Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1881-12-17
NORTHERN TRIBUNE.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER II, 1881.
A visi0nu r. Your Ffe,,sis-

"Fonr fiends met in the lowest world
and resolved that The people of the earth
were too happy, aud they sent forth their
four Influences to the earth, ambitious
of mischief. One was the fiend of the
vineyard, He came one morning into
a grape-feld and sat down on the roots
of twisted vine in sheer discourage
ment. The grapes were ripe and luciOus,
and there seemed life and health i'll every
bunch. While tie TEND sat there he
clutched ami ia, eZpd il. 10! his hand
was red. IL Was Tile blood vi the vine
yard, embiemaiical ui the blood OF
broken hearts. And lie squeezed all the
grapes of the vineyard and fermented
the juice, and The people drank and and
drank, and when the fientl went out of the
vineyard he Stepped over carcass after
carcass of dead mer. EnfE 81
"And the second hend went to the
grain field. And the people came and
dipped up the fiery liquid that he made,
and drank, and blaSphemed, and stag
gered and fought, and robbed, and MUIR
dered. And this arch fiend was so much
pleased with his work that he changed
his place of abode to whisky berrel.
"The third fiend went into the pasture
and saw the full udder, and as he MIXED
he thought of something that would lure
people to destruction. lie made milk
punch. The children drank it, and the
temperance people drank it. And the
fiend of the dairy leaped upon the
shelves and danced and danced until the
long bright rows of shining milk pans
clattered n
1.-THE fourth fend entered the grOg
shop rnd found few customers. But he
swOOped and gathered up musical in
struments. The trOmbOnes played and
the cymbals clashed, the drums beat, the
bugles called, and the people crowded
and joined in the dance, each one with
glass in his hand. The glasses crack
ed, the floor broke, and the crowd dropped
into hell!
"These four fiends then went back
down to helPs high carnival because
their work had been done. And the
fiends filled their glasses and clicked
them and cried, Let us drink, drink
drink everlasting prosperity to the
liquor traffic. Here is the way to dark.
ness, to murder and to death. DRINK
The speaker spoke of the various suf-
ferings of the inebriate. First came
Tile loss OF good name. Next was tIlt
loss of the best society and of the ap'
prevail Of the good. He spoke of strong
well-tO-dO men who thought they could
stop the use of strong drink whenever
they choose, but who finally found them
selves slaves of debasing passion.
He drew thrilling picture of dy'
ing drunkard in the hospital suffering
from delerium tremens. At the end OF
each paragraph he uttered, the despair,
ing cry of Drink! Oh, God! Drink" Al
the climax he stood with his
long white fingers Outstretched al
the end of his long, bony, uplifted arm
and with sudden yigor of voice and ges-
ture shouted, Help! Oh, God! Help|
He believed the chief punishment OF
the drunkard in eternity would be thu
want of the drop Of liquor. The wailina
cry, he thought, would be for rum. HI
described the possible delight of thu
damned If the avenging angel could on
ly carry on his wing one drop of rum Il
spill into hell. How the unfortunate
wretches would scramble and fight fol
it and cry, That's it! More! Rum 2Rum
-Ertract from DR.. Talmadge's sermon