Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 August 1879 — Uncle dick's thoughts. [ARTICLE]

Uncle dick's thoughts.

l or Tin. Union. In reviewing tho efforts of Jimmy Dunn in this place on tho great subject ol temperance, the following thoughts arc suggested to my mind: Jimmy came a stranger in our midst, found friends, and, naturally enough, found opponents. To the latter class I speak. What various ideas are connect ed in the subject of reform! In reality reformations are but changes in the order M existing things. Iu great measure they are brought about by the impulses of* educated intelli pence*.; Impelled onward by the desire to impart knowledge calculated to benefit their fellow-men. how varied the methods employed by speakers and lecturers to impart their ideas! Some are calm, modest and dispassionate, arid address themselves solely to the judgment and reason of their hearers; others are all enthusiasm, magnetism and excitement; they play upon the passions and impulses and arouse the sympathies of humanity. If the object-sought is good, why sLould objection be made to fair an d lion orable methods f r.storing it? The lecturer advocates his own peculiar theories to benefit the comfiitnfite'qf which \vt) are members. It may be that lie lilts his voice on .behalf' of morality, virtue and sobriety, great essentials to the well being of society. Should >t not, i ask,-be the endeavor and the duty of the citizen to encourage and sustain, by every means in his power, the principles he ad vocates ? In, the attainment of them wjll not so ; ciety be more secure? It certainly will. Is it not indeed true.that 1 morality and virtue, combined with sobriety, are the requisites desired by law-abiding people? Can those noble qualities exist based on the shoals of intemperance? Intern perance, what has it done, or, rather, what has it. not done, for earth’s children? Tongue of man can never, never tell the misery of it's devotees, ncy chisel of sculptor carve their true epitaph. llow, then, can the professed Christian wrap around him his robe of selfrighteousness, stand alooi, and exclaim that be has no interest in the cause of temperanci ? Is it p<*s sibTe he-has forgotten tho iiijuticlion to lilt, up the'fallen and direct the feet ol a wayward brother into the path of sobriety ? ~\Y as not this the mission of Him itiwhosc footsteps be professes to be ! following? It surely was the mission ol the Master; the duty of his j followers is the same. The profess*iug Christian in opposing relorm, be it temperance or another, is but a stumbling block in the track of progress, liable to bo crushed be 'ncath the triumphal car of civiliv.a----j lion, or overwhelmiied by the, wave I of public scorn a,nd contempt.

UNCLE DICK.

Our old time friend Eldon E. j Lock-wood dropped in upon Thehll.vioN oflico-last Saturday, lie rei cently returned from Arkansas, I which he thinks is ono of the most | deceptive appearing countries in the ! world. Fanning, all departments i of business, society and political afj fairs :*re all in a demoralized -con i dilion. The country presents fewattractive features for men oi enterprise or means.