The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1881-11-25
THE TEN PLAQUES OF TO-DAY.
The Rev. DIR. Talma &C ID Dclivcrs a Bln st
Against Tobacco.


deathful as the ten plauges OF Egypt"
said DIR. Talmage in his morning
sermon yesterday. "The first plague 1
shall mention," he continued" is the
plague narcotic. III all ages the world
has sought out some flower or herb or
weed to stimulate, to alleviate, or to
compose its griefs. a drink called
nepenthe Gained the nerves Of Greeks
and Egyptians. Theban women knew
how to compound it. Nepenthe passed
away and next came hasheesh, manu-
factured from India hemp. Workmen
fields of hemp, and the exudation from
the hemp adhere to the leathcrn gar
ments, to be afterward scraped Off and
prepared. Whole nations have been
stimulated, narcotized, and made inn
becile with the use Of accursed has
heesh. Visions are conjured up gor-
geous and magnificent beyond all de-
scription, but it finally drags down
body, mind, and soul. 1 knew one of
the most brilliant men in this city
NsAASA NApSANS W ShAS uAuSs Il l1CLUS
tried in vain to save him. First body
give way, then mind gave way. He
became a raving maniac, disappearing
God into a starless eternity.
"Opium is the scouree of the nation.
In 1861 we used 100000 pounds. In
the last year we used $4,000 pounds!
In 1876 there were 225,OO0 opium
consumers in this country. Last year
there were 100000. That is appalling.
Don't think that those are merely
barbaric Asiatics. Samuel Taylor
Coleridge, after conqueringt e world
was conquered by opium. There are
thousands, more women than men,
who are being bouud body, mind, and
soul by this terrific drug. There is a
great mystery about some families.
You don't know why they don't get
along. The opium habit is stealthy,
deceitful, deathful. You can ,.cure l0t
drunkards where you can cure one
opium eater. Have you just begun t<
distress? I beg you stop! The pleasure
at the start will not pay for the horror
at the end. :. Morphia is blessing from
God for the relief of pain, but it wa!
never intended to be prolonged fol
, years. Statistics show that there arc
3O,O 600 opium eaters in Chicago and
20, 900 in st. Louis. At that.rate there
are 10000 in New York and Brooklyn
"With some, hydrate of chloral j:
taking the place Of opium. Baror
Liebig knows that one chemist in Ger
many makes half a ton of hydrate o
chloral q week. There are multitude
taken down With this drug. Look ou
the speaker shouted1 for hydrate Q
chloral! You never heard a sermon
against opium but it seems to me tha
;, there ought TO be ten thousand pulpit
q turned into quickening flame, thun
, dering lions warning against thi
black narcotic.
"Iou all know what botanists dies
inspiring, elevating, cmparadisine
nerve shattering, dyspepsia-breeding
misunderstanding tobacco. I shall no
be offensively personal on this subject
for you nearly all use it. You say tina
God made it, and it is good. Yes,
S is good to Kill! moths, to kill ticks o
sheep, to strangle all kinds of vermir
to fumigate pestiferous places. Yo
say God created it for some particuls
use. Yes, SO He did henbane and nu
8 vomica and copperas and belladonn
and all those poisons. You say me
live to be old who use it. Yes, in tt
le sense that the man lasted well who VI
picked. Smokers are turned in
'N smoked livers. You should ndvi
YOUR children to abstain from it, b
cause the whole medical fraternity
the United States and Great Brita
pronounce it the cause Of widespread
health. Drs. Agnew, Hamilton, Woo
ward-the whole medical fraternit
allopathic, homeopathic, hydropath
~ and eclectic, denounce it.
,r. "The use of tobacco tends to Dirt
n kenness. 1t creates unnatural thiI
as The way that leads down to dr.