The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1872-05-30
CHE UrlDl,lle.
OF WRECKS AND RUINS.
BY SHANGHAI CHANDLER


dest of all
And yet the great world is full of them !;
among whom. [ have had no doubt for
several years that [ am a conspicuously
marked one, with not shadow of hope
that there Is one moments, true happi-
ness left for me this side of the grave, and
no possibility Of any in all eternity.
To witness the wrecks of ships, or of
trans of cars, or the ruins of houses,
villages, aye cities, or anything else built
Icy mortal hands. as l have done very
many times, gives pangs of sadness which
move many to tears. There are score,
Of wrecks and ruins of many things else,
not things of life, which make sad most
people who behold them.
But, to see or know Of men or women
created In Gods image, once innocent
good and beloved, who fond lips have
kissed, and who in their time gave bright
promise os life worth liying-a life of
usefulness, all to be spent in happiness
and to the glory of Ged,--t see such, OF
whom the world is SO full, now SO fallen,
SO lost, SO detected, dispondent and utter
ly reckless, fearing nothing and caring
for nothing, neither of life nor death,-
that is indeed the saddest sight of the
whole Universe of God; and one which
surely doth make the Angels weepi
Inv ha 20 II
full Providence. do men become thus I?
Probably there are not as many reasons
therefore as there are.such men; tor
verify believe nine tenths of them all be
come so by that. mightiest of evils OH
earth-Alcohol, which so gradually and
sureley engulf them, swallow them,
substance and soul, until Lost ! Lost |!
is written on the doorpost of their dwell
ing and Irretrievably Lost is indelibly
stamped on their brows and Externally
Lost! is deeply craven in both hemi-
spheres of their maaiacal brain
True, many such are brands from the
burning some through ife,-some for
years and then fall again; and others for
short intervals will drink none. There
ara all degrees Of drunkenness, almost
as many as there are men who dri2k any
thing alcoholic. But all who drink are
liable to be lost-Wrecks. Ruins
| beleave most people who drink do so
chiefly to crafty their appetites. as much
ho 7 A. II
ally few drunkards have greater appetite
for all Alcoholic drinks than [ haye
Sometimes it seems as though l
should fly if [ couldn't have gin or whis-
ky land yet, there never was a time
when l haven't let it alone, though it
be right before me, if thought | would
and any man can do the samc [ know
many people doubt it; Tut of them let
me ask what drunkard will drink a glass
of gin into WHICH has been put enough
strychnine to kill him on the spot. mot
if he knows it" is strychnine, one will not !
The argument that any man drinks be-
cause he can not help it, is not true. 1t
is men S will and not their can't help it.,
that causes them to drink. Suppose an
Angel from heaven would hover over
every village. and proclaim that Jenovah
had changed His Law (which he never
willy so that whose thereafter should i'm
bloc one drop of alcohol, in any form,
should instantly die? many people
wouldn't believe the Angel and some
man would go and take glass Of beer
or gin OF something but if he should
drop dead, it would be some time before
another tried it. And when each who
ventured fell according to Gods promise
it wouldn't be a week before no man
would touch strychnine. And from the
bottom of my soul though say it in no
spirit of blasphemy, wish, for the sake
of all mankind, except myself. that kind
of an Angel would hover and proclaim
''Then, if | can stop, why do [ not"
you will ask, when know better than
mortal can tell me the injury and agony
it has brought upon me?" Reader be
not oversure that strong drink brought
the agony though the injury [ admit.
why drink, - is matter now chiefly
between myself and God, who once en-
dowed me with akind heart, (which even
yet has not lost its attributes and a
head which however good once, has for
years been distracted by burden of
grief which Circumstances have rolled
upon the heart, which burden weighs no
less heavily when have drudk nothing
for months. than when my brain is iren-
zied with rum.