The evening light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1881-1883, 1883-02-01
THE LIGHTS LECTURER.
Mr.. Baker DELIVERIES an Original Sermon
on the Evils of Intemperence.

on the Evils of Intemperence.
Mr.. Baker borrowed chew of tobacco and
said he guessed he was tired. Then he play
fully tapped fellow typos. blooming pro-
bosicis with shooting stick" and mourn
fully exclaimed: "Woe to him that putteth
the bottle to his neighbours lips !" After
short pause, during which he expectorated, he
said: "The experience of close observer
Of those who have drank deep of the flowing
bowl is, l think, worth narrating. In con-
versation with young man who is addicted
to getting on a high was given to under
stand that the after effects of a debauch must
be very facilitating and, as he said, nigh unto
DEATH After awakening in the morning he
says. the little sleep that fell heir to him
during the night was disturbed with
visions of that sulphurious abode called
Hades, accompanied with violent wrenchings
and constant longing for water; voice like
fog-horn; tongue dry and feverish, with
sensation as if a volcanic eruption was going
on inside Of the stomach. have watched
him as he looked into the mirror the next
morning to see if his optics were still in their
normal condition, decaiming those lines in
the play of East Lynne: How changed am.
He is still very sick, complaining Of nausea,
and occasionally breaks the stiffness of the
room by muttering in an ill-natured tone,
%, that we're dead Closely observe
him again as he totters down the back
| street, feeling in his vest pockets
for nickle with which to purch ase
| some fre-water at the nearest barrel-house
See him as he nervously clutches the glass,
trembling like an aspen leaf, hardly able to
stand, his eyes blood-shot, pouring down the
firing liquid, gasping for breath as if he were
| taking castor oil or some nauseating COM
pound. Well may he exclain with Shak-
| speare, % that man should put an enemy
into his mouth to steal away his brains AS
he descends in degradation in his own estima-
| ton, and as his former boon companions desert
him, so also does he descend to the lowest
haunts in the city. He is no longer choice
about the company he keeps; anything to 6i-
vert his mind from his miserable situation, and
to enable him to hide from the lynx-eyed
policemen.
"His clothes, after a few more days of dissi-
patton, present pitiable sight and a chimney
sweep would disdain to be caught in his COM
pany. OF course his situation has long since
been forfeited because of dereliction Of duty,
and he now wanders forlorn and homeless.
"What have related has become an old,
old story. The picture that have painted
is only too true. How many a noble mind has
been wrecked from an over indulgence in the
flowing bowl How many mother would
rather have seen her son in a coffin than see
him disgrace the family name by becoming
drunkard.
"To bring my remarks to close, will say
that total abstinence, or the adoption of local
option laws, will never avail anything. Men
must learn 10 govern themselves by adopting
the popular axiom, Man know myself The
majority Of us are only acquainted with the
better part of our nature; we never see our
vices, SO concealed are they by pleasing guise,
and when we do we seldom shake them off"