CHAPTER III. OTHER EARLY AGITATORS. IN LYMAN BEECHER. N the list of noble men who have labored in the cause of temperance, none deservedly stand more prominent than Rev. Lyman Beecher, D.D. His six discourses on intemperance, delivered in Litchfield, Conn., in 1825, have had a wide circulation, not only in our own land, but also in many other countries. But this was by no means the beginning of his efforts in this reform. About seventeen years before, in 1808, while he was settled at East Hampton, Long Island, his spirit was powerfully stirred by the twofold influence of his own observations and the reading of Dr. Rush's essay on the "Effects of Ardent Spirits," etc. In his Autobiography' he relates his first mental awakenings on this subject in the following words: There were some Indians in my parish, of the Montauk tribe, though not belonging to my congregation. They had missionaries among them, who were supplied from New England. I used to go, however, twice a year at least, and preach to them. I was acquainted with a number of pious ones, chiefly women, about a dozen at first. They made baskets, brooms, and such things. But they were a wretched set, on the whole, just like other tribes, running out by being cheated and abused. My spirit was greatly stirred by the treatment of these Indians by some unprincipled persons, especially their selling them rum. There was a grog-seller in our neighborhood who drank himself and corrupted others. He always kept his jug under the bed, to drink in the night, till he was choked off by death. He would go down with his barrel of whisky in a wagon to the Indians and get them tipsy, and bring them in debt; he would get all their corn, and bring it back in his wagon; in fact, he stripped them. Then, in winter, they must come up twenty miles, buy 1 Autobiography, vol. i, p. 176. their own corn, and pack it home on their shoulders, or starve. O, it was horrible, horrible! It burned and burned in my mind; and I swore a deep oath to God that it shouldn't be so. H. B. S. "Father, you began to be a reformer in those days." I didn't set up for a reformer any more than this: when I saw a rattlesnake in my path I would smite it. I talked to my deacons about it, and with my people, and roused public feeling. I had read Rush on Intemperance, and the "Christian Observer" contained accounts of efforts in London to repress immorality, drunkenness, and Sabbath-breaking. All these fermented in my mind; and, while I was at East Hampton, I blocked out and preached a sermon, that I afterward re-wrote and published, on a reformation of morals. That is the way that sermon came to be written. What further efforts Mr. Beecher put forth in East Hampton, and what effects followed, is not now known. Very soon after, in the spring of 1810, he removed and settled in Litchfield, Conn., where, in his intercourse with his brethren in the ministry at ordinations and other gatherings, his mind was still more powerfully stirred upon this subject. We have already noticed that the use of alcoholic liquors was as common in those days with the clergy as with the people. Such were the convicting processes through which this great and energetic mind passed, in its preparation for the bold and resolute part which it was about to take, in one of the most difficult and important departments of Christian philanthropy in modern times. We shall soon hear from him again, and in a way that will stir the hearts of men to action. CO-LABORERS. In the year 1810, Rev. Heman Humphrey, D.D., then pastor of a Church in Fairfield, Conn., afterward for twenty-two years President of Amherst College, preached a series of six sermons on intemperance. This was probably the first series of temperance sermons ever preached. Mr. Humphrey became a prominent temperance reformer. In the year 1810, the first year of his editorship of the "Panoplist," Jeremiah Evarts, Esq.,1 began to direct public attention to the great evil of intemperance. The "Panoplist for October of that year contained an article from his pen, entitled "Arithmetic Applied to Moral Purposes," which developed the principle of ten thousand essays on this subject." He subsequently wrote many other articles. November 5, 1811, Rev. Nathaniel S. Prime, father of Rev. Dr. S. Irenæus Prime, editor of the "New York Observer," preached, before the Presbytery of Long Island, a temperance sermon on the text, "Who hath woe? . . . They that tarry long at the wine." It contained the staple arguments more recently in use, met objections, and closed with appeals calling his brethren to action. The Presbytery requested the sermon for publication, and adopted a resolution recommending