The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1873-10-05

on "The Sins and Miseries Of the Dram Seller |
by one Of the Paulist Fathers:
1.-THE dram-seller and his traffic in o we'll |
known and prominent rock of scandal in the |
ono barrel Of beer or liquor in the earth .aoored
shanty, or tho foufishing business Of D we'll |
stocked and gilded saloon:
The business 10 proximate occasion OF sin, |
and good morals can never allow one to remain |
in that state. In the first place 1t 10 o proxi-
mate occasion of the sin Of drunkenness for
himself and the members of his household.
customers obiiges him often to treat and be
treated during the day.
Bat the sin which adds the last and most
grievious stain upon tho dram seller and his
traffic 10 the heinous breach of Christian char |
ity against his neighbor:
He wrongs his neighbor in his property,
social relations. He makes bad husbands, bad
zens and practical Catholics will bear me out
which swallows the hard earnings Of the labor
life and wsll-being of thousands of the com:
the increase Of pauperism and crime. and the
consequent burden Of taxation upon the State.
~ remember preaching q mission in Ger.
priest, All Catholics. save one, had given up
"Your daily walks must be misery to you,
those fine clothes, and see your children clad
in warm coats and caps and shoes. and your
wife parsding that beautiful new silk dress
they Ns1s bought with money that ought to
have been used to clothe family that goes
about our streets in destitution and nakednees
can you sit down and ask Gods blessing upon
your plentifully supplied table, if you ever do
1t now, when the hand that gave you the
the piece Of bread from the mouths Of starving,
hungry Shildreni How can You dare to go to
sleep in your soft warm bed, listening to that
cutting winters blast as it goes bowling past
your windows down the street and forces its way
In tho open crevices of the drunkard's shanty,
freezing the half-clad forms of his neglected
| little ones, huddled in the corner upon little
whisp of straw Have you q human heart
yet left beating in your bosomf Do you know
anything of q husbands affection of q
fathers Iovei oh then You must be o miser-
you, sohi he's q rum. seiler5 And The tone
In which it is spoken is o plain index Of the
contempt they attach to the name. Your wife
your children it is remarked. Their father sells
the most desraded dsanIords tRst, a7thoSsh
they have a da;a pretty they thank
a1 Sa q 1 ask Of t. Yes a1 ear de-
cannot afford it, Do you not hear the words
of Jesus Christ laundering in your ears, II
thy right eye offend thee, cut It off, For it
into life everlasting, than, having two hands
or two eyes, to be cast into hell Where
is your Christian faith and trust in God
Seek first the kingdom Of God and His jus
, you:'
"No, NO, there is not single excuse which
will avail you. wish could find enc: Many
5 and many o time have wished could frame
an excuse for it., when the fact has been thrown
into my face that so many of our people are
!. engaged in this diabolical unchristian traffic
ln1 E,nNa kor
: amongst us the vice and miseries of drunken
, ness.
"To you who have hitherto been engaged in
seech of you, with all the fatherfy Affection OF
q Christian priest, and with the supplicating
tears aud signs of many q broken heart, for
: Gods sakco, foS tho ChurcL:s sake, for you,
souls sake, to resolve now. and make that re-
point the finger of scorn OF you and say. We
to him who giveth drink to his friend, and pre-
senteth him gall, and maketh him drunk"
J The Right Rev. VIM. Walsh, D. D., Bishop
of Halifax, in his work entitled " The Catholic
Offering" states
F." It is o vice which pre- eminently btutalizes
and degrades and we feel that to give even {
faint description of the beastly drunkard will
it otherwise, and the loathing and disgust
which it viii produce, may serve to rouse thu
drunken maniac himself from his PROSTATE
|
plete between the brute and man, than when
the latter is in state of intoxication. Nay
J when q comparison is instituted, it is all II
taror Of the beast The beast, without reason
more truly fuliils the end of its creation, thar
the drunkard who has been made after The
! image of God. The one has never received
l reason the other has nearly destroyed the
precious gift. The beast follows its natural
Instinct; the drunkard smothers his soul in
, the fumes of intemperance, and extinguishes
t his reason in draughts. of liquid poison. The
Q beast drinks to satisfy tho wants of nature
a the drunkard to crafty one of the lowest Of
: the animal appetites: The beast will gener
Q ally stop when it's thirst is appeased the man
. will continue to gulp down, long, long after
4 swallowing, OF oven to derive, ON animal graft
t Gcation from the act. 1t lie therefore, in some
Q respect, an injustice to the brute creation tc
= compare them to d drunken man. There are
however, various qualities in the beast, which
, are to him natural, but which are produced
Q most unnaturally in the drunkard and, in
t deed, the transformation of the man into the
beast 10 80 complete and 80 general, that there
t is hardly any attribute of the beastly or ami
t NAL nature with which the drunkard Is not in
, vested. In fact, there are various classes o.
/. drunkards which remind you of different
beasts. The ass, the dog the sheep, the calf