Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-01-02
A Temperance Lecture.

My friends, there is another rock |
wish all to guard against. 1t is hid
ded by the still summer sea, but upon
it many a human bark has split. |
refer to the mince-pie. Yes, my hear
ers, the mince-pie is a rock that has
brought thousands to watery graves
or not to watery graves, exactly, but,
you understand what | mean. The
mince-ple is the curse of our land. 1t
is alluring our youth from the path Of
virtue and sobriety, and leading them
down to ruin. 1t begets an appetite
for strong drink that sweeps every
thing before it. Look not upon The
accursed thing. Shun it as you would
a viper. Sis on it; trample it under
your feet, as it were. | once knew a
brilliant young man, loved and court
ed by all who knew him. His is the
story of thousands. This young man
used to visit his aunt in the fall, that
fatal time of the year when the mince-
pie stalks up and down through the
earth, seeking where it may doyour
somebody. This young mans aunt
could make a mince-pio till you could
could not rest, and her art lured him
to destruction. That insatiate mon
ster. At first he ate lightly Of the
damning food, then, as his appetite
grew by what it fec upon, he ate deep
er and deeper, until after every meal
he would sink into a heavy sleep only
to awake with a head ID him bigger
than Daniel Wahster's. He wSuld
chew cloves and cardamon seeds for
hours, and yet you could smell his
breath across the biggest county in the
State. He saw hat he was becoming
a slave to the acUursed pie. His af-
hanced bride, who to him was the one
fair woman beneath the sun, said she
would never marry a man that smelled
like a distillery that employed three
thousand hands and was in full blast
all the time, and unless he reformed
she would be nothing to him but a
sister. The young mar had all the
sisters he wanted, and, falling at
her feet, he registered a solemn
oath, and had it copyrighted
next day, that a mince pie should
never pass his lips again as long as he
lived. But alasl he was already a
slave to strong pie, and in less than
t%wenty-four hours he tore himself
away from his sweetheart, who made
a frantic grab for his coat-tails, and
fled to his aunt's in this city, and said
he hoped she would have some of her
excellent mince pies for dinner. The
good aunt, ignorant of the fact that
she was putting an enemyin his mouth
to steal away his brains, set EN- UP SO
to speak, and in less than two hours
the young man was %rip-roaring STAY
ing blind drunk, as usual. All, my
friends, the story is a CHASTITY one, and
needs no establishment. While in
this condition the young man, the
pride Of his parents and the hope of a
wOman's heart, was arrested for
drunkenness and disorderly conduct.
On the way to the mayors office he
shot the officer dead in his tracks.
blew outhis own brains with another
barrel of the pistol, and then went
back and killed his aunt and a dog
that she paid 50 for. My friends and
fellOw-sufferers, from the mince pie to
the tomb is but a step. If mince pies
must be made, / demand, in the name
Of the youth of our country, that peo-
pie who manufacture them be COMPEL
ed to take out a license. If they must
be eaten, | beg of you as you value
your souls salvation, do not eat them
straight. A serpent lurksin every one
OF them. Ten thousand devils lie be-
meath every crust, be it baked ever SO
nicely, Every current hides a demon
with a forked tongue of fame and a
seven pronged pitcbfork. The suet.
the citron and the chopped meat are
the broth of hell, and the whole bust
ness from stem to stern is a mockery,
and strong drink is raging. In con
clusion my beloved hearers. touch
not, taste not, handle not, enter not
into temptation or, in other words,
look not upon the mince pie when it is
red, when it giveth its color in the
cupboard.