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State Temperance Society

State Temperance Society image
Parent Issue
Day
13
Month
February
Year
1843
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Tliis r.univrrsnry wrïs wel! aUeruled. The oprning address by the President, Rev. J. P. Cleveland, was orighm! aml instrurtive. Uo tirged the necessity of' eniigli,tening tLe moss of the people, and oxching lo uothis individual offirf. Tho-masB ol'a comtnunily. whon woll informod, ncvor umlcrtook nn entcrpme whic'i Ihëy did not carry through. ÏTc poke favonib'y oftho fifi con ca! Ion Inw of Massaciiuscttf--, or railier o!" the résiïlts out ts cnactmcnt. The mass of tlic pcoplo of MiiPRaciiuFCits nrc iliorouor!) tpniperonre mon. líe regnrdfífi the Temperance reform ns decidfidly favnrahle !o iitcra'u c.as well asio roIrgigp. A literary reüion vrs nceod - nno that should not be the mere errainre of impulse, but si:ch n, rciiinn ns 'vvould Uike possegioji of nl! UCnOVctioi)j. ofthespn', through the medium ofn clear-seeing in'.eücct. Sut-ií a religión can only bo. hm], at al! lime?, by total absünence mn. The use of infoxicatiiijr liqnors from the smillcst to t'ie greatcsí extent, ahvays uriintcileclaalizce. It nlways obsímcls cnniimicd inoníal eñbrt. The objrction was somelimes bronglil 1 hat Byron and Slmkeppeare wroie sume portions of íbeir works wliile under t!ie infl".ence of srrong drink. The foi rner v. as jn the habit of nsing ra brandy ns a stimulus to his poética! fhmlries. But c'iíl that prove tiiat brandy was favorob'e to literary exertion? W ere thi ího case, tac po'.atiuns of 1 jo bar-room would tín ío raise up a host of poets, and tlicyoung aspirant íbr fume coiild augment the inspira. tionofthe Muses to any given point, by p'.iprr-adding íh? inspiralions of Bacclüis. - Tho írmii was that they wrotc good poolry iu pite of tlie ovil eiTee:s of inebriaíing drinks. Bul wljat was tiic cliaracter of tho produri tions created urder S'Jch circtimslances?. ín nnswer to this nq'iirv, he offirmed thnt tlicir eíTeot wns decidedly injuricns to the moral principies of the readers; the sehtimenís, j hovrever refined by talent, appealed to tho ' lowest eensibiliíies of human beings and tend ed. instead of eievating and red ni ng, t o sink i them intellectualíy as wel! as muralSy: íhr corrvpliun is (thcajs uninlellcctua!. Iívery man of his acqnaiutance, Iinwever grcat an adinirer of Byron and Shelley he niigljt imve been, vm loít li!S relisli for their productions when ho became a eold-water man. Mr. C spoke of the great influence of Byron and Shakespeare, i:p'"'!i wíiole corrmniiitiep, even npon ttiousands who had never read their works, and attrihuted much of tl. e evil of their wrilings to the peisonal liabits of the authors.The oveninj -vaa oecupird vth sm-ing RÍííl the discusión orrc3olutioi?s by severa! gentlemen. The rcmnrks of' t!"ie ppeafiers gave much pleofiiro, to llie ai.'ffience in attcncïnnco, ns tiiey look care io make known by :he most obsir.-pcrous npphuPC. It is doubiei' h'uvever. by many, uiictlier rrmn.rks whose offuct' is to keep an atuüencc convnlsed wiih Inng-ij{ei, havo an nbidmg; and sahitnry influonco ' on tliem. Therc are two bidos to this question, and the medium liet ween extreme levity and immovable grayity is probably the sinndaid to bo sought,'and is olso not inconsistent wi'.h a feeüng of rig'iJ moral obligalion. - Mini ís mudo with the power to lfcWjJi, as ueü ns lo wecp; and the mnjority of' mankind wilt disngree to the definition of Chr.slerfield, who said that lauo-hter was "the siJlyjoy,ofa eilly person, ata süly thiug-."'

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Subjects
Signal of Liberty
Old News