The camphene lamp, or, Touch not, taste not, handle not
page: 0 (TitlePage) [View Page 0 (TitlePage) ] CAAMPHENE LAMP; OR TOUCH NOT, TASTE NOT, HANDLE NOT. Go, little Bol;, I cast thee on the waters, Go thy way! And if, as I believe, thy vein is good, The world shall fiud thee After many days." BY MARY HNCKLEY, Author of "The Seymour Family," "4 Sequel to The Seymour F'amily," ** Old Times,e" ' A Voice from The Forest," &c. "OWELL: JAMES P. WALKERI "Merrimack Street. 1852. page: 0[View Page 0] Entered according to Act of Cougress, in the year 1852, by JMrB P WALKER, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. BOSTON PRTINTED BY THURSTON TOIIRY, AND EMERSON. LETTER FROM HON. JOHN A. KNOWLES VICE PRESIDENT OF THE MDDLESEX Co. TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. Lowell, February 10, 1852. MISS HNCKLEY, In the name of the Middlesex Co. Temperance So- ciety, I thank you most heartily for writing the "Voice from the Forest." The beautiful and original manner in which you have treated the subject, pleases me very much; and tends to convince me, that a pen which can be made so efficient in the cause of Temperance, should not remain inactive. You make the legitimate articles from which intox- icating drinks are made, speak out, in a language which cannot be mistaken. May I hope you will turn your attention to the trees, plants, minerals, and other sub- stances, which have been compelled to take so humili- ating a part, in producing so many counterfeit intoxi- cating liquors; liquors which are inflicting upon poor humanity much greater evils than the genuine. To enable you to see the extent to which wines are manufactured without the grape; and other liquors drugged and adulterated, to make them seem what they are not; I send you a little Tract by Mr. Delavan. This will give you some idea of the gross frauds in the liquor trade. The fact that modern inebriates do not live half so long, after the habit is fixed upon them, as this unfor- tunate class of persons formerly did, is fully demon- strated in our own city. page: 4-5[View Page 4-5] 4 LETTERl PROM1 HON. J. A. KNOWLES. His Excellency, Gov. Boutwell, should have made 'you this acknowledgment, as he is President of the Society, but his engagements are so numerous at the present time, I hope you will excuse him, and accept this as a poor apology, With the respect and esteem of J. A. KNOWLES, One of the Vice Presidents of said Society. THE CAMPHENE LAMP. CHAPTER 1. "No noisy neighbor enters here, No intermeddling stranger near, To spoil our heartfelt joy. If solid happiness we prize, Within our breast this jewel lies, And they are fools who roam." I WILL introduce my readers, without preface or apology, into the bright and pleasant breakfast-room of Mrs. Goodwin. The cheerful breakfast is over, the morning duties performed, and the younger children prepared for school. Mrs. Goodwin still retains her place at the deserted table, giv- ing the last- polish to the silver coffee urn, and placing in order due the cups and sau- cers. Since we have introduced ourselves page: 6-7[View Page 6-7] 6 THE CAMPIENE LAMPE' thus unceremoniously into Mrs. Goodwin's presence, let us listen to her soliloquy, "How happy I am," she said to herself, as she deposited on the table, with a look of satisfaction at its brightness, the coffee urn. "I never expected to feel so well, and in such good spirits again. It seems as if a cloud llad been lifted from off my pros- pects, and the sunshine of the future gilds the shadows of the past. Oh, what a change has one short year wrought! I think I feel as light-hearted as I did the day I received this urn as a wedding gift from my dear, dear aunt,' she mentally conti- nued, as she placed it on the broad shelf of her china closet along with other memen- toes of that happy period, the gifts of early friends. As we have begun to take liberties, we shall allow ourselves a peep into this well arranged and neatly kept closet, the very atmosphere of which is alluring. As the eye ranges over the neat display of THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 7 china and glass, it reaches on the topmost shelf, a row of cut glass lamps, of a neat pattern and apparently in good order, but evidently out of use, as well as out of reach. By their side, and in equally good condition, stand a row of decanters, flanked by a goodly array of wine glasses, of vari- ous dimensions, patterns, and color. There is a history attached to these lamps that I have half a mind to tell you, good reader, though it may be revealing family secrets; but as Mrs. Goodwin is too benevolent a woman to withhold any thing that may benefit her fellow beings, I will imagine I have her permission to tell the whole story. There was a period, you swell recollect, when a mania prevailed in the community for camphene, spirit gas, burning fluid, patent oil, and various other substitutes for good old fashioned sperm. A few prudent persons'escaped the contagion, and others page: 8-9[View Page 8-9] 8 THE CAMPIIENE LAMP. were too timid to admit it into their houses. Mrs. Good wil, who always had an eye to im- provements in the domestic economy, was one of the first to be caught by the flaming advertisements, thrown in at the door, set- ting forth its various advantages. The supe- rior clearness and brilliancy of the light, its neatness, its cheapness, and its safety, --if used with cauiton, - and indeed some of the articles were even declared, on good authority, to be safe at any rate, absolutely not explosive, "if a lighted match should he plunged into the can containing the fluid." An experiment, the vender declared, he had tried himself. Mrs. Goodwin was entirely won over. The great business now was to win over her husband. This was not so easy a matter. He knew the nature of these compositions, and felt that they would'nt aluays be safe, though care- fil people might use them their whole lives without an accident. They argued the THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 9 matter for some time, till her eloquence in setting forth its advantages overcame his better judgment, and the point was carried. It was pronounced by the whole family to be a great improvement, and being adopted by so prudent a lady as Mrs. Goodwin, in- creased its popularity, so that oil was nearly banished froti the neighborhood. They had used it safely for so long a time, they began to think all the shocking accounts they had read of its dangerous qualities were only bughears to frighten the timid, till one evening they were startled by a cry of fire attended by unusual demonstrations of alarm, and on going to the door found the room of an opposite neighbor in flames, and the family rushing from the house in great terror. When the tumult had a little subsided, it was found to be caused by the bursting of a camphene lamp. The chil- dren, five in number, from the age of two to twelve, were sitting around a table look- page: 10-11[View Page 10-11] 10 THE CAMPHENE