clarence sat for some time holding Nelly's hand, and 
 then taking her in his arms, and pressing her to his 
 heart, he said, 
 
 " No, no ; it must not be ! I will never consent that 
 you shall make such a sacrifice ! If, for five years, I 
 could remain perfectly sober, I should then be willing; 
 but, with this recent disaster no ; it must not, it shall 
 not be ! " 
 
MAJOR BARRON. 261 
 
 THE WEDDING AND THE HOME. 
 
 They went together to call upon the doctor, and after 
 two or three hours' conversation, returned to Colonel 
 Conway's, and before they retired, Nelly fondly kissed 
 her lover, and whispered, " Please get ready ; to-morrow 
 we will go home and be married at once." 
 
 The parents were frightened and distressed, but 
 everything gave way before Nelly's strong purpose, and 
 a quiet wedding took place in the drawing-room at Mr. 
 Stearns's. A fortnight after, they returned to Balti- 
 more, and were very soon established in a beautiful cot- 
 tage on Avenue. 
 
 Nelly was at once the most gentle and deferential 
 wife, and the most determined mistress. 
 
 If the theatre or opera was proposed, Nelly replied in 
 her quiet way, 
 
 " We don't visit such places. We retire at nine 
 o'clock." 
 
 When friends were invited to spend the evening with 
 them, the invitation always mentioned from half past 
 seven to nine, or from eight to nine. This was a great 
 innovation upon the social habits of Baltimore, and 
 Nelly was assured it would give offence. She replied, 
 without vehemence, but in a manner which every one 
 understood to be final, 
 
 " Under all circumstances, we retire at nine o'clock ; 
 nothing but desperate sickness could induce me to alter 
 the rule." 
 
 Her parents wrote that they should visit her within a 
 few days, and would arrive by the nine o'clock morning 
 train. Clarence proposed that they should defer their 
 breakfast until the arrival of father and mother. Nelly 
 did not siiy, I shall insist that we breakfast at the regular 
 
262 MAJOR BARRON. 
 
 hour, eight o'clock ; but going to her husband, and kiss- 
 ing him in her fond way, she said, 
 
 "No, my darling, we take our breakfast at eight 
 o'clock." 
 
 NELLY'S SYSTEM. 
 
 In important legal business the major was very 
 strongly tempted to remain down town during the even- 
 ing ; but when he proposed it to his wife, and assured 
 her that coming home at six o'clock would involve a 
 sacrifice, she simply said, 
 
 " If you are not here by the car which comes up at six 
 o'clock, I shall drive down for you immediately, and bring 
 you home, unless you thrust me out of your office by 
 force. I will sacrifice everything for you ; I will die for 
 you you know it ; but while I live I shall live for you. 
 The hour for your return in the evening is six o'clock : 
 the hour to retire is nine o'clock ; the hour to rise is 
 seven ; the hour for breakfast is eight ; and the hour for 
 our luncheon is twelve : the hour for our dinner is a 
 quarter past six. Our food, our drinks, our baths, our 
 social amusements, our whole life, you know, my pre- 
 cious husband, each and every feature, has long been a 
 matter of careful and prayerful study. Every one of the 
 medical men assures us that your safety depends upon 
 high health, and calm, quiet nerves. If, when I inter- 
 fere with any departure from this hygienic life, I stand 
 in the way of your plans, you may strike me down, but 
 until I am struck down, until I am insensible, there I 
 shall remain, and wait, and plead, and insist. I have the 
 most devoted and loving husband in the world, and, 
 God helping me, I will preserve him, I will live for him, 
 and, if need be, I will die for him." 
 
MAJOR BARRON, 263 
 
 BALTIMORE RECEPTIONS. 
 
 The Barrens were frequently invited to spend an 
 evening out, and they often attended social gatherings 
 and quiet parties, but invariably returned home at nine 
 o'clock. One evening they were invited to attend a 
 party at the residence of Mr. B., one of the merchant 
 princes of Baltimore ; and when the Barrons sent their 
 acceptance of the invitation, the B.'s, knowing that they 
 would leave at half past eight o'clock, determined upon 
 having their refreshments served early, that these most 
 beautiful and brilliant people might join them. 
 
 At table, Major Barron sat at Mrs. B.'s right hand, and 
 Mrs. Barron at Mr. B.'s. 
 
 Mrs.-B. received from the servant two glasses of wine, 
 and passed one to the major, 
 
 " Major Barron, will you join me in a glass of wine ? " 
 
 Immediately, and before the major had time to reply, 
 Mrs. Barron rose, and with that peculiarly pale face, but 
 with a quiet, steady, gentle voice, said to Mrs. B., 
 
 " Madam, I am very sorry to interrupt the pleasure 
 of the company, but there are reasons why we must 
 return home immediately." 
 
 " Yes," said Major Barron, rising, " I see by my wife's 
 face, that there is an urgent reason why we must return 
 home." 
 
 Everybody was surprised and mystified, but soon the 
 Barrons left, and the party went on. 
 
