The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-06-25
THE PR ESS.
TUESDAY MORNING, JUNE s5, 1872.
The GrOg Shops-No. Xxx.

Many persons take pains to relate incidents
to me that illustrate the working of the anti
grog-shop law. Yesterday was stopped in
street by man whom / knew very well as
member of the police. force, formerly. ssNo,"
said he, 'I do not belong to the force now,
Pm keeping small grocery and provision
shop, and am just returning from collect
ing round among my customers, and an Incl
dent occurred, that l thought would please
you to hear. There's Jim Blank who lives
up here in Blank street you know. That was
in my beat when l was a. policeman, and
many's the time / have taken him off to the
lookup. i have taken him three times, on
three successive nights-drunk and outrage
Gus; whenever he could get liquor that was
his condition. An excellent workman, a
good citizen and neighbor, except for the
drink.
"Well, the grog-shops were shut up, and
Jim became at once, sober and steady as a
judge, regularly at work. He came to my
shop for his supplies; he's neighbor, and 1
always liked him, but for the drink.
thought I'd trust him; when sober, he's
good fellow. Well, his bill was twenty dol
lars, and 1 have just been to collect it, Jim
wasn't at bong, he was away At works I told
his wife my errand AL right, said she, and
she took from drawer, roll of thirty-five
dollars, and paid me. Three months ago, no
body would trust him for cent. His wife
said everything was going on beautifully"
fbara c,,,t 81 - Al.
they had everything they wanted, and were
saving money against time of need. l
thought you'd like to hear that story, that
shows the good of stopping the grog-shops."
Well, l said, that is only a sample of what
is going on all through the city, as the result
of the movement against the grOg shops.
Have mt yon seen the same thing in other
cases? 80! yes," said he "everywhere, things
take the same general complexion. All gro
Gerry and provision dealers can see it." Yes !;
the certain result is, that the money that
went into the rum shops, now goes into all
the other shops, whose goods contribute to
the comfort or the necessities of the people !;
and homes are quiet and happy now, that be-
fore were noisy, dirty and wretched.
A friend told me this story. A skilled me-
chanic, young, unmarried man, lives next
door to him, with his widowed MOTHER
the two live together-the mother keeping
house. This young man was continually
drunk, and when in that condition, was surly,
cross and ugly, so that his poor mother had a
hard time oft. He did not work much and
provided in the most miserable way, for home
needs, what little money he es rned, going in
to the rumsellers' till. The first week after
Sheriff Perry shook his finger at the rum
sellers, this young man was perfectly sober
! and steady, has been so all the time since,
Regularly at work and the little home is now
| quiet, comfortable and happy, as it had been
noisy and wretched.
| The wealth of community consists in the
earnings and savings of individuals; not less
in the savings than in the earnings. The
| grog shops were the waste-ways to the earn
| ings of thousands of our people, through
which ran away to the common sewers, the
results of their labor, leaving nothing for it
but noxious exhalations, offending every
sense of the sober, industrious part of the
| people. lH af eH
| We have an agent in town, constantly la
boring among drinking people and others; he
has been drinking man himself, many years
| ago, and has peculiar tact in winning the
confidence of such people. He is their friend,
and easily satisfies them of that fact He
| goes to their houses and places of resort and
talks to them in the streets, singly or in con-
siderable numbers and is doing great good; il
is an important public enterprise. 1t is Mr.,
Woodbury.; he works for small pay, but hith-
erto, very few have paid the bills the
men who also do the work. am confident
that there are many of our wealthy people
who will gladly help in work so important
and useful in many ways. n. ID.