LAMP. ing over their lessons for the next day. The lamp burning dimly, one of them took it up to see if it needed filling, when it sud- denly exploded with a noise like- the dis- charge of a pistol, and enveloped them in a sheet of flame. With rare presence of mind, one of the boys ran and plunged himself into a snow drift by the door, oth- ers were seized by different members of the family and the flames extinguished, but not before they were dreadfully burnt, the youngestfatally. Mr. Goodwin, who hap- pened to be at home, was the first to run to their relief. He was very much excited by the scene he witnessed, for he was a man of ardent feelings, and what is called naturally good hearted, keenly alive to any thing that threatened the lives of his children, though not always mindful of their best interests. "Hear me, wife," said he, " not one drop of burning fluid of any kind shall ever enter this house!" Mrs. THE CAMkPHENE LAMP. " Goodwin strove to calm his excited feel- ings, but did'nt attempt any remonstrance, seeing it was no time to do so, but returned to the afflicted family, and\ being a most sympathetic and efficient neighbor and friend, made herself very useful as a nurse. She devoted herself all the next day to the Harris's, and closed the eyes of the young- est child in death before she left the house. When she returned home, her first business was to collect all the candlesticks the house afforded, and remove the offensive lamps before Mr. Goodwin's return. She did'nt hesitate one moment to banish the cam- phene much as she admired the light, and though it involved the sacrifice of her new lamps, and though she knew the ac- cident was the result of a child's careless- ness, these considerations did'nt weigh a straw against the risk of her family in re- taiiinig it. No allusion was made to the accident at tea, nor was the subject of page: 12-13[View Page 12-13] 12 THE CAMPHENE LAMP. lamps discussed. Mr. Goodwin returned home earlier in the evening than he was wont to do, for of late he had spent most of his evenings abroad. He said, when he entered and found his wife sitting alone with one candle, "We do miss the bril- liant light of the camphene. Wife, how have you worried through the evening with this dim candle? I have been sitting where the room was lighted by gas, and the con- trast is very striking. It seems like com- ing into a tomb lighted by a taper, which only serves to make darkness visible; I can never endure this." "What a pity," said his wife, " when we are making a change that we cannot intro- duce gas into the house when it is brought to our very door. It is such a nice light, so little trouble and so diffusive. It would really take away half the trouble of hav- ing company, if our rooms were lighted by it." "Yes, yes, wife, I know all its advan- THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 13 tages," said he, rather impatiently; "it is indeed a beautiful light, and I wish from my heart we could have it -but it is too expensive altogether; positively I can't think of it at present." "I am a great economist too," said Mrs. Goodwin play- fully, " can't we retrench in some way that will enable us to meet the additional ex- pense, it is really so desirable." "No, im- possible!" he replied. "In the first place, the gas itself is allowed to be more ex- pensive than oil." "But think how easy it is to economize in it!" she interposed. He went on not heeding her remark. "Then there is the getting it into the house, then the fixtures, all this costjs a great deal of money, Mrs. G." "I grant all this," she replied - "the first cost is great, but will you allow me to suggest a mode of retrenchment," she said timidly, "that I think will enable us to meet this expense and many others besides?" "I hate this page: 14-15[View Page 14-15] " THE CAMPHENE LAMP. talking continually about expense and re- trenchment," said he pettishly. "A man of business knows what he cal afford, and these little savings you talk about don't amount to any thing, a mere drop in the bucket. A nian's notes must be paid when they are due, or he loses his credit as a merchant. But what new suggestion have you to make now by way of economy, let me hear?" She drew him gently to the closet. "Do you see," said she, " where 1 have placed the camphene lamps because we thought they endangered the lives and welfare of our family? Will you, for the same reason, place the decanters by their side? In short, will you give up the use of wine, and banish all intoxicating drinks from your house? Promise me this, and I will pledge myself that, at the end of one year, your parlors shall be lighted with gas, and you shall not complain of the expense." "What an idea!" said he in amazement; THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 15 "what has put this into your head?" "It has been in my head and heart too," she said, "many a long day, and weary sleep- less night, and I should have spoken of it before, but I lacked the courage to do it. I have seen so much of late to shock and distress me, in your altered looks, in your impaired health, in your perplexities about money matters, that I can refrain no longer. Ihave practised economy and denied my children means of education they ought to enjoy, because I would'nt call on you for the money when I knew these expenses might all be met with the money needlessly expended upon articles of drink." Find- ing he made no reply, she was inspired to go on. "Did you ever reckon the expense of wine at one of your dinner parties?" she said. "No!" he replied; "I would'nt be guilty of such a mean, contemptible thing! When I entertain my friends I wish to do it in a handsome way, without page: 16-17[View Page 16-17] 16 THE CAMPHENE LAMP. counting the cost." "It is'nt my way either," said Mrs. Goodwi, " to count the cost of entertaining my friends, though I keep an exact account of my personal ex- penses for your satisfaction -- let the dol- lars and cents go ; that is a secondary mat- ter. I don't care a straw about the money -it is the moral influence it will exert upon our children I look at. I always thought it would be my pride and joy to point them to their father for an example of all that was noble and high minded. Now will you, my dear George," said she, in supplicating accents, c"by one promise make me as happy as I was the day we pledged our troth at the altar? Remember the solemn promises we then made to each other, which we called God to witness." Mr. Goodwin looked amazed. This is strange language, Julia, and I am not prepared for such a step as you propose." "My dear husband," said she, " it is a step THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 17 once taken, you will never wish to retrace. You did'nt hesitate a moment about the camphene, when you saw the mischief it had done. I could show you by living ex- amples, that you are retaining the most dangerous agent of the two. Camphene has caused the death of tens, where ardent spirits has