NEAL DOW. THE man who had the talent to frame and the courage to execute the Maine Law, deserves to be honored and remembered by every patriot and philanthropist in our broad free land. Neal Dow is the Kossuth of the temperance revolution, and his name is already registered in the book of fame, 66 among the few, the immortal names not born to die." Poets sing his praise, painters put his shadow on their canvass-historians record his deeds, and multitudes of appreciating mothers will call their children by his name. We wrote pledges, made speeches, obtained signatures. formed societies, and framed laws, to suppress intemperance; we tried moral, magnetic, Bible, and ballot-box suasion; we plead, and prayed, and promised, and did incalculable good, but failed to accomplish the entire extinction of the rum traffic, the consummation so devoutly desired. We were brought to a moral Panama, with a gulf of billows rolling between us and a golden California beyond, without bridge or boat to carry us safely over to the land of promise, when Neal Dow, who understood every rope in the ship, took the helm, and piloted our storm-beaten vessel into the harbor of safety. Yes, a private citizen of Maine, possessing the stern will and Puritan zeal "of the earlier and better day," arose in the dignity of conscious strength, and with the sweep of his strong arm wiped away the stain of black intemperance from the State. Without the aid of the Army or the Navy, he routed the most formidable and dangerous enemy that could assail the Commonwealth. Lean and pallid avarice, haggard appetite, stupid ignorance, bloated bigotry, devilish demagogueism, stood in his way, clad to the teeth in armor, but he feared them no more than Bunyan's Christian feared the beasts he met on his way to the Celestial city. He extinguished the fires of the only distillery in the State, and wrote tekel on the walls of every wine palace in Maine. Who is this modern Moses who smote the RED SEA with the rod of the law, so that the people can travel dry-shod? He is a man who has a head to think, a heart to feel, a tongue to explain, and a hand to execute; is respectably educated, not learned, comfortably independent, not a millionaire; speaks conversationally, not eloquently; is a plain, practical man, with a strong mind and an iron will. Had he lived in the days of Cromwell, he would have been a leader in the battered band that fought side by side with the "Usurper." He speaks as one having authority, and looks like one born to command. He is in the meridian of life-about five feet seven inches in height, and well proportioned; has dark hair, a square forehead, which does not at first glance indicate more than a mediocrity of mind; eye-brows rather ponderous, cheek-bones somewhat prominent, complexion dark. The peculiar form of his mouth and chin pronounces him a man of obstinate firmness. There is a sort of come on, I am ready for you, look about his face, which affords unmistakable evidence that he will not countenance the liquor trade. He looks as though he could chase a thousand rum-sellers, and with the aid of the Maine Law, put ten thousand to flight. Neal Dow is the son of a Quaker, and surely he fights valiantly for one who has been trained to observe the principles of peace. He does not claim religious relationship with any sect, but is a firm believer in the truths of Divine Revelation, and observes devotional duties in his family. For many years he has been identified with the temperance movement in Maine (his native State), where he has labored and lectured gratuitously, for the welfare of his fellow citizens. Frequently has he appeared before the Legislature with petitions praying for laws so stringent as to prohibit the liquor trade, and finally he succeeded in cutting out some work for his country. He is a tanner by trade, and although he has (I may be misinformed) retired from business, he has left the hides of many rum-sellers on the fence. Wonder if they would not make good shoes, since they are water-proof? There is not a lawyer in the land who could have drafted a better bill than that which has so effectually excommunicated intemperance from the glorious State which is the nearest to the golden gates of sunrise. The law declares that intoxicating drinks shall not be made and sold, to be used as a beverage, in Maine -that an agent shall be appointed in each city or town to sell spirits for mechanical and medicinal purposes only—that |