Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1871-05-11
(" Don't. Father"


One evening in November weswere
,.;;kened bv noise that proceeded
from tie >t,.et, near which was our
slesH!na room window. A rufianly
voics Nes pouring out on the night
M. an avalanche Of curses. Gong to
the w.nstow, we looked ont and saw
an the opposite side Of the street
man in n beastly state OF intoxication,
reeling from side to side OF the walk,
and little girl Of about six or seven
years holding him by the hand, and
endeavoring all in her power to guide
his erratic steps. Don't father"
she says, as the blasphemous wretch.
pours out the vileness inspired by the
vile compounds he has drank. Her
remonstrance meets with a quick re-
turn; after an effort or two. he sue
ceeds in hitting her with his disenga-
ged hand, and she falls prone upon
the sidewalk. After a moment she
gets up-meantime the father has
embraced an awning post, and is
watching his child while he see-saws
back and forward in his maudlin ef-
forts to maintain his equilibrium.
The little girl Immediately comes to
MS side; there is no fear in her ap-
proach, and the tone in which she
said, "Do, father, come home" had
power, it seemed to us, TO melt a
heart of stone. The agonizing ca
dence brought up from a-bleeding
heart had no effect on the miserable,
rum-soaked wreck, and as they moved
in a zig-zag course down the street,
he made Intellectual efforts to strike
his child again, at the same time ma
king night hideous with his clamorons
profanity he falls on the sidewalk,
to be assisted to his feet by the little
one, and as he sends out volley OF
oaths, and slowly gets down the
street out of hearing, the last words
we hear are in that heart-brealang,
pleading strain: " Don't, father
What a future that little girl has
before her! Once her father was
l,ind TO her, else she would not have
loved him so we'll; else she would
not have borne his brutality. But
wnen the demon rum fastens his hold
upon a man all his better nature is
zone; he not only has hell in MIN,
but he tries to make hell upon earth
10 all about him. Even now we hear
ringing in our ears that Don't,
iathe.. Will it have. the power OF
reforming that pitiable wreck of man
hood? We fear not. OF the many
III 1t enlist under the bannss of King
Alcohol, few have the power to leave
the ranks in the face Of the army
hat nrges them on to destruction.
So called friends, instead of raising
Il warning voice when the fatal dis
case is fastening its fangs deep, rather
urge on the victim by words that take
away the last remnant O; self re-
spect-almost the only thing that can
bring drunkard back to deeeney.
Or, when they see the poor, diseased
creature sober, they, in their large
hearted charity, (?) ask him into the
first bar-room handy and prime him
Tor another debaueh.
Rum is debauching oas lest men
to-day. and if the course of the mon
ter, Intemperance, is not stayed, in
a few years it will debauch the ma
lion, and America will out-Sodom
Itself. Let every one who read this
article constitute himself a committee
Of one, to work for legislation, and to
nse moral suasion to abaie ths evil.
You are not doing your duty to your
ieilow man II You glect TO warn
vonr neishbor when you see him
.;oiag down to perdition, and all with
whom you are brought in contact are
vour neighbors. Christian men, when
n the final reckoning yop are called
On to account for that mans sqql,
that few words firm you might have
arrested when it was on the brink OF
an awful precipice, what will you
say2 How many little children plead
in vain iop their fathers to come home
from the gates of bell-the groggery.
1t does seem to us that if drunkards
could see themselves as others see
them, they wouldreform. Of all the
disgusting, filthy pictures one sees in
a lifetime, next to drunken woman
a drunken man is most disgusting
McDonald's Annual.