The Tipton advertiser., 1875-07-29
4 Fearful Procession.

| dDfedst, eAueItli.lg HNe HuHdreu anu
seventy miles? 1t is the army of FIVE
million men and women who daily
and constantly go to saloons for in
toxicating drinks as a. beverage
Marching twenty miles day, it will
take them more than twenty-eight
days to go by.
Now they are gone, and close in
their rear comes ano her army, march.
ing FIVE abreast and sixty miles in
length. In it there are five hundred
and thirty thousand confirmed drunk
ards. They are men and women who
have lost control Of their appetites,
who are in the regular habit of get
ting drunk and making beasts of
themselves. Marching two abreast,
the army is one hundred and fifty
miles in length. Scan them closely.
| There are gray haired men and fair
haired boys. There are, alas. many
women in that army sunk to deeper
depths .han the men, because from
which they fell. 1t will take seven
days TO go by.
1t is sad and ii kening sight; but
| do not turn away vet, for here comes
another army-one hundred thousand
criminals. From jai's and prisons and
| penitentiaries they come. IT the
head of the army comes a long line
of persons whose hands are smeared
with human blood. With ropes
around their necks they are on the
way to the gallows. Others are GO
ing to prison for life. Every crime
known to our laws has been commit
ted by the persons while they were
| under the influence of drink.
But hark! Whence comes those
yells, and who are those bound with
strong chains aud guarded by strong
men that go raging by? They are
raving maniacs, made such by drink
Their eyes are tormented with awful
sights and their ears ring with awful
sounds. Shiny reptiles crawl over
their bodies, and fends from hell tor
ment them before their time. They
are gone now. and we breathe more
freely.
But what gloom is this that per-
vades the air, and what is that long
line Of black coming slowly down the
street, 1t is the line of funeral pro-
cessions. One hundred thousand who
have died the drunkard's death are
being carried to their graves. Drum
kards do not have many friends to
mourn their loss, and we can put
thirty of their funeral professions into
mile. We thus have procession
three thousand three hundred and
thirty-three miles in length. 1t will
take good share of the year for them
to go by, for funeral PROFESSIONS move
slowly. Yes, most of them do, but
every now and then an uncoffined
corpse, in rough cart. is driven rap
idly by, and we hear the brutal dry
er sing,
Quick, rattle his bones, rattle his bones
over the stones,
Hes only pau2er whom nobody owns
Look into the cofiins as they 90 by.
See the dead drunkarks Some died
of delirium tremens, and the lines of
terror are still plainly marked on
their faces, Some froze to death by
the roadside, too drunk to reach their
homes. Some stumbled from the |
wharf and we're drowned. Some wan
dered into the woods and died and !
rolted on the face of the earth. Some
blew their own brains out. Some
were roasted in burning buildings
Some were crushed to shapeless mas
ses under the cars. They died in
various ways, but strong drink killed
them all, and on their tombstones. if |
they have any, may be ftly incrbed,
"He died druhkard's death"
Close behind them come another
loEg line of funeral professions. we
know not how many, but they are
more numerously y attended by mourn
ing friends. They contain the re-
mains of those who have met death |
through the carelessness and cruelty
Of drunken men. Some died of bro
ken heart. Some were foully mur,
dered. Some were burned to death
in buildings set on fire by drunken
men. Some were horribly mangled |
on the railroad because of drunken
engineers or tlagmen. Some were
blown up on steamboat because
drunken captain ran race with RI
val boat.
But here comes another army, the
children, innocent ones, upon whom
has been visited the iniquities of their
fathers. How many are there? Two
hundred thousand. Marching two
abreast, they extend up the street
thirty miles. Each one must bear
through life the stigma of being a
drunkards child. They are reduced
to poverty, want and heggeary. They
lived in ignorance and vice.
Some Of the children are moaning
with hunger, and some all shivering
with the cold, for they have not en-
ough rags to keep them warm. A
large number of them are idiots, made
such before they were born, by bru-
tai, drunken fathers. And worse than
all the rest, many of them have inher-
tied love for liquor, and are brought
up to take the places and do the
deeds of their fathers. They will fill
up the ranks of the awful army of
drunkards that moves in unbroken
columns down to death.
1t has taken nearly year for the
streets to empty itself of its years
work. And close in the rear comes
the vanguard of the next years sup
ply. And if this is what liquor does
in our land in one year, what must be
its result in all the world through the
long centuries!
Thus far we have listened to the
story that the figures tell. But they