destroyed thousands both soul and body." "This I grant may be true, said he, somewhat softened -" but, wife, you talk as if you had'nt been happy. Have'nt you had every thing you wanted? Have I denied you atly reasonable gratifi- cation? Have I ever treated you with un- kindness, since our marriage?" "No, George, I complain of no positive unkind- ness, but I have sadly missed of late those delicate attentions, that tender sympathy, which the heart of woman demands and has a right to expect from him to whom she has given her heart, and in whose hands she has placed her happiness. Think 2 page: 18-19[View Page 18-19] 18 THE CAMPHENE LAMP. you, George, it has been no trial to me to go into the company of my friends unat- tended by you, because youl preferred the society of convivials to theirs? Do you: think I have sat up many, many times till weary midnight to receive you on your re- turn without many a sad and bitter feeling of regret that my society and the pleasures of home, and the prattle of our sweet chil- dren, was not preferred to the company of the worldly and dissipated? And when our lovely little Julia, dearer to me than life, was breathing her last in my arms, did it add nothing to my grief, think you, that her"- the word father was stifled by her emotions -she would have added-- "was not there to sympathize in my anguish!" - "Could you at such seasons," said she, re- suming her composure, " have looked into my heart and seen the struggle that was going on there, you would have needed no THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 19 other expostulation, and I should have been spared the pain of this appeal." Her husband was moved and his feelings touched. After a pause in which he seemed to be summoning resolution for a (ecisive step, he turned to his wife and said with emotion, "You are right, dearest Julia, I see the whole extent of the evil, and the tendency of the course I have pursued. I have seen it for a long time and knew that it was working my destruc- tion, but had'nt resolution to break loose from my associates, and burst the thraldom of this dreadful habit. I loathe it from my inmost soul, and you cannot tell me any thing I do not know of its evils. My resolution is taken. You have helped me to make it, and I trust that with the help of God I shall be enabled to keep it. I will place the decanters with my own hands where you have placed the lamps.!" Who can describe the happiness of that page: 20-21[View Page 20-21] '20 THE CAMPHENE LAMP. moment? The anxious wife, who had trembled for the result, could find no ex- pression for her feelings but in tears, they flowed freely; but they were tears of grati- tude and joy. Before she laid her head on the pillow that night, she implored her Heavenly Father to take the returning wanderer into his fold, to set his feet in the right path, and to establish his goings, and give him strength to per- severe in the right way. The next morning she awoke with a new feeling. It was like the calm sunshine that succeeds a stormy day, hushing the troubled elements to repose, shedding a rainbow hue on every object, and edging even the clouds with a silvery brightness. She rose earlier than usual, and had a bright fire burning in the breakfast room before Mr. Goodwin made his appearance. Every thing wore a cheer- ful aspect, and Mr. Goodwin was the first to resume the last evening's conversation. THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 21 "Since, my dear Julia, I have become a convert to your doctrine, and pledged myself to touch not, taste not, handle not, please instruct me how I shall dispose of the choice spirits I have imprisoned in my wine cellar? Shall I pour them out as a libation to mother earth?" "I will tell you," she quickly replied. "Send it all to the apothecaries to be dealt out as medi- cine to the sick, and to minister to the declining years of the aged and infirm, who may need it. I suppose it is all of suitable quality for that purpose 2" "Not quite sure of that, wife. Some of my wine cost enough to be the genuine article, but of the rest I am doubtful. You don't suppose I gave my common visitors the same quality as I set before gentlemen, connoiseurs in these matters, -that would be 'casting pearls before swine.' I will let Barney take some of my Port to a chemist to ascertain its quality, before I dispose of page: 22-23[View Page 22-23] 22 THE CAMPHENE LAMP. it, for I have some suspicion of that, and I mean to look into the matter. It is a vile imposition that is being practised upon the public, in the composition and adulteration of liquors, and it is so skilfully done, too, that it cannot be detected by the most experienced." "You cannot tell,' said his wife, " how much it has distressed me to see young men - lads, I may say - stim- ulating their appetites by the use of various substitutes for cold water, manufactured, no doubt, from the vilest material, slow poison, which their healthful stomachs resist for a time, but which must operate to their detriment sooner or later, and not the less surely because slowly. Did I ever tell you of the brandy I once procured at a small shop in the neighborhood, for the purpose of wetting papers to put over my jellies? I turned it into a plate, and not having occasion to' use it all that day, it stood in the closet till the next morning. THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 23 When I went to it, the spirit had departed and a dark sediment resembling logwood was all that remained." Here the conver- sation was interrupted by the entrance of the children and was'nt resumed till Mr. Goodwin had furnished himself with the information he sought with regard to the adulteration of liquors. "My investigation," said'he, when he again introduced the subject, "has led, wife, to some of the most astounding rev- elations, which, as they come from the most reliable sources, we cannot for a moment doubt, though they may tax the credulity of those who are iot disposed to believe them. I will read you some ex- tracts from a pamphlet put into my hands by a friend of temperance now, though once a liquor dealer, and who indorses all the statements. "Frauds committed in the adulteration of wine and spirit in the city of New York alone amount, it is sup- page: 24-25[View Page 24-25] 24 THE CADIPHENE LAMP. posed, to at least three millions of dollars annually." Professor C. A. Lee, of New York, makes the following statement; "A cheap Madeira is made by extracting the oils from common whiskey, and by passing it through carbon. There are immense establishments in this city where the whiskey is thus turned into wine ; in some of those devoted to this branch of business, the whiskey is rolled in, in the evening, but the wine goes out in the broad day light, ready to defy the closest inspec- tion." Prof. Lee further adds : "The trade in empty wine casks in this city (New York) is immense, the same casks being replenished again and again, and always accompanied by