Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-03-19
INDEPENDENCE. IOWA, friday MARCH 19.

death III buildings set on fire b,
drunken men. Some were horribly
mangled on the railroad because OF
drunken engineers or flagmcn. 4 me
were blown up on steamboat Ike
cause a drunken captain rama race
with rival boat.
But here comes another armv-the
children-innocent ones, upon whom
has been visited the iiliqlilies Of then
fathers. How any 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 the
drnnkard's child. They are reduced
to poverty. want, and beggary. They
live in Ignorance and vice.
Some OF the children are moaning
with hunger, and some all shiycri. Q
with the cold, for they have not
enough rags to keep them warm. Il
large number of them are idiots,
made such before they were born, by
brutal, drunken fathers. And worse
than all the rest, many of them ha, e
Inherited love for liquor, aud are
growing np 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
ni'brokrn columns down tc death.
1t has taken nearly year for the
street TO empty itself of its wears
work. And close in the rear comes
the vanguard of next years supply.
Md if tins is what liquor does in
our land IN one year, what must be
lis results il all the world through
the long centuries!
Thus far we have listened to the
stories that the figures tell. Butt they
cannot tell all. They only give the
outline of the terrible tragedy that is
going on around us. They cannot
picture to US the wfetchod squalor of
IA drunkard's home. They cannot tell
us how many and unkind and cruel
words strong drink has caused other
wise kind and tcnder-hearted hus-
bands and fathers to utter to their
dear ones. They cannot tell us how
many heavy blows have fallen from
the drnnkard's handupon those whom
it is his duty to love and cherish and
protect. They cannot tell us how
many fond expectations and bright
hopes which the fair young bride had
of the future had been blasted and
turnedto bitterest gall. They cannot
number the long weary hours of
night during which she has anxiously
awaited, and yet feartully dreaded,
the heavy football at the door.
Figures cannot tell us how many
scalding tears the wives Of drunkarls
have shed, nor how many prayers of
bitter anguish and cries Of agony
God has heard them utter. They
cannot tell us how many mothers
have worn out body and soul in pro-
viding the necessities Of life for chill
dren whom a drunken father has left
destitute. They cannot tell us how
many mothers hearts have been
broken with grief as they saw Il darl-
ing son becoming drunkard. They
cannot tell us how many white hairs
have gone down in sorrow to the
grave, mourning over drunken chill
dren. They cannot tell us how many
hard-fought battles the drunkard, in
his sober moments, has fought with
the terrible appetite; how many times
he has walked his room in despair,
tempted to commit suicide, because
he could not conquer the Demon
And finally, we cannot search the
records OF the other world, and tell
how many souls have been shut out
from that holy place, where no drunk
ard enters, and banished to The re-
gions Of eternal despair b, the demon
Of drink.
What man, what woman, what
child would not vote to have that
whole street, with its awful traffic in
the Internal stuff, sunk to the lowest
depths of perdition, and covered ten
thousand tathoms deep under the
curses of the universe: