2 October 1880: The Leeds Mercury reproduces a typographical intemperance tree from the 1840s origins of the Band of Hope
Leeds Mercury. 1880/10/02. The Tree of Intemperance. Leeds. Get it:
.Excerpt
sin of
drunkenness
expels reason;
drowns memory;
diminishes strength;
distempers the body;
defaces beauty; corrupts the
blood; inflames the liver; weakens
the brain; turns men into walking
hospitals; causes internal, external, and
incurable wounds; is a witch to the senses;
a devil to the soul; a thief to the pocket;
the beggar’s companion; a wife’s woe and
children’s sorrow; makes man become
a beast and self-murderer,
who drinks to other’s good
health and robs himself
of his own!
and dissipation
Are the root of all evil.
To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.
Abbreviations:
- ER: East Riding
- GM: Greater Manchester
- NR: North Riding
- NY: North Yorkshire
- SY: South Yorkshire
- WR: West Riding
- WY: West Yorkshire
Comment
Comment
It doesn’t work for me at the moment – line ten is one character shorter than line nine. What were they smoking?
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Original
Perhaps the readers of this column would notice that at od one of the meetings in celebration of the Temperance Jubilee in Leeds attention was drawn to the fact that it was in Leeds where the Band of Hope movement had its origin and received its name, and where, also, the first Band of Hope melodies were composed. Between 30 and 40 years ago, just about the time the first Band of Hope was organised in the town, the Leeds Mercury contained a specimen of typography in the shape of a tree, drawing attention to the evils of intemperance. Mr. T. Harper, of Cawood, Selby, who says he has been a reader of the Mercury for half a century, asks for the reproduction of of the tree, and it is given below:-
sin of
drunkenness
expels reason;
drowns memory;
diminishes strength;
distempers the body;
defaces beauty; corrupts the
blood; inflames the liver; weakens
the brain; turns men into walking
hospitals; causes internal, external, and
incurable wounds; is a witch to the senses;
a devil to the soul; a thief to the pocket;
the beggar’s companion; a wife’s woe and
children’s sorrow; makes man become
a beast and self-murderer,
who drinks to other’s good
health and robs himself
of his own!
and dissipation
Are the Root of All Evil.
270 words.
Tags
Tags are assigned inclusively on the basis of an entry’s original text and any comment. You may find this confusing if you only read an entry excerpt.
- Alcohol (drug) (59)
· - Band of Hope (1) ·
- Leeds Mercury (18), leading Whig newspaper founded by John Hirst in 1718, bought by Nonconformist-Liberal Edward Baines in 1801 and used to advocate some types of social and political reform, remained in the family for two more generations ·
- 📌Leeds (235) ·
- Teetotalism (6) ·
- Temperance movement in the United Kingdom (1) ·
- Temperance movement (10) ·
- Tree (3) ·
- Typography (2) ·
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