The Evening critic., 1882-05-03
THE EVILS OF INTEMPERANCE
As Depicted i'm n Stirring and Eio-
qucnt Address by Colonel George
w. Bain, the yveiI-Known Temper
nv1cp 0rnfpr.

w. Balm. the tyetI-KuOwu Temper
auce Orator.
A large audience, composed OF our best citl-
zens, who are Interested In the great cause OF
temperance, assembled at the Congregational
church last evening to listen TO the eloquent
lecture Of colonel George W. Balm, of Louis
VILE, KY, the noted temperance orator, and
the frequent bursts of applause which inter
rupted tho speaker ct intervals evidenced the
deep and thorough interest they had in the
cause.
Colonel Balm is lecturer Of marked ability
and power, capable OF holding an audience
spell-bound by his eloquence and pathos.
Pathetic and humorous by turns, his lecture
was one full of beauty, Of humor, of pathos
and Of logic.
While he does not perhaps, possess to as
great an extent the energy fire OF Cough,
yet he possesses TO wonderful degree the
faculty Of placing things in clear, logical
manner, OF making point so clear, distinct
and positive that It carries with It great
weight.
Tho speaker was introduced by tho presi-
dent OF the women's Christian Temperance
Union Of the District of Columbia, under
whose auspices the lecture was given.
Colonel Balm, after a few preliminary re-
marks, said this subject of temperance is u
very old one, and the view generally taken of
II is old. He took this old view when In Wash
ington before, and this evening he proposed to
present II from n different standpoint-from a
different light-from the standpoint OF its
being
The Safe Side of life.
The safe side of life is total abstinence.
"Now," said the speaker, 81 do not mean to
say that every man that drinks Will become n
| drunkard, but do mean to hold up total alb.
| stinence as the safest and best. Moderate
drinking leads TO drunkenness, total absti-
nence never leads TO harm Of any kind.
All DrunIxards are Made From Mod.
crate Drinkers.
Not one was ever made from total abstinence.
Sweep from the face Of this broad, green globe
in one day old drunkards and leave us the
| moderate drinkers, and In a short time we
| would have enough drunkards TO flll every
| inebriate asylum in tho land, but take away
the drunkards and leave us the total absti-
| nence, and the last drunkard will have stag
| gered home. Sol say, take total abstinence
take 1t and bind 1t to you with the steel bands
| Of principle and right and guard it as safely
| as you would Gods greatest gift-a mothers
| love. Be a drunkard, be as low you may;
| friends will forsake you, your wife and chill
| dren may forsake you, but your mother never.
| An Affecting incident was here related to
show the depth of mothers love even for q
| drunkard.
| Colonel Balm then said that
| For the Moderate DrinIxer
| he would particularly speak. He can, he says,
| stop drinking If he will, but he WON'T and so
| he drinks on until 1t Is too late, and he sinks
| into drunkards grave. When he could he
| wouldn't, and when he would he couldn't.
| Again the moderate drinker says: ''There is
| no harm In one glass, nor do intend to go so
| far" Now, first let me suppose 1t takes six
| drinks to intoxicate man, where does the sin
| begin? Does it begin with the sixth, and are
| all the rest innocent? No, Sir,
The Sin is with the First.
the very first. Would youi endcavor to stop a
| leak i'll Its first stages, or would you allow
| 1t 10 go on until II reached such proportions
| that ii was beyond control?
Second-No drunkard ever anticipated his
| doom.
No, young man, don't delude yourself that
| you are safe, when such men as Burns, Byron
and Edgar Allen Poe fell victims. Parents,
| set your children a good example; do not ask
| of n child what you do not do yourself. The
day is coming-it is not far off, hope-wher
this thing (temperance) shall burst upon us
in all It's weight, for 1t is right. We are boring
into this hell-gate 10 depravity and drunken
ness, and an explosion will soon follow thai
will echo throughout the civilized world, fol
ours shall be the powder of truth and the
dynamite Of right. God grant it shall come
| guicxly.