that infallible test of genuineness --the custom-house certifi- cate." A French chemist says: "Wines are adul- terated by various substances; the object is to mask defects, to give color or strength. THE CAMPIENE LAMP. 25 Wines adulterated by sugar of lead are the most dangerous." Accum on culinary poisons, says: i Few commodities which are the object of com- merce are adulterated to a greater extent than wine. A mixture of spoiled foreign and home-made wines are frequently con- verted into the wretched compound fre- quently sold under the name of Old Port." Hear what Dr. Warren, of Boston, says. Every body will have confidence in his statements. He relates an instance of ' twenty persons having become severely ill in Paris, after drinking white wine that had been adulterated with lead. One of them died, and one became a paralytic. It is now a well ascertained fact, that no wine can cross the Atlantic in its natural state without spoiling. It must be enforced by drugs or ardent spirits. A friend of mine,' he adds, "ordered some wine from Madeira, with the positive injunction, that page: 26-27[View Page 26-27] 26 THE CAMPHENE LAMP. no ardent spirits should be put into the wine. The wine came as strong as ever. The question was asked the shipper--' Did you comply with my order?' The answer came - We complied with the letter, but not with the spirit of your order; we put no ardent spirit into the wine, but we put the wine into the ardent spirit. Had we not made the addition, the wine would have spoiled before reaching you.'" Rev. Dr. Baird states that little or no wine is shipped in a pure state. The dealers, he says, purchase it in a pure state at the vineyards, but in their hands its character is entirely changed, either by being infused by distilled liquors or drug- ged. Horatio Greenough, our distinguished countryman, and eminent sculptor, wrote from Florence, Italy- "Though pure juice of the grape can be furnished for one cent a bottle, you, who have studied the matter, THE CAMPIIENE LAMP. 27 know very well that the retailers choose to gain a fraction of profit by the admission of water or drugs." And he remarks, "How far the destructive influence of wine as here used is to be ascribed to the grape, and how far it is augmented and aggravated by poisonous adulterations, it would be difficult to say.!" To show the great strength of liquors sold as wine in this country, over liquors sold as such on the continent of Europe, in a letter on the subject, J. Fennimore Cooper says: "Five and twenty years since, when I first visited Europe, I was astonished to see wine drank in tumblers. I did not at first understand that the half of what I had been drinking was brandy under the name of wine." Says another: "Dr. Lewis Beck devoted inuch time to the examination of my stock of wine, about the time I abandoned its use. My Port, which was as imported, page: 28-29[View Page 28-29] 28 TTHE CAIMPHENE LAMP. was found to contail forty-two per cent. of the strength of brandy, and my Madeira forty-eight per cent. Tlhe above tests were only made to ascertain the proportion of spirit, not to detect drugs. The Port cost four dollars the gallon, the Madeira about the same." ' While travelling," says Mr. Delavan, "in a public conveyance, in company with a gentleman whose aid I was anxious to secure for the temperance cause, the adul- teration of liquors was discussed. I stated to him many facts I had gathered in my investigation into the subject, and said to him that in order to be sure he was drink- ing pure liquor and not a mixture of poison, he would require a chemist with his labo- ratory, constantly in attendance. After giving a variety of facts on the subject, he replied, 'I cannot credit what you say; you have been deceived; such things could not exist without exposure so long ; THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 29 if true or half true, those liquor forgers deserve the State Prison ten times more than he who writes another man's name, without his knowledge, on the back of a note, for the purpose of raising money thereon. Here is Mr. --, sitting beside us, he is an extensive importer of wine; let us appeal to him. Is what Mr. Delavan relates true ' 'Yes,' replied our fellow passenger, 'all that he says is true." Says President Nott, in his admirable lecture: "I had a friend who h{l himself been a wine dealer, and having read the startling statements, some time since made public, in relation to the brewing of wines and the adulteration of liquors generally, I enquired of that friend as to the verity of those statements. His reply was, ' God forgive what has passed in my own cellar, but the statements made are true, all true, I assire you!' That friend," says Dr. Nott, "has gone to his account, as doubt- page: 30-31[View Page 30-31] 30 TTIE CABIPHENE LAIP. less have many of those whose days ol earth were shortened by poisons he dis- pensed. But I still remember, and shall long remember, the terms and tone of that laconic answer. 'The statements made are true, all true, I assure you.'" "One sentence, more and I must leave you to peruse the rest of Mr. Delavan's valuable little book at your leisure," said Mr. Goodwin. "Medical men advanced in life," he says, '"have assured me that the effect of using intoxicating liquors now is rauch more fatal to health and life than thirty years since. Then the liquors were comparatively pure; the alcohol in them was usually the only ingredient that the constitution had to contend with, and then an habitual drunkard, if he lived so long, frequently did'nt become a known drunk- ard under twenty years; but now it fre- quently occurred that the same amount of habitual drinking *roduced disease and THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 31 intemperance in three years. This change these medical gentlemen attribute to the presence of other poisons than the poison of alcohol in the intoxicating liquors used by the people in vast quantities." "These statements," said Mrs. Goodwin, "are perfectly frightful and appalling. Why may not this be the prolific source of dyspepsia, neuralgia, and other distressing and lingering maladies, that are thought to be peculiar to this period, and which old people tell us were never known in their time? And it accounts, too, for the lon- gevity of some old drinkers that I knew in my childhood - miserable creatures, to be sure, but still crawling on the face of the earth, mere wrecks of humanity. They had only the alcohol to contend with, not the modern poisons. Call any one be so dead to their own interests, as to continue the use of these liquors after such disclo- i sures? when they are known to contain page: 32-33[View Page 32-33] 32 THE CAMTPHENE LAMP. the elements of death, that the use of them mYust shorten hluman life and entail disease on generations yet to come, which tend to destroy the dearest interests of man in this world, and his eternal interests in the next." Being left to reflect on this subject