Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1880-02-25
"Will 1 BE Like You, Papa Z"

1t occasions less regret to see man quaff-
Jug his poisonous drink in the gilded saloon
han it does to hear him speak and see him
act after he has staggered within the sacred
precincts of his home. 1t is here that he
greets his wife and little ones, here that he
is most noble or most brutal here that the
GOOD or evil germs of his influence are
planted, and it is in this soil that they take
deepest root, and live to bless or to curse,
according to the fruit borne in after genera
tons. II the man is unkind, his wife and
children suffer- and that suffering is per-
petuated throughout all their lives. If he
is kind, and still the generous-hearted hus-
band and father, they become familiar with
mis- condition and learn TO tolerate aud ex-
cuse it. Then the boy, esteeming it less an
vii than it is, may follow in the footsteps
+ his parent-follow more rapidly than if
ach day was filed with drunkard's blows
,nd curses. In either case, the influence of
such a man is degrading; and it is degra-
lation that knows no Limitation. 1t may
lease when he reforms it is more likely to
reach into the future and prove a source of
new misery.
1t is only the speech of little child that
,alls forth these words, aud yet, when re-
peated to the reporter, it sounded very much
ike an argument against intemperance
Nay, it was more than an argument, it was
junction of the present with the future
connection forced and imperative. The
story is quickly told A gentleman of this
ity, who for years has been more or less
lnder the influence of liquor, and whose red
nose and blotted figure stamped him as an
inebriate, had gone home to his wife and
children in his usual condition. He was not
Inkind in act or in words. 1t was his de-
light to play at games with his little ones,
Is he was able, and to entertain them with
wonderful stories. On this occasion the
family were all together in the sitting-room,
md the usual games having been played,
little Freddie, lad about six years of age,
nad climbed upon his fathers knee, and was
asking him all sorts of boyish questions.
lie talked as a child will--of what he would
10 when he was big man p asked if he
would be like papa then aud finally after a
long and serious look into his fathers face,
with every shade of childish curiosity in
voice and glance, put to him this bewilder-
ing query =,
my nose be red like yours, and my face all
,welled 2" All why should that swollen
lace grow redder than twas wont to be I
Why should his arms so quickly draw that
dow and voice tremble as he replied in words
md tone that made mothers heart glad:
"No, Freddie please God, you won't be
like me when you get to be a man and
leither will your father, my boy, for from
this hour he will lead a sober life"
Be like himl" He had not thought Of
that before, and the bare possibility stag
gered him. All the love in fathers heart
,ried out against such fate. That boy
His pride going about with bloated face
aud poisoned breath No, no he was not
prepared for that Never before had he
seen his own looks so clearly; they were
effected in the boy's--the boy grows to
manhood and honor, affection and reason
,ame to the rescue. The child had preached
, sermon no orator could deliver, and inno-
,enoe and ignorance had accomplished what
earning aud logic had aimed at in vain.
Those words "went home. Cedar Rapids
Republican,