West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1882-01-25

See the stream OF lost humanity
as it enters and re-enters. See
those two ragged, timid children
approach the door; hear them trem-
blingly inquire, as our papa
here? ?" Hear that coarse, brutal
voice, "Get out Of here, you dirty,
ragged, starved brats." The poor
father sits or lies Supplied with
rum, robbed of his means for cloth
ing and feeding his children, and
the robber thus brutally drives the
children away. Is there not God
that will see justice done on earth )
See the saloonkeeper, after he
has robbed the father ofhis money,
and drawn from him the life of his
family: he takes him as dead car
cass and hurls him into the street.
See that broken-hearted, over
worked, wretched wife spending
her strength to get her drunken
husband home, perhaps to be bru-
tally murdered by him when he
wakes and begins drunken mania.
Yet the man who is the direct
cause of this, looks as the stalled
OK, and because of his money claims
and receives place in good socie-
ty. He has his palatial residence,
his stately coach and four, and So
ciety does him reverence because
he is rich.
The mortar of his brick could be
made from the dust of his dead,
mixed with the tears of suffering he
has caused, and cemented with the
affections he has brought to the
grave yet being rich he is honora-
bic. From every vault of woe and
from every hovel Of suffering there
goes up cry against him. How
can he hope to stand before that be-
ing who will surely meet justice to
mankind?
Look at that bloat of humanity !
He slides. he hobbies, he crutches
along; he is well dressed; his staff
is of most polished timber; his slip
pers are of fine needle work !; his
eyes are set in ulcerous sockets;
his nose is seedy but lost to color.
He is wreck in high life. If he
was buried, society would feel that
nuisance had been disposed of.
Still look Here comes a poor,
pale, half-clad child. Its very looks
shows starvation, ill-treatment and
want indescribable. Look again
a poor, emaciated, timid, half-clad,
over-worked much-abused and bro
ken-hearted woman. This is the
child and this the wife of the drunk
ard The heart almost sickens at
the sights and thoughts.
Is it possible that in view of all
these sad, wretched, sickening
sights, there are still to be found
advocates for rum? Advocates for
legalizing that which causes more
than half of human woe. The men
who can stand in the face Of histo-
ry, and what they daily witness
and advocate the manufacture, the
sale and use of alcoholic drinks as
a beverage, and declare it to be a
right, privilege, are men lost to
all moral reason.
You may say this is putting it too
strong. Will God Almighty make
it less strong? Will He adjudge
right to men who advocate rum :?
Over 10000 of our fellow beings
in the United States alone go down
annually into a drunkard's grave.
Is not this sufficient to arouse our
hottest Indignation and call forth
our utmost effort to stay this terri
bic tide of death. How the sympa-
thy of this great nation and of the
world pulsated when the yellow
fever ravaged a few of our South
West cities, few years ago. A
plague more terrible ravages the
entire land and nation, and when
true and Cody men would come to
the rescue, how many cry out, at
is fanaticism, it is taking the peo-
pies rights from them"
If it be fanaticism to seek the
good and happiness of mankind, to
seek the good of the world, let
us have more and more of it. If it
be taking mems liberty from them,
to restrain them from business
that brings poverty, shame, suffer-
ing and death upon mankind, God