The free citizen. (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1875-03-13
Effects of Intemperance

Of ihtemperance. Take this extract
from recent missionary report as an
example: The' missionary says:
RUNS doings'gire direction to not a
little of our ihbor.. Al man whom i
had set down as a lazy fraud, and to
whom l. had given the cold shoulder,
one day informed me of n sick woman
whom he wished Lwould call and see,
giving ME particular caution not to
make my errand known to any one l
should meet in the house; to make
no inquiry at the door, lest her hus-
band should prevent my seeing her.
l was told in what room the sick
woman was lying, and that I should
go into the room without waiting for
summons. Taking my wife with
me went according to the directions
given me. I found the house quite
respectable in appearance, and opened
the front door, without knocking, and
walked in, and though 1 saw the hns-
band Gas Irighlly supposedly at work
in the rear yard at once, without
addressing him, l proceeded to the
sccond-1oor room indicateds to me,
and entered. A very dirty, disor-
dcrcd, rubbishy room received me
and my wife. A strange mixture Of
misery and comfort was apparent. A
woman, young and dying, alone and,
neglected, was lying on what had
been very nice hair cloth sofa, un-
der the front window, "a old, worn
gray army blanket thrown over her,
and her head resting uncomfortably
on dirty and patched feather pillow.
"A smutty, broken lamp was burning
upon large marble-top center-table,
just at her head. There was not a
decent chair in the room, but the
walls were bAng with an array of
portraits and pictures in oib with gilt
frames also pier mirror. There
was no carpet on the floor, which
looked as though it had not been
swept in six months; while heaps of
dilapidated odds and ends were scat
tered shout.
Altogether, the state OF tAis dying
woman w;rs ns riopiorui,i,:-- ,uuui,'
we'll be imagined, or fonud in the
most wretchcd tene1nelAt ir. the CITY /;
and all this the work of rum. Her
husband, who owns the house III
which lie lives and several others, had
totally neglected bis wife, anxious
that she should die as soon as possi-
BILE. Though SO young, perhaps
twenty1siS years old, she haul become
3 confirmed inebriate, with no pur
pose in life but to indulge her appetite
for. strong drink, utterly neglecting
home ard samiiy. Her children were
left to run about in rags, and were
found upon the streets in the drpth Oh
winter with no shoes on their feet.
The poor infatuated woman had been
in the habit of taking the furniture,
bedding, and wearing apparel to the
pawn-shop to get money for the pur-
chase of liquor. When L afterwarc,
went to the husband to inquire about
his treatment of his wife, he showed
me in his shop bolster almost emp
tied Of feathers, which she had taken
out to sell for rum and. to save the
carpet from the same disposition, he
had taken it of the floor Of her room.
To the poor, miserable wreck of a
woman 1 spoke Of the compassion OF
Jesus, but could get no response. AZ
terward she was taken to the hospital
and everything was done that could
be done under the circumstances, bat
TO the last the poor woman felt she
was so far of-too far off from Jesus
--.she could not reach out to Him.
The city missionaries are laboring
constantly. not only for the reforma-
ton and elevation Of the incorporate
but also to prevent the formation OF
those evil habits which lead the way