Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-10-12
AN OBSTACLE REMOVED.
BY JOHN B. COUGH.

BY JOHN B. COUGH.
What do you think Mr.. Spurpeon
sald TO his people? He said Drunk
enness IS the curse Of Great Britain I:
0ut total abstineneeNmy friends, is
not the cure for drunkenness - Why.
there Is not a BOBBY in the land who
does not know better than that. Now,
l advocate teetOtalism as a cure for
drunkenness" / do not advocate it
as cure for anything else. A man
may be teetotal thief, a teetotal liar,
a teetOtal Sabbath breaker, a teetotai
inndel-but he cannot be a teetotaler
and a drunkard, can he? We look
upon. n.teetOtalism as one Of the grand
est agents to remove one Of the most
terrible hindrances to the hearing Of
the Gospel. To give you an illustra-
ton: l spoke in Dundee to the out
casts Of that town. Lord Kinniard
and his lady got up the meeting. 1
suppose, as you cannot see in this
I country; at least / never saw such an
one. The town missionaries had got
| together large mass Of men and Wo-
men, and you would have looked
almost in vain to find one lingering
trace Of human beauty left. It SEEM
ed as if the foul hOOf Of debauehery
had trampled it out. It was a horrid
sight to look at-rags, filth, naked
[ ness-a fostering, streaming, mass Of
| putrefying humanity. A woman sat
az my feet, and the place was 50
crowded that i touched her. Her
nickname for years had been tHell-
fire." Fifty-three times had she been
convicted and sentenced. The ex-
provost Of the town, George Rough,
said 70 me; 81 never sent one police
man to take her." She was never
mastered by one man. She is a mus
eular woman, and will hit right and
LETT. She has been dragged before me
time after time with the blood stream
ing from Aer face.n Rev. Mr.. Han
nay and Mr.. Rough both said: "If
she kicks up row, as she probably
will, you will see one of the most
comieal rows you ever beheld. It is
dreadful, but there is such a comicali-
ty about it. She has such power with
her tongue that it is amazing. We
have seen men who could stand any
amount Of common swearing, run
when she commenced to blaspheme.U - |
She sat at my feet, and as went on, |
4
audience what they had been, what I
they might be, and what God meant |
they should be. I showed them that /
they were thwarting Gods good de- /
signs toward every one Of them. I
asked that mother if she did not .
remember sending that half-starved |
little child for a penny's worth of cat /
meal and fOur-penee worth Of whisky. /
l asked that young man to remember /
what he promised when he married 4
that girl, and to 60 and look at that /
bed Of rags to which he had brought I
her. Some of them lifted up their |
naked arms and said: "Oh, that is |
all true" By-and-by the woman at I
my feet looked up and said (: "Where |
did you learn all that?n Then she I
looked as though she had some i'm /.
pOrtant communication to make, and /
she said, 1.-THE man kens all about it. |
Would you give the likes o. me the
pledge? ?' 'TO be sure will, f." said I.
"Oh no, no, >" said some; at won't do
for her to take the pledge" I said,
why nOt?n "She can't keep it.n
''HOw do you know?" "She'u be
drunk before night Madam" ("
said 1, there is a man who says YOU
can't keep the pledge" The woman
flew into a rage. "BefOre YOU fight
about it." said I, "taH me If you can
keep it" 'If 1 say I will, can,n
said she. "Then you say you will |
Then, said I, ''put down your name
Some three years after went back
Lord KinniRrd presided over the meet I
ing. The woman was there. I was
introduced to her as Mrs. Archer, a I
very respectable Scotch woman" She |
had on her white cap, and her cloak .
pinned across her breast. / went to /
her house. I wish I could tell you
what she told me. I wish I could /
lake you feel as she made me feel
She said: II am a poor body, and I /
dinna ken much and what little did
ken has been about knocked out Of
me by the policeman. They pounded
me over the head, sir. I dinna ken
how to pray, but sometimes ] dream,
(and then her eyes fiIled.) / dream I
am drunk, and 1 cannot pray, but 1
get out Of my bed, sir, and I kneel
beside it, and I never get back to il
until day-daWn; and all 1 can say il,
God keep me- I Gamma get drunk
any more" Her daughter said: "Ay
mon, and / have heard my mother at
lead Of night on the bare floor in the
winter time, cry out God keep me. -
And 1 said, Mother 20 to bed > and
he said, No, no, 1 had a dream, and l
anna go and get drunk any more. ~ |
That woman is now to be seen going
svery Sabbath day to hear Gods word {
lreached-she who had not entered :
he house of God for twenty-eight ]
years. Teetotalism is not religion, (
)ut I thank God it has removed a ]
lindranee to many a man and woman !
rearing that truth which must be be- s
ieved, and must be heard before it is
believed. 8