 , The next morning Mrs. B., fearing that some sudden 
 illness might have been .the occasion of the untimely 
 departure, drove to Mrs. Barren's to inquire. Finding 
 them well, Mrs. B. took the liberty to ask Mrs. Barron 
 if the occasion of their leaving so suddenly was as she 
 
2C4 MAJOR BARRON. 
 
 tliouglit it. Then Mrs. Barren told her caller, in a few 
 words, the truth in the case, and Mrs. B., after a time, 
 came to fuily comprehend the situation. She said, be- 
 fore leaving, 
 
 " Will you permit me to invite you and the major 
 to our house next week, to attend a little party, not 
 unlike the one last evening, at which there shall be no 
 wines ? " 
 
 Mrs. Barren sprang to her feet, and seizing Mrs. B. 
 by the hand, exclaimed, 
 
 " Thank you ! thank you, my dear friend ! I thank 
 you with all my heart ! Without consulting my hus- 
 tand, I will say that we shall be most happy to attend 
 such a gathering.' 7 
 
 It was arranged. The party was especially recherche. 
 The wines did not appear, and there were wonder and 
 whispering, here and there. But after Major Barron 
 left, the facts came out. Within a week the Barrens 
 had twenty invitations to attend parties, with a little 
 private note addressed to Mrs. Barren, in which she was 
 assured that the bad habit (everybody knew it was bad) 
 of serving wines would be omitted on this occasion, and 
 that refreshments would be served at eight o'clock. I 
 need hardly say to those who have considered the won- 
 derful susceptibility to improvement among all classes, 
 when the suggestion comes from the right quarter, and 
 in the right spirit, that a remarkable revolution in the 
 matter of wines, at social entertainments, was soon in- 
 augurated in Baltimore. 
 
 It is in the power of any little quiet woman, with the 
 thought and the courage, to contribute more to the hap- 
 piness and welfare of society, in correcting its abuses, 
 than is generally accomplished by a thousand. 
 
MAJOR BARRON. 2C5 
 
 A FUNEKAL. 
 
 On tlie sixth anniversary of Nelly Barren's wedding 
 day, there was a sad funeral at her house. A dearly- 
 loved . member of the family had died. A beautiful, 
 rose-wood coffin rested on the table in Nelly's sitting- 
 room, and she sat by its side, weeping. Near the win- 
 dow sat Major Barron, with little Clarence and Nelly on 
 his knees. The children were weeping boisterously, and 
 the major looked very sad. But the great grief was in 
 the wife's heart. 
 
 Let us look at the silver plate. 
 
 " Charley Barron a devoted friend. May we meet 
 in heaven." 
 
 We will look into the casket. The long silken ears, 
 the large, beautiful head, the rich gold and yellow, are 
 all as perfect . as they were that day when Nelly found 
 him in the wretched den, watching by his master's face. 
 OD!} T the eyes, which do not close, show that the faithful, 
 loving creature, had died in a ripe old age. 
 
 In the evening, when the family had returned from the 
 cemeter} r , where they had placed Charley in the family 
 bury ing-ground, Nelly sat in her husband's lap, and 
 putting her arms about his neck, wept long and tenderly. 
 The husband fully comprehended all that was in his 
 wife's heart, and while he passed his hand over her beau- 
 "tiful head, smoothing the brown hair, he could only 
 repeat, 
 
 " My precious darling, you saved me, and he helped 
 you ! Yes, you saved me ! You saved me ! 0, what 
 devoted friends ! ' ; 
 
2G6 MAJOR BARRON. 
 
 THE CONCLUSION. 
 
 The major now stands at the head of his profession, in 
 the city of P., and at the last congressional election was 
 solicited to run for Congress. A committee of gentle- 
 men called upon him, and he told them frankly, that he 
 should be most happy to occupy a seat in Congress. It 
 had long been his wish to spend a season in Washing- 
 ton, but he hardly knew whether his wife would con- 
 sent. He would consult her, and if she had no objection, 
 he should certainly put himself in the hands of his 
 friends. 
 
 The practice of his profession nad become somewhat 
 monotonous, and he thought that a couple of winters in 
 Washington, would afford a pleasant relief. 
 
 At the tea table that night, he told Nelly, and hoped 
 that under the circumstances she would not oppose his 
 nomination, for he should be very sorry to deny himself 
 the relief and the honor. 
 
 Nelly was silent, but was unusually gentle and tender 
 toward little Nelly, who sat on one hand, and little Clar- 
 ence, who sat on the other, and looked a little paler than 
 usual. The husband understood her, and did not again 
 allude to the subject. The next morning, when his 
 friends called, he said, 
 
 " Gentlemen, my wife has not told me that she has the 
 least objection to my accepting the nomination, but 
 when I proposed it, she did not seem particularly enthu- 
 siastic ; therefore I shall decline the invitation. I thank 
 you, gentlemen, but I would rather dig in the streets 
 than do anything which my wife does not heartily 
 approve." 
 
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