264 



Tlte Grape Culturist. 



tection. Should time permit, I may 

 at some future period hint some of 

 my views upon the subject, not with 

 the belief that they will prove practi- j 

 cable, but with the hope that they may 1 

 contain germs from which larger and 

 better disciplined intellects can raise j 

 the much needed edifice. j 



I have said it : I am a man, and • 

 hold nothing foreign to me that re- j 

 lates to mankind! but while the indi- 

 vidual has my deepest sj'mpathies, 

 mankind claims the sensible and ra- 

 tional energies of the mind, I am 

 satisfied that in the grand conception 

 of the universe the suflerings of the 

 individual are ignored when the mass 

 is to be benefited. 



Sailors may think it hard that to 

 punish a rebellious prophet like Jonas, 

 their vessel might be wrecked, and 

 the lives of many innocent victims in- 

 volved, and it may appear so. In the 

 pursuit of trade great are the suffer- 

 ings of those that follow the sea. The 

 tempest makes no distinction, and in- 

 numerable are the victims that are 

 yearly engulphed b}' the ocean, but 

 are the results of trade of greater im- 

 portance to the world than the loss of 

 these few lives — compared to the great 

 mass? Has any feeling heart yet 

 uttered its voice against such whole- 

 sale anguish and drowning? Light- 

 ning occasionally strikes a victim, 

 but who will dare say that the thun- 

 derbolt, in its I'apid and wonderful 

 passage through the skies, had no 

 greater purpose than to destroy an 



innocent life. Man on the checker- 

 board of the world is like the soldier 

 on the field of battle — the general has 

 but one great object in view : victory 

 and results. 



Love, the sweetest and grandest of 

 all human paseions, so deep and so 

 noble when coming from the soul, so 

 terrible in its effects when thwarted, 

 must yet be admitted as an evil that 

 does, at least, match with intemper- 

 ance. It overshadows the land. Most 

 other evils are circumscribed in their 

 influence both as it respects time and 

 place : having done their work of des- 

 olation they pass away. Not so with 

 sensual love. It prosecutes its work 

 of human undoing absolutely without 

 any restriction or limit whatever. In- 

 temperance alone never numbered so 

 many victims. It fills all lands with 

 weeping and wailing, despair and 

 death. Especially here, in this Chris- 

 tian country, who but sickens as he 

 contemplates its ravages ? Individuals 

 and families, in ever}' neighborhood, 

 can be found upon whose peace it has 

 made essential inroads : lust, rape, se- 

 duction, adultery, divorce, infanticide, 

 and murder are its daily attendants; 

 still we hear of no law wanted to pro- 

 scribe it. If total abstinence is worth 

 anything, this certainly is a proper 

 subject to exercise it. Where shall 

 we find the numerous hosts willing to 

 join the Shakers? 



Dr. Ampelos. 



Golden Hills \'i.\£yakd, Nauvoo, Ills. 



