Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-04-25
In Drinking a Barrel Of Whisky a
Year-His Speech ut the Total
Temperance Meeting
Last Night.

lows:
LADIES \ GENTLEMEY-I have been
requested to say a few words in regard
to drinking, because l suppose everybody
who knows me has an idea that | have
had a good deal of experience with the
death producing thing. Well, it is true
l have had a great deal of experience,
and think | can safely say | was q ripe
scholar at the bottle, and was a graduate
with the only honors of my class, before
| was a very old man, for / am yet
young, being only twenty seven years of
age. | commenced to drink a little wine
and beer when ! was a boy, and by the
time | was twenty years old | was a first
class drunkard. 1t has caused me a
power OF sad trouble, both at home aud
abroad. My mother aud father always
tried to advise me against drinking, and
| only wish | had taken their advice
Every young man would fare better if he
would be governed by the advice of his
mother aud father, for they love their
child better than anybody else. When |
look back now over my short life | can
see where liquor has been my ruin, and
| believe, it | had keptit up, l would soon
have fell overheard and landed in that
ireary bourn whence no poor drunken
tramp has ever been known to return. l
can remember when | used to dream
horrible things, and | thought l was q
soldier 10 the army of the devil, and that
he kept me always drilling in his FIRE dc.
partment. | have seen things in my
dreams that did not look like anything
that ever lived on earth. 1t would take
more language than l have got to tell
you what all / did see in my drunken
dreams, and what they looked like. l
would advise every man to keep a good
distance off from such dreams as
used to have, and he can't keep
any distance off from just such
dreams as | have told you oil unless he
keeps himself very scarce of the whisky
bottle. AS Mr.. Shimminy, our good
temperance songster sings in one OF his
enrapturing songs, every nan who wants
TO come out OF the big end of the horn"
must lay down the bottle and not drink
any more" Hard drink has been the
means Of bringing many good and grea,
men down to the level Of the brute crea.
tor. Some men take to drink from Gu.
riosity to see how it goes. Curiosity
should not get such a hold on any man
as to cause him to salt himself down in
a drunkard's grave" II was curiosity
that led old Mrs. Lot, in the days of old,
10 peep around her shoulder into Sodom
Gomorrsh to see what her husband, Mr.
Lot, was doing. that caused her to turn
TO a pile Of salt; and just here | cen say
| hope none OF the ladies of this audi
ence will ever follow in the footsteps of
Mrs. Lot. Hard drink has caused a
great many heart.aches in the family cir
Gle, and many a poor wife and mother
have SCI up al nights for a son or a bus
band, hoping when he got there be would
not be full but they have many times
been bound to look upon that son or
husband when he got home, as full as a
billed owl" as Mr.. Prosser says. A
great many men don't 90 home when
they get full, but they lie down in some
out Of the way place, hoping nobody
will drop on them" when 10, a peeler
comes along aud not thinking, stumps
his toe on the POOR sleeping sot," and
hauls him to the station.house as timber
as a disbrag, for which purpose a hand.
cart is usually brought to bear. The
mayor ought to try and collect whisky
tax enough from the family grocerymen
TO get up carts to dump such poor
creatures as are found lying around loose
into the station house. Liquor makes
a man stupid, and it makes him look
like an idiot, and act like a wild maniac.
| have seen many such, and have bsen
there myself. Nobody respects a drunk
ard, and | don't blame them, for a drunk.
ard has no respect for himself; AID a
man destitute Of self respect don't de-
serve the respect of anybody else, and
he gets his rights every time. A gentle.
man spoke one night in this house who
said every man who drank at all got away
with a half barrel a year. think the
only place be missed it was when he cut
1t in two. According to my experience
a msn who drinks lively never fails to
hide at least a barrel a year. That was
about my quantity the last two or three
years that | drank, as Colonel Turner
said one night in his lecture. | did drink
about as much as any man Of my size
and weight; | was always on a bender,
and know a great many Of you who
were down with the same complaint. |
would not 90 home, but would lie around
wherever | could get a chance. The gls.
posts are getting lonesome for me, for |
have not Rugged one Of them for some
time, and, God helping me, | hope
never will hug another. l wear the red
ribbon now, and it is precious to me, for
it has saved me from everlasting woe-it
has kept me out Of that awful hell that
Colonel Turner described in his lecture.
When | took the pledge it was the best
act Of my life, and | do hope | will be
able to keep it always. | believe God
will help mo to keep my pledge. | feel
better, and | hope | am looking better;
feel like a gentleman, and | hope |
look like one. Good and decent peo.
pie speak to me and try to en-
courage me, and | thank them for it
from my heart. | hope all my old
schoolmates and companions will take
this pledge, and l think God will help
them to keep it. Ever since l took the
pledge | have been going to the prayer
meetings that the good ladies are hold.
ing in the Jefferson street Opera House,
and | hope everybody will 90 to those
! prayer meetings aud let the ladies of
J God pray for them. Prayer will do US
all good.
| am thankful for your kind attention.
will try and do better the next time |
come before you.
GensrnI mnrnsr nt Cerra GOrno.