ed for as many weeks, we should hardly have had
a confirmed drunkard left among us.

Many of those deaths which came under my notice seemed almost
spontaneous, and some of them took place in less than one hour from the
first symptoms of indisposition. Some died apparently from a slight
excess of fatigue, some from a few hours' exposure to the sun, and some
from a small draught of cold water; causes quite inadequate to the
production of such effects in temperate persons.

* * * * *

Thus, fellow-citizens, I have endeavored to delineate the effects of
ardent spirit upon man, and more especially to portray its influence on
his moral, intellectual, and physical powers. And now let me mention a
few things which MUST BE DONE in order that the evil may be eradicated.

1. Let us keep in view the objects of the Temperance Society, and the
obligation imposed on us, _to use all proper measures to discourage the
use of ardent spirit in the social circle, at public meetings, on the
farm, in the mechanic shop, and in all other places_. It is not a mere
matter of formality that we have put our names to this society's
constitution; we have pledged ourselves to be bold, active, and
persevering in the cause; to proclaim the dangers of intemperance to our
fellow-citizens, and to do what we can to arrest its progress.

In view of these objects and of this pledge, then, let us, if indeed we
have not already done it, banish ardent spirit from our houses at once,
and for ever; and then we can act with decision and energy, and speak in
a tone of authority, and our voice will be heard, if precept be
sanctioned by example.

2. Let us use our utmost endeavors to lessen the number, and, if
possible, utterly exterminate from among us those establishments which
are the chief agents in propagating the evils of intemperance. I refer
to those shops which are licensed for _retailing ardent spirit_. Here is
the source of the evil. These are the agents that are sowing among us
the seeds of vice, and poverty, and wretchedness.

How preposterous, that an enlightened community, professing the highest
regard for morality and religion, making laws for the suppression and
punishment of vice, and the promotion of virtue and good order,
instituting societies to encourage industry, enlighten the ignorant,
reclaim the vicious, bring back the wanderer, protect the orphan, feed
the hungry, clothe the naked, bind up the broken-hea