The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-06-06
ing the more fearful and terrible the

/ my friend. IT is breaking . sOleml
t compact, acting q lie, trampling uu
| der foot the dearest rights of another
i thence q crime. There is no avoid
ing this conclusion, aud there is n
: smoother O softer word that will teI
| the whole truth. The indulgence 9
, your appetite for drink is a Grim
! against your wife.
Still more have your children
|, right to object to your whiskeydrink
ing. The compact with your wifi
was voluntarily assumed on her part
and possibly after you had contract
ed the habit of drinking. If 50. sh
!, is only reaping the rewards of he
folly in marrying you at all. Blu
no such excuse q you urge will
your children. They were not con
suited as to whether they would hav,
a drunken father or not. And I an
sure I shall not transcend the bound
of propriety if l say your drinking
has stamped its terrible curse upol
the very constitution Of your chill
dren. They are brought into tn
world branded with the terribl,
marks of q poisoned sire, and cal
never be physically, mentally O
morally what they might have beer
had your system not been drugged
and degraded by your indulgence in
drink.
I once heard a skilled physician
state publicly that children of drink.
ing men were liable to consumption.
A few weeks afterward his state
meat found a terrible illustration. !
was called to attend the funeral Of s
Young man, the third or fourth son
in the same family who had died OF
that dreaded disease. The mother, a
member of my church, was strong
and hardy; so was the father; no
marks of consumption upon either of
| them. Nor was it hereditary in
| either family. And it puzzled many
to know why those boys, so soon as
| they reached manhood, should every
one of them be carried off by the
| same fatal disease. If that physi-
| clans statement was true it sufi-
| GENTLY explained the terrible
secret, for the father had been q
drinking man all his life. Not q
hard drinker. I never saw him
drunk. But enough to poison his
system and descend with fatal effects
upon his offspring. In the same city
was a respectable young lady, who
inherited from her father the appetite
for. strong drink to such an extent
that she could hardly resist it if wine
or other liquors were placed within
her reach. And the drinking father
had to unite with the earnest Chris
tian mother in keeping out of her
way every temptation TO indulge.
I ask you friends, in the name of
reason, has a man the right thus to
stamp upon his offspring the drunk
ards brand; or implant the seeds of
disease that shall nip a precious life
in the very bud? As well has he a
right to feed them poison after they
are born; and by slow degrees wear
their life out or murder them outright.
Or again has a man the right to cloud
the whole life of his children with
the fact that they are the children of
a drunkard? to fasten upon them
the consciousness that they are os-
tracised in a measure from good So
ciety? wear the garments of the poor?
associate with the low and the vulgar?
denied the elevating and refining in
f1uences of association with the best
classes of society?
There are ten thousand such cases
as that of the little girl weeping be-
cause her father was a drunkard,
while the children at school tainted
her with the fact. Or like the boy
helping his father home, holding him
up when about to fall, with a feeling
of shame and humiliation, when
meeting others, that cannot be ex-
pressed in words. But this is only a
small part of the objection your
children have a right to make to
your drinking. You deprive them
not only of the comforts of a home,
but of its most sacred and endearing |
associations; its %elevating and rein |
ing influences. The daily life of the
is a mighty educating force in
family of children. Your children
have a right to expect of you a posi-
tive influence for good; an example
that shall stimulate them to noble
ambition and high resolve. But of
all this healthy stimulant you are
them. A drunken father,
one beautiful Sabbath morning, was
sleeping off the effects of the pre-
vious nights dissipation. While
he mother is absent at church
he father helpless to awake just in
lime to see his two little boys stagger-
.ng about the room in high glee,
drunk, trying to walk and
act ''as papa did" To his credit be
t said that sight cured him; he quit
lis cups. But 0 how fearful the in
1uence and sad the results of the foul
atmosphere that must surround the
lome OF a drunkard!
To cruelty tear off limb from that
darling child, or with ruthless hand
,luck out an eye, or destroy its hear
ng, or cripple for life its brain pow
,r-this would be a crime indeed
recognized az such. But
eally how small a deprivation COM
Jared with the life you entail upon
'our children by the indulgence of
supposed rights in drinking
vhiskey.
Surely, friends, if individual rights
ndulged become crimes, whenever
hey trample in the dust the rights
nd interests of others, then does
very man who has children commit
fearful crime against them when
lie INDUCES his appetite for strong
rink.
Still further, your nelghbors have
right to object to your drinking
vhiskey. And, dear friends, pardon
if | put this thing squarely before
'ou, just as it is. Your neighbors
ave good reason to object, whether
on are a hard drinker and real
.runkard,o or only a moderate drinker.
If you are a hard drinker your
leighbors have a right to object on
he ground that you are a public pest,
nuisance. Do you really suppose
ou have a right, a perfect right, to
ct in everybody's way on the public
treet, to scare timid women and
hildren on the sidewalk; to intiict
pom respectable company your ri
aid songs and obscene words; to get :
own in the gutter and make it !
ecessary for some one to spend the I
ime and take the trouble to lift Won
ut and carry you home, in order |
erhaps to save your life? Have YOU t
right to put yourself in the condi- q
on of a crazy maniac. quarrelsome J
nd dangerous, disturbing the peace 1
nd endangering the lives of all who