still further, Mrs. Goodwin said to herself, "Why is it that the principle of self-pres- ervation, implanted by the Deity in every bosom, and which operates so powerfully in all other cases, why is it so inoperative in this instance? Why should it be ne- cessary to plead with men to preserve their own lives?" CHAPTER II. "Our babes shall richest comforts bring; If tutored right, they 'll prove a spring Whence pleasures ever rise; We 11 form their minds with studious care, To all that 's manly, good and fair, And train them for the skies." W- E will not trace the progress by which Mr. Goodwin attained the position which he occupied when our story opened. It was not reached without many struggles and conflicts. There are those who have left us pictures of their own mental suffer- ing when brought to see the error of their ways, which no effort of imagination can equal, and no pencil paint, unless dipped in - the fountain of bitter experience. There were not wanting those who were ready to aid and sustain him in his new path, and ! to direct him to the true Source of strength. They were well aware that a resolution "?:i,' page: 34-35[View Page 34-35] 34 THE CAMPHENE LAMP. founded on mere temporal considerations, was not to be depended on; it must have a deeper foundation, and they anxiously waited for the right moment to lead his mind to religious considerations. To one whose moral sensibilities are blunted by the habitual use of strong drink, the truths and motives of the Christian religion are as idle tales, and fall powerless upon the ear; but let the scales once fall from his eyes, and the mists be, dispelled from his mental vision, then the rays of divine truth find admission, and he becomes an altered man. I do not say that all reformed ine- briates become real Christians, but I do say, they are more likely to become so, than when arrayed in the panoply of resistance, that this stupefying vice weaves about them. There are different degrees and grada- tions of intemperance as well as of every other vice, and we wouldn't class them THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 35 altogether, neither would we call any of its unfortunate victims bp hard names. They ought to be met with pity and kindness rather than severity and contempt. The grosser forms of intemperance we instinctively shrink from with a feeling of disgust and horror. The brutalized vic- tim, who murders his wife and children, must be met with the strong arm of the law, and though intoxication may be pleaded as an extenuation of his guilt, he is likely to expiate his crime on the gallows or in the prison. The insidious foe that approaches unseen, and makes his ravages in the do- mestic circle, seizing upon the young as his easiest victim, and spreading desola- tion in his path, must be met with a differ- ent weapon. This is a case for which there is no provision in the penal code, and which legislation hasn't yet reached. "How many bright eyes grow dim how many soft cheeks turn pale-how many page: 36-37[View Page 36-37] 36 THE CAMPHENE LAMP. lovely forms fade away into the tomb, and none can tell the cause that blighted their loveliness. As the dove will clasp its wing to its side and cover and conceal the arrow that is preying upon its vitals, so it is the nature of woman to hide from the world the unworthiness and unkindness of a hus- band. She will be seen to be fading grad- ually away, and you will be told that she is suffering from some chronic nervous dif- ficulty, or is the victim of consumption, that lays its withering touch upon the love- ly and the loved; but the true cause that is sapping her strength, stealing away her bloom, and making her " so easy a prey to the spoiler" is never revealed. People wonder that one so young, so healthy, so buoyant in spirit, and married with such bright prospects, should so soon have be- come a prey to disease and be hurried to an early grave! They are never told that it was the neglect of him she loved -that THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 37 it was his desertion of her society for the haunts of intemperance and dissipation that stole from her cheek the glow and radiance of health, and from her heart its gladness, and brought her down to darkness and the worm. Oh, that woman, in whose hands is placed the moral training of her children, would feel that she has a mission to per- form in bringing about a change in the usages of society with regard to drinking! Her influence, if rightly directed, would be omnipotent-! Let her teach her chil- dren to shun the contaminating influence of this vice in every form in which it presents itself, just as she would inculcate honesty, truthfulness and the kindred virtues. Let her instruct her daughters, when they go out into the world, or make their debut into society, to refuse those who ask their hand in the dance, if they make the re- quest with the odor of wine on their lips, page: 38-39[View Page 38-39] 38 THE CAMPHENE LAMP. and to repulse the attentions of those, who, when they leave their company, can be traced to the saloons of dissipation, or the haunts of vice. But alas! how many, in- stead of being discountenanced, are encour- aged and even tempted to the practice of drinking by those who ought to frown it down. Many a lovely woman has herself been lured, by slow degrees, into the snares of a vice, which she once looked upon with horror and disgust, by partaking, in scenes of festivity and mirth, of articles in which the exciting poison was disguised, or in openly pledging the wine-cup. Could such an one have been shown in the days of her innocence and hopefulness - when life seemed to her a fairy-land, and all was bright before her, a picture of what she might be- come by these indulgences --she would have started back with horror, and ex- THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 9 39 claimed, "Let me die, rather than real- ize this!" But to return to the Goodwins. The evening of the day on which our story opens was made joyous by the return of the eldest son, Robert, on his first college vacation. It was a great event to the chil- dren, and looked forward to with high anticipations. Every little scheme of pleas- ure was put off till Robert should come to enjoy it with them. The day at last arrived. Though it seemed to the impa- tient children a long time in coming. He received a cordial greeting from every mem- ber of the family, who eyed him from head to foot, expecting that a three months' resi- dence in college must have wrought some change in his personal appearance. The children were emulous to please him, and each had something curious to show or amusing to tell. A happier group than this family presented could scarcely be page: 40-41[View Page 40-41] 40 . THE CAMPHENE LAMP. found any where. Evening came, and they had all assembled in the parlor to receive their father. "How bright you all look," said Robert, " with your gas and your new carpet; either it is a very becoming