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Temperance Reform
in the Early 19th Century

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Be Careful Whom You Marry! (1829)

Be Careful Whom You Marry! (1829)

~Transcription~

A young lady will be very unsafe in marrying a young man who uses ardent spirits, either temperately or intemperately, because more women have been rendered wretched on account of drunken husbands, than by anything else. When Lavinia and Laura and Margaret, were led by their husbands to Hymen's altar, their husbands only took a little. Lavinia was the mother of four children, when the sheriff sold the last bed she had, for her husband's drams. Laura had three lovely babes, when her husband was carried off to jail, and she was left without bed, bread or home. Margaret had two children when their sottish and brutish father went to an untimely grave, and she and her babes were cast upon the world penniless. Beware young ladies of him who can drink a dram even in a week. Don't marry a reformed drunkard, as a man hardly ever gets clear of this awful disease. If you want to be miserable marry a man who drinks, who takes a little, and you are more likely to have the above enjoyments than in marrying any other character. If a man cannot give up his dram, he can sacrifice the happiness or property of any woman by taking a little.

From the New England Farmer and Horticultural Journal VIII, no. 14 (October 23, 1829).

Edited by the Museum Education Department at Old Sturbridge Village

 

 

 

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Last updated December 1, 2003