36 MK. STONE'sADDRESS. 



then, the pecuniary tax intemperance has imposed on its un- 

 happy subjects, who can estimate 7 What an accumulation 

 of public and private woes does its history present ! What a 

 host of victims, from the learned professions, the workshop and 

 the field, has it immolated ! How many are the hopes it has 

 crushed, and the fair prospects it has blighted ! Who can 

 number the farms it has dissipated, or describe the domestic 

 and social misery it has created ! 



But amidst all that is heart-rending in the ravages of the in- 

 toxicating cup, multiplied causes exist, of gratitude to Him, 

 through whose " loving-kindness," Abbott, Dane, Worcester, 

 Wadsworth, Torrey, and a goodly company of kindred spirits, 

 were raised up to stay the tide that threatened to overwhelm 

 the Commonwealth with drunkenness, and to commence the 

 regeneration of public sentiment and practice.* It is a gratify- 



* In lSll,ata clerical Convention held in Salem, a Committee of eight was appoiiitetl, 

 lo consider what could be done to arrest the alarming progress of intemperance. This 

 committee congisted of Rev. Samuel Worcester, D.D., Salem, Rev. Abiel Abbott, D.D., 

 Beverly, Rev. B. Wadsworth, D.D., Danvers, Rev. Jedediah Morse, D.D., Charles- 

 town, Jeremiah Evarts, Esq., and Thurston, Esq., Boston, R. D. Mussey, M.D., 



and Joseph Torrey, M.D., Salem. The Committee, at their first meeting, did little more 

 than agree to bring some thouglits, on paper, to an adjourned meeting. The second meet- 

 ing was held at the house of Rev. Dr. Morse. Rev. Dr. Wadsworth wrote elaborately 

 on the formidable nature of the malady. Dr. Torrey wrote the following remedial pre- 

 scription : 



1. Let each reformer set a wholesome example of abstinence, so that the proverb, 

 ^'physician, heal thyself, ^^ inay not apply lo him. 



2. Let hospitality be shown in better ways, than by applying the bottle to our neigli- 

 bor's mouth, endeavoring to render it as unfashionable to offer, as it has been to witlihold, 

 the liquid fires. 



3. Furnish no spirit, but a better equivalent, to the laborers employed. 



4. Let associations be instituted on the above principles, and lectures, addresses aiid 

 discussions be encouraged, to enlighten the public mind. 



Mr. Evarts recommended vigilant attention to the license laws. At tlie third meeting, 

 held in the autumn of 1812, at the house of Dr. Torrey, in Salem, Messrs Abbott, Worces- 

 tei', IMorse and Evarts, were appointed a Committee to obtain names and form societies. 

 A sub-committee, consisting of Messrs Worcester, Wadsworth and Torrey, was also ap- 

 pointed, to draft a constitution fjr the Massachusetts Temperance Society. In the winter 

 of 1S13, a meeting, by invitation of the Committee, was held in the hall of the Union 

 Bank, in Boston, at which time the constitution was read, discussed, amended and adop- 

 ted. The second aimual address before the society, was delivered in 1815, by Rev. Dr. 

 Abbott, and the fourth, in 1817, by Rev. Dr. Worcester. Hon. Nathan Dane, and Dr. 

 Josluia Fisher, of Beverly, were members of the society, at its formation. The former 

 succeeded Hon. Samuel Dexter, as its second President. Gratitude and duty prompts an 

 " honorable mention" of those who were among the earliest to take an active part in "an 

 enterprise which looked to the greatest good of the individual, and the truest happiness of 

 the state." 