light, or mother has grown handsome." Didn't you always think mother handsome," said Emma, rather resentfully?" Oh yes in- deed, Emma, she always looked handsome to me, but I didn't like to see her so pale and thin as she used to be; now she has the rose as well as the lily on her cheek. And father, too, how well he is looking; he isn't so fat as he used to be, but his whis- kers are quite becoming, don't you think so "Yes," said Emma, "and every body says he looks ten years younger." "We shall have a nice time this evening," said Jennie. "Father will be at home, and we have such pleasant times with him. He is at home every evening now, except when hegoes to a lecture or concert with mother." THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 41 "4 He hears our lessons too after tea, which you know he never used to do," said Em- ma. I believe he has taken private lessons in arithmetic for the purpose, for he always used to say when I went to him with a difficult sum -' Don't trouble me, child, go to your mother; she knows more than I do about it!' Now he can go a great deal farther than mother, and is as pleasant as can be.' 'Then, he used to be so cross after dinner - don't you tell him I said so! -now he takes us a drive into the coun- try, and says it really makes him young again to go out among the hills, and we have such fine times!" This was a simple child's view of the subject, unconscious of the real cause of the change. The truth was, Mr. G. had discovered how interesting his children were, and how much enjoyment he might find in their society, and a well-spring of happiness was opened in his heart that had page: 42-43[View Page 42-43] 42 TIIE CAMPHENE LAMP. been sealed for years. "Come," said Emma, after they had all arranged them- selves for the evening, " do tell us, Robert, something about college life. I admire to hear about the tricks they play there." "I hope Robert didn't go to college to play tricks Emma,' said her mother, "I should like to hear about his studies and other experience." "I am not far enough ad- vanced, Emma, to be entitled to play tricks. I shall think myself fortunate if I am not made the subject of them. Thus far, however, I have escaped practical jokes. As for my studies, mother, I get on with them as well as I could expect, though I have to study pretty hard. There are some first-rate fellows in my class, and some rather wild." c Choose good associ- ates, my son, that is all-important," said his father, who heard this last remark, "and avoid expensive habits." "I want you there sometimes, mother," said Robert, THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 43 "to preach temperance to some of the boys. I lecture them occasionally, but it's of no use; I only get laughed at and ridi- culed. You may as well preach to the storm, and reason with despair, as try to make any impression upon them." "I hope, my dear boy, you have been faithful to your mother's motto -' Touch not, taste not, handle not.' There is no safety but in that course, and perhaps your example may in time win them over." "Yes, mother, I stick to that, and there are several in my class who never touch any thing intoxicating. I would trust them any where, but it is otherwise with some. There is a young boy from the South, a fine, generous, little fellow, that I couldn't help speaking to .'bout it, because he was so far from his friends, and I thought they would feel so sadly if they knew how he was going on. He said 'that his father thinks if boys are brought up to see wine page: 44-45[View Page 44-45] " THE CAi1MIPHENE LAMP. every day, and drink a little now and then, they are more likely to grow up temperate than those who never see it on the table at all.'" "Strange," said his mother, "that a father should preach such a doctrine as this; nothing could be more delusive and ruinous. This I could easily exemplify by numerous cases that have come under my own observation. I could give this lad the history of at least a dozen fine, promising young boys, blest with all the advantages of fortune, family connec- tions and talents of the first order, who were victims of intemperance, and took their first glass at their own father's table. One of them dragged out a miserable existence in a half idiotic state; another became a lunatic, and died in the insane hospital; another, after passing through every grada- tion of this debasing vice, became a vaga- bond. Wine was then an article of hospi- tality, and I trust these parents sinned THE CAMPtENE LAMP. 45 ignorantly, though they reaped the bitter fruits. I could swell my list still further, and authenticate it with circumstances more heart-rending than I like to detail to your inexperienced ears, though I doubt not the friends of these poor unfortunates would be willing they should be held up as beacons, if their examples could warn those who are just launching on the voyage of life to avoid the shoals and quicksands on which they were wrecked. I have always regarded college life," she con- tinued, as an ordeal, and I should tremble to trust a son there, if I did not think he was fortified with strong temperance prin- ciples; and I really believe if the total abstinence law was enforced there, we shouldn't hear of so many riots, rebellions and acts of insubordination as we now do. There might be a little mischief, the effer- vescence of youthful spirits:;. but nothing, page: 46-47[View Page 46-47] " THE CAMPHENE LAMP. serious, nothing that would call for the interference of civil power. "In reminiscences of college life, how often do we hear, when an old classmate is inquired after, this reply: 'Oh, poor fellow! haven't you heard of his fate? He started in life with the brightest pros- pects; good patronage, brilliant talents, every prospect of success in his profession, but he got into gay society, for which, you know, he always had a taste, became intemperate, and after a while incapable of transacting business, and, though sustain- ed for a long time by friends, gradually sunk into the deepest degradation and died miserably! Poor fellow! he was no- body's enemy but his own, for every one admired and loved him, before he became so degraded. His widow now supports herself and children by needle-work, with what assistance she gets from his old class- THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 47 mates. Is there a class exempt from such instances? The conversation was here interrupted by the entrance of a servant, to say that Katy O'Laughn, the gardener's wife, would like to speak to Mrs. Goodwin. Mrs. Goodwin was quick to obey the sum- mons, for she always had a ready ear and a word of counsel for her Irish friends. "Well, Katy, how is it with you these days?" "Oh, first-rate, Mrs. Goodwin, first- rate. I have got into a new house, and, I may say, a new world, my leddy." "And what has brought about this great change in your circumstances, Katy?" "Oh, it's all owing to Barney's taking the plidge, which he did the very day, my