South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1868-03-20
I'LL TAKB WHAT FATHER TAKES.

what will you take to drink p asked
the waiter Of young lad, who for the first
time accompanied his father to public
dinner. Uncertain what TO say, and feel
ing sure that lie could not be wrong il he
followed his fathers example, he replied,
I'll take what father takes
The answer reached his fathers car and
instantly the full responsibility Of his po-
sition flashed upon him. If he said, on
take ale as he had always said before, his
son would take it also, aud hca! And the
father4L uddcred rs the history of several
young Snen, who, once promising as his
own bright lad had been ruined by drink,
started up in solemn warming before him
Should his hopes also be blasted, aud that
open-faced noble lad become burden and
curse as they had te como But for strong
drink they would have been active, earnest,
prosperous men and if it could work such
ruin upon them, was his own lad safe
Quicker than lightning these thoughts pass
cd through his mind, and in moment the
decision was made. If the boy falls, he
shall not have me to blame; and then in
tones tremulous with emotion to the aston
ishment Of those who knew him, he said
Waiter III take ,cafcr ) and from that day
to this, strong drink has been banshed
from that mans table and from that mans
home
That young lad, in this brief uttcrance,
was really the representative of the gener-
alton to which he belongs. God has so de-
creed It, that a father is the highest au-
thority in the world to his child Who does
not know that? 'My father said So is the
end of all controversy with the little ones
around us. Who does not sec the parents
tones and gait, and manners reproduced
continually in the children whose nature is
now soft as wax to receive an impression,
and rigid as marble to retain it ;; and who
watch with quick and initiating eye, those
who to them are Gods vicegcrents
Would that VIC could impress upon the
fathers and mothers OF this country the sol
emn fact that the future character of the
children is being formed by them That
if they are trained up in the way they
should 90, when they are old they will not
depart from il. But If they become vain,
sensual, ard degraded, the seeds will have
been deposited, and the bias given in the
early morning Of their lives. If We teach
them that strong drink is good creature
f God, they Will believe US and when,
depending upon our judgement and truth,
they shall have taken It, and it shall have
shown itself to the devils masterpiece, and
have bitten, and crushed and dragged them
down to ruin, We may weep and pray as we
please; tho blame will be our own, and we
must not accuse God, or cast reflection up
tn the Gospel We shall have sown to the
flesh and Of the flesh have reaped corrup-
ton. God Will have visited the sins of the
fathers upon the children. They only
took what their fathers took If, on the
o,hcr hand, We Danish the fcnd from our
homes, and, in the hours when their young
and trusting hearts arc most open to our
teaching, we tell them that wine is n mock
er, that strong drink is raging, and warn
them that no serpent is so dangerous, no
adder 50 much to be dreaded we shall be
co-workers with that all-mcrciful and wise
God who, to preserve them from taking it,
has sent them into the world with loath-
ing Of It's very taste. Our children will be
lieye US. They will grow up with natural
instinct fortified by our instruction and ex-
nipple. They will be preserved from the
poisonous influence Of the DESTROYER There
viii be q brilgeless gulf between them and
Che companions who are most likely to lead
them into ways Of sin. They will be pre-
served from habits Of cztraya Vance and
waste. They viii have no companions but
those who walk in the ways Of Rood no en-
pl0ymcnt FOR their spare time, but chat
which Is clcya.ingand purifying and " hen
wc pass 70 our reward, they will rise up and
call us blessed, for they, took what their
fathers took