their people to refrain from offering ardent spirits or wine as an act of hospitality. The Church of which Mr. Prime was pastor, at Freshponds, adopted a similar resolution, and a marked change was effected in the habits of the community. In 1812, Mr. Prime removed from Long Island, and in 1813 was settled in Cambridge, Washington Co., N. Y., where he organized the farmers of his congregation into a temperance society. Mr. Prime, therefore, deserves to be ranked among the temperance pioneers of the United States. Rev. Calvin Chapin, D.D., of Rocky Hill., Conn., as early as 1812, adopted the principle of total abstinence from ardent spirits (distilled liquors) as the only cure for intemperance. In 1826, he published a series of articles in the "Connecticut Observer," in which he advocated this doctrine. Rev. Roswell R. Swan, of Norwalk, Conn., was another early advocate of temperance. The report of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, in 1812, closed with an earnest appeal to ministers of the Gospel and others to put forth active practical efforts for the suppression of intemperance. 1 Father of Hon. William M. Evarts, Esq. Rev. Mr. Weems, Washington's biographer, was another early laborer in the cause of temperance. A temperance pamphlet, by Mr. Weems, written in 1812, bears the following quaint and curious title: “THE DRUNKARD'S LOOKING-GLASS, Reflecting a Faithful Likeness of the Drunkard in Sundry very Interesting Attitudes: With Lively Representations of the Many Strange Capers which he Cuts at Different Stages of his Disease. At first, When he has a Drop in his Eye;' second, When he is 'Half Slewed;' third, When he is getting a Little on the Staggers or so;' And fourth and fifth, and so on, Till he is 'Quite Capsized,' or 'Snug under the Table with the Dogs,' and can Stick to the Floor without holding on." The low and imperfect standard of temperance ideas current in those times will be seen from the following extract from this pamphlet, giving six "Golden Receipts against Drunkenness.” 1. "Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake." Also cider, ale, beer, etc. 2. Never fight duels. Nine times in ten the memory of the murdered drives the murderer to the bottle. 3. Never marry but for love. Hatred is repellant; and the husband saunters to the tavern. 4. Provide against old bachelorism. Age wants comfort, and a good wife is the second best in the universe. And, if 5. Never stand surety for a sum that would embarrass you. you want, suffer a little rather than borrow, and starve than not pay; for debts and dues have filled the world with sots. 6. Hot coffee in the morning is a good cure for dram-craving. And a civic crown to him who will set the fashion of coffee at dinner. 1 By Mason L. Weems, author of the "Life of Washington," Rector of Gen. Washington's Parish. Philadelphia, 1812. CHAPTER IV. THE FIRST TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. IE first society with a Constitution and By-laws, organ Tized for the specific purpose of promoting temperance, was THE formed in the year 1808, in the town of Moreau, Saratoga Co., N. Y., in the vicinity of the villages of Fort Edward, Sandy Hill, and Glenn's Falls. The honor of taking the lead in this enterprise belongs to Dr. Billy J. Clark, a young and an intrepid physician of that town, whose professional attainments qualified him to know, and whose practice afforded him an opportunity to see, the pernicious effects of the prevailing evils of intemperance. He had read Dr. Rush's essay on "The Effects of Ardent Spirits," and advocated the necessity of reform. The desolating effects were fearful to witness, and Dr. Clark, alarmed at what he daily saw, deeply pondered the anxious inquiry, What can be done to stay this terrible scourge? It was not long before his active and practical mind developed a plan, which has since been adopted and worked with great success all over our land. He conceived the idea of a temperance organization, which should involve both a social compact and a moral covenant. Before entering upon the work, however, he resolved to have an interview with his minister, Rev. Lebbeus Armstrong, pastor of the First Congregational Church in Moreau, and seek his counsel and assistance. In a dark, cloudy evening in the month of March, in the breaking up of winter, after riding about three miles on horseback through deep clayey mud, Dr. Clark appeared at the house of his pastor. It is said that, on entering the house, before taking his seat, so deeply was his mind agitated with the object of his mission, he abruptly broke out in these earnest words: "Mr. Armstrong, I have come to see you on important |