The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1882-09-21

NOuku nOS Dc just 10 my christian
homeland my family to do SO now 1
resisted for a tine, but they resort.
ed to ridicule, and that / could not
stand. L drank, and in two years
| delirium tremens overlook me. All
terrible things were present to me.
l suffered agonies. / trembled and
realized my danger and in alarm
sought refuge in my Savior's
strength, and now 1 expect soon to
preach the gospel"
"And will you tell me-" said the
| gentleman, "what has become of
your clearinghouse friends?"
"Three Of them" said the young
man, "are in drunkard's graves,
and the fourth is in prison"
What an injurious sting this
sting of strong drink
The temperance question is as
suming an importance which at
least demands for it settlement in
some way; either We are to wholly
degenerate into q race of Satyrs
and Silenos, are we are to do away
with induced bestiality. Err
We have only to refer to the col
umns Of the daily press to find the
meagre record of the open crime
committed in the name of whisky,
and by enactment legalizing mann
facture of whisky, for revenue. The
murders, oUtrages, stabbings, 0d
Il,f,,ya o,n oVl,. nna so.;., - tl,.;..
criminal effects. True, they arc
the most horrible in appearance,
but they are no more shocking than
that other class of offenses exhibit
ted in society every day, and hun
dred times day, in every city of
the country; and most notably in
Washington, where social life is 81
its brightest and worst, the bright.
ness being but ,the funeral lights
which CLEAN tragically above the
graves of mans dishonor and wo-
mans depravity.
1t is a common sight in the fash
ionable resorts to see women in com
pany with men, those who would be
very much shocked to know them
selves considered less than ladies
and gentlemen, drinking glass after
glass of beer, champagne, and po-
nies of brandy, with bacchanal
enjoyment more sad to see than are
the tears of virtuous sorrow. We
have one such picture in our mind
now, only more prominent, because
so lately seen. A woman young,
pretty, not believing herself in any
danger, drinking champagne in
public dining with arms
linked with those of man who be-
lieved himself the soul of honor
and yet her eyes were glittering
with strange fires, and he laughed
the foolish laugh of wine and NO
mems making. Glass after glass
until, the bottle empty, the mirth
died out, and the coarse deceit and
lying excuse sprang ready to the
tongue Of q woman who should have
been wholesome as truth, and
sweet as humanity, and a man ca
pable of reaching to the stars, yet
falling to the depths; and at the
woman's home a husband, wild
with tho delirious anger born Of
whisky drunken in solitude, ours
ing her like n demon when she
came in sight.
And this not among ignorance or
poverty-it was horrid picture
and fearful warning. Husbands
and wives may take it home or
laugh at it as they will, the retri-
button awaits them; a retribution
OF dishonor, Of unhappy and unho
ly lives, of diseased bodies and the
damning train of cravings which
make offamily life hell, and of so
ciety o pandemonium and cess
pool. Here in Washington, the
capital city, the center of govern
ment authority, the home Of legisla-
tors through one-half the year. ev-
cry tenth place on the business
streets is a saloon, every restaurant
a drinking establishment, and from
the White House TO the Jail, whisky
flows and brandy seethes down the
throats of president, senator's and
Representatives, girls reeling from
gaping hells on the Avenue, the po-
liceman off his post, the employees
of the departments, everywhere and
always; the lake OF fire eats its way
unrebuked, and the people Of the
United States authorizes IL by act
of congress for collection OF frevenue.
The bodies ofmen, women and
children by the million. tortured
for a revenue TO be reaped from
rape, murder and beastliness be-
yond compare.
Women, you are to blame in this
matter!. Leave off yonr wine, your
absinthe, your alcoholized decoc-
tions, your stimulants TO abnormal
excitement. ....5 t.fs
Withdraw your hand from otter
ing whisky refreshment, and from
draining liquor bottles; set your
face against it as one pregnant
cause OF the dishonor in which men
good and bad hold you; slake your
thirst at puror fountains, put inside
habits that belong alone TO "her
feet take hold on hell" and this
damnation will have received ono
mortal blow. Cease in your lives,
in your faces, in your dress, your
drink and your daily habits, to EN-
ulate the harlots who have helped
to wreck the world, or else in Gods
name while you ape vice, cease TO
pretend virtue. To you the cry Of
the murdered women, the houseless
orphans, the wreched manhood, the
idiocy, the asylum, and the slums
point as to their abettor and their
supplier. In the name Of the once
pure mothers Of the human race,
set your heel upon your debaser,
or take upon yonr unholy heads
the carses Of men born, and un-
born. whose hell is made inevitable
by your license and devices!-lNa
tional Farmer.
--Ses---
How often do we hear women