leddy, that he helped Mr. Goodwin clear out the cellar and took the bottles to the 'poteca- ries. Mr. Goodwin said something to him while they were in the cellar together that had a great effect upon Barney, my leddy. page: 48-49[View Page 48-49] 48 THE CAMPHENE LAMP. May be you never knew Barney's infarmity, and I would be the last to mintion it, but for the great change that has come over him, my leddy." "You do indeed sur- prise me, Katy. I knew youl were always behindhand, though Barney had good wages, but I supposed he didn't have as good work in winter as summer. I never had a suspicion that drinking was the cause. I hope, Katy, he never treated you ill, or the children?" "That's neither here nor there, my leddy; I never laid up any thing against him, for I always said, when he gave me any ill tratement-It is n't Barney, but the liquor that 's in him, for when he was himself there niver was a kinder cratur than Barney O'Laughn." "How long has he been in this way, Katy?" -A great while, by spells, as I may say. I may as well tell you the whole story, my leddy," said she, loweting. her voice. "You know when gintlemen THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 49 in the neighborhood that didn't keep a man servant were going to have a card party, or a supper, or the like of that, they would come to Barney in \a coaxing like way, for they knew it wasn't his rigular business to wait and tend-upon a table, for Barney was brought up to gardening. 'Bar- ney,' says they, you must put on your white apron and come to my house this evening,' says they, 'and wait upon the company, and be a butler like,' as they call them in the old country. It was then he got a taste of the wine, my leddy; and he would come home quite merry like, and that, of course, I didn't object to; but the next day he would go loafing round with his pay in his pocket, among them that were ready enough to get it away from him, and at night he would drink the bad liquor, and come home so wild and furious that I would be obliged to take my little children 4 page: 50-51[View Page 50-51] 50 THE CAMPHENE LAM!P. into the woodshed till the liquor was out of him, for fear of our lives. Working in the garden the next day would bring him to himself again. So he came home one day in such a good mood that I ventured to say to him, - and I was all of a trimble while I said it, ' Barney,' says I, 'what becomes of all the money you earn? where does it go to? I'm ashamed of my life that I cannot pay the baker's bill.' 'What becomes of the money, to be sure, Katy O'Laughn? ' says he; 'why it goesAo buy clothes, and victuals, and drink for you and the children.' It is few clothes you buy with your money, Barney,' says I, 'or vic- tuals either. It is the liquor that takes the bread from our children's mouths, and why need we buy drink when we have a good well of water right at our door? With that he turned upon me, and said, ' Shut up your head, Katy O'Laughn, and don't be accusing me. When the great gintlemen THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 51 up yonder leave off taking the good cratur, Barney O'Laughn will too.' 'And havn't the gintlemen a right to drink their delicate wines, Barney,' says I, 'when they can afford to do it, and it doesn't harm them either; but it is the ruin of such as you. body and soul, to take the strong, bad liquor, that is no better than pisen,' says I. 'And havn't I, Barney O'Laughn, a right to drink too, in a free country, as well as they?' says he in a bold way like. ' I've seen how they manage,' says he; ' if they took any thing very strong to begin with, they wouldn't be able to see the spots on the bit cards they hold in their hands -first, pop goes the corks from the bottles with the long necks against the ceiling, like a bit musket -this pale, sparkling wine they call champaigne -this makes them bright and merry like--then come the short necks - this wine is quiet in its way, but it works in the brain, I tell you, Katy,' page: 52-53[View Page 52-53] 52 THE CAMPHENE LAMP. says he; 'them that drinks much of it, would'nt get home safe if it was'nt for the help they get from one another, and from the like of me sometimes. What do you say to that, Katy O'Laughn?' says he. 'It's no use talking about other people, Barney,' says I; 'that's nothing to you: but I tell you this; if you go on so, me and my children will come to the poor- house,' says I, 'or some worse place' 'Well, go now,' says he, 'if you like it better than living here in a dacent man- ner, and off he went. It was that very blessed day, my leddy, that he had a talk with Mr. Goodwin, (God's blessing be upon him!) and took the plidge, and a drop of liquor has never passed his lips since." Mrs. Goodwin's sympathy with Katy was heartfelt, for she could comprehend her feelings. "Do you know, Katy," said she, "that the wise men of the nation are try- THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 53 ing to pass a law to prevent the sale of all intoxicating drinks?" "That will be a good thing, my leddy, but I had rather Barney would leave off because he won't drink than because he can't." "That certainly is best, Katy, but there are some unfort te ones who can- not resist when tey see the liquor, to whom the law would be a great benefit." "Oh, indeed, my leddy, there are multi- tudes of misfortunate craturs who would do well intirely, and support their families, if they couldn't get the bad liquor so easy. If it wasn't for the little shops about, where they can sit and drink and smoke, and no one know any thing about it. Oh! I should like to see the keepers of those hor- rid places put where they deserve to be, or in some worse place! Some of them are kept by women, miserable craturs, that they are! and many's the poor boy that goes into their dens that comes out worse page: 54-55[View Page 54-55] 54 THE CAMPHENE LAMP. than the beasts that perish, and gets mur- dered on his way home for the money he has in his pocket. There was Patrick Min- nigin, my first cousin on my mother's side, came out from Ireland as nice a boy as you ever saw, my leddy, and a good cratur to work. He came over with the temperance medal round his neck, put on by Father Mathew himself. He was young and foolish like, and he saw how little atten- tion was paid to the plidge here, so, my leddy, he did just like the rest, and in a short time the bad liquor he took killed him. The doctors said, 'It was a stroke of the sun,' but I knew all the time it was another kind of stroke that was the death of the poor young cratur." And here she wiped her eyes with the corner of her apron, and look- ing up at the clock and seeing that the evening was far advanced, exclaimed, "I am crazy to be staying so, laving my little children and the bit baby sick too." What THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 55 is the matter with the baby?" asked Mrs. Goodwin. "Oh, my leddy, he has a great oppression about his heart, stuffed like; he could hardly breathe