The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1880-06-03
temperance.
To a Saloon Keeper.

DEAR SIP:-Please excuse the lin
crtv | take in addressing YOU these
lines. I am told that veu have
fine trade, that You are busy day and
night, weekdays and Sundays. Many
witnesses testify that yours Is q wicked
and ruionous business. The stuff YOU
sell produces strange and hurtful ef-
tects upon those who drink it; rcdden-
ing the eyes, limbering the body, de
throning reason, innaming passions,
and booming the guilty but helpless
! victim to temporary insanity, and, in
many cases, TO confirmed dcranglnent
and maniacal madness. Those who
! ought to know say that men and bows,
sometimes women. spend whole nights
IN your house, curSing, gambling,
quareling, and frequently ending the
carousal in bloodshed and murder.
Your place of business l. the scene of
all manner Of WickedncSs. For lving,-
swearing, obscenitv, ,lewdness, drunken
ness, anger, hatred, variance, strife,
sedition, and, for murder, your house
would take the premium at the worlds
fair. The men who hang around YOU
waste time, Squander money, bury tai
cnts, neglect business and are whiS-
percrs, backbiters, harcrs of God. de
spitctul, proud, boosters, inventors of
evil things, disobcdicnt TO parents,
without understanding, c0nvcnant
breakers, without natural affection,
lmpracable, Unmcrcitul. The bottles
on your shelves and the casks behind
your counter contain rivers of tears
and oceans Of woe. Did / not know
better 1t would seem that the earth
had opened and hell had emptied IT.
self, ut least in part, into your estab-
lishment, and that Satan had signed
and scaled the license YOU hold, and
set you apart rs chosen vessel unto
himself Your business is a nuisance
which ought to be ahatcd. 1t is Il
peStilcnce that walkcth in darkness
and Il destruction that Wastcth at
monday. 1t i&.a multiplication of
crimes and curses, giving woeful
product which no tongue can tell and
no imagination conceive. 1t is an in
trcnched and defiant enemy which
men and women, pulpit and press,
C.iuIOt anu .Hldtt, Suotiu combine
against and determine to dislodgc.
Please answer at your convenience -
the following questions How many
oaths and obscene stories are spoken in
your house every day? How many
quarrcls and fights are YOU the direct
or indirect cause Of every week
What is doFH.of nights in your back
rooms? Hos. many customers spend
nearly their entire earnings with you,
thus leaving their families homeless.
pennileSs, and worse than fatherless?
How many tortrucs do you cause 10
be hrokcp, homes to be dcsolated.
lives 10 be lest, What need have VIC
for your busincsE.2. What good do You -
do? Do you III any sense help for
ward the agricultural, commercial, So
cial, political or religious interests Of
the country Please reply in full
But if the detail Of your dUlngs is 50 .
dark, hideous, and filthy lEat YOU do
not wish TO soil the pure pages of Il
religious journal Herewith, Just adj
dress me private letter. But before
you seal it read it over and over again,
and then 60 to some secret place and
mediate upon =. it for. more than one 4,
half hour, and may God give you
light to see where you stand, and
grace to say, Will abandon the imiqu-
itous traffic forever.
Your true friend, II.