last night." You must take home a dose of squills for him; I have some Is can give you." '"Thank you, my leddy; but I have wrapped him all up in goose grase and given him some onion tea, and I think he will do well. I forgot intirely the arand I came on. I wanted to ask you, my leddy, if you would like to take my eggs? I can let you have two dozen a week. Barney has bought me six shankhighs, I think they call them, and built a coop for them with his own hands. Fine birds are they, and go step- ping round so proud like as if they were peacocks." Mrs. Goodwin said she should like the eggs. "You shall have them fresh every morning for the master's breakfast. I will send them over by little Bridget." "' Where do you live now, Katy?" asked page: 56-57[View Page 56-57] 56 THE CAMPHENE LAMP. Mrs. Goodwin. "Why, forenent the big Yankee meeting-house with a big bell in the steeple, that's on Chestnut Street. You pass through the alley way, then you cross over Dover Court, and you will see a wee bit house with a green door and yard before it and the hen-coop, and that's my house." Katy now drew the head of her cloth cloak over her cap, and saying as she left the room, "Long life to you and your family, and may you never want light in your dwelling," took her departure, leaving Mrs. Goodwin to muse over her conversa- tion. Her mind naturally reverted to the time when Barney was exposed to tempta- tion in her house, and the question rose, "Does any responsibility rest on those per- sons who subject their servants and other transient tenders, to such trials of their moral strength? Persons who conscien- tiously banish camphene and other danger- ous agents from their houses, because fill" THE CAMPIIENE LAMP. 57 ing the lamps may endanger the life of a careless servant, allow him to fill the de- canters with ten times the danger to his moral well-being. The evil doesn't stop here. Your servants, the company you keep, and the practices you allow are edu- cating your children, insensibly perhaps, but not the less certainly. What higher sanction does a child need than, " ly father does it!"I heard the other day of a young boy who, when reproved by his teacher for profaneness, justified himself by saying, "My father swears." Let fathers be persuaded, as they value the true inter- ests of their children not to speak lightly of temperance men or temperance measures in their presence. Ridicule is a powerful weapon, and children who are accustomed to hear really good men called fools and fa- natics, and their measures denounced as unjustifiable and encroaching on private rights, will grow up to be opposers of eve- page: 58-59[View Page 58-59] 58 THE CAMPHENE LAMP. ry thing that is good and sacred. Every one admires temperance in the abstract. Why not make it practical and enjoy its benefits? They are real, substantial. Do you feel less respect for the merchant, who, instead of sitting over his wine, inhaling the vapor of his cigar, gives his wife and children a drive into the country to enjoy the fragrance of nature and the pure and exhilarating influences to be found there? Do you feel less confidence in your physician because he is a total abstinence man, than you would if he came to your bedside with a breath made offensive by the fumes of wine? Would you trust a cause in which prop- erty, and perhaps life, are involved, to a lawyer who went from the bar of the hotel to the legal bar? Do you feel less reverence for your min- ister because he frowns upon the wine-cup, than if he should raise it to his lips, praise its THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 59 flavor, and drink it freely in the presence of your children? Would you elevate to a public office the man who countenances the traffic in ardent spirits, rather than one who, in putting down the haunts of vice, stopping the sale of the article in drinking saloons, places of re- freshment, and subterranean resorts, lessens the amount of taxes and human misery, by stopping the manufacture of paupers? Would you patronize a grocer, who carries on the adulteration and sale of ardent spirits, sooner than one who never admits one drop into his premises? Would you engage the services of a servant, though ever so skillful in the culi- nary department, who takes, as it is fami- liarly termed, "a drop too much," though only occasionally, in preference to one who is habitually temperate, and never suffers a drop of intoxicating drink to pass his lips? In short, is there a man in any profession page: 60-61[View Page 60-61] 60 THE CAMPHENE LAMP. or employment, from the shoemaker to the statesman, that isn't ennobled and made respectable and successful in life, by the practice of temperance? Let your heart give an honest answer to these questions! Temperance is not a solitary virtue. The moral virtues cluster around it, and form a diadem. Hear the enumeration as found in the first chapter of St. Peter, fifth verse: "Add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godli- ness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be found in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor un- fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind." The following lines, by Miss Caroline Briggs, well describe the state of one who THE CAMPHENE LAMP. 61 has waked to a consciousness of his true being: "I have wakened to my duty - To a knowledge strong and deep, That I recked not of aforetime, In my long, inglorious sleep! For to live is something useful, And I knew it not before, And I dreamed not how stupendous Was the secret that I bore- The great, deep, mysterious secret Of a life to be wrought out Into warm, heroic action, Weakened not by fear or doubt. In this subtle sense-of being Newly stirred in every vein, I can feel a throb electric - Pleasure half allied to pain. 'T is so great and yet so awful - So bewildering, yet brave- To be king in every conflict Where before I crouched a slave; 'T is so glorious to be conscious Of a growing power within, Stronger than the rallying forces Of a charged and marshalled sin! page: 62-63 (Advertisement) [View Page 62-63 (Advertisement) ] 62 THE CAMPHENE LAMP. Never in these old romances Felt I half the sense of life, That I feel within me stirring Standing in this place of strife. Oh, those olden days of dalliance, When I wantoned with my fate- When I trifled with a knowledge That had well-nigh come too late! Yet, my soul, look not behind thee! Thou hast work to do at last; Let the brave toil of the Present Over-arch the crumbled Past. Build thy great acts high and higher; Build them on the conquered sod Where thy weakness first fell bleeding, And thy first prayer rose to God! THE SUBSCRIBER HAS RECENTLY PUBLISHED EVERY-DAY WONDERS, OR1 FACTS IN PHYSIOLOGY THAT ALL SHOULD KNOW. An admirable little Work for Children and Young Persons. Written in a pleasant, easy style; illustrated by attractive Stories, and forty- two highly finished Wood-cuts. 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