Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1884-02-16
Appeal to Young Men.
[Read before the Maury County Temperance
Alliance.
BY VIM. j. SYKES.

Young men are the hope of the
country. Whatever may be expected
in the way of moral, physical, indus
trial or intellectual improvement, must
come from the young men. How vast,
then, are their responsibilities and how
great their opportunities. Will they
be equal to them? God grant that
they may. Nothing has so much in>
terferred with gifted and talented young
men as the habit OF intemperance,
which has crept upon them so gradual.
ly and so insidiously, that before they
were aware of their danger they were
almost beyond hope. Habits formed
in early life are seldom abandoned,
and When these habits are strengthen
ed by appetite, it requires an almost
super>human effort to break loose from
them, or as the General Assembly of
the Presbyterian Church say, with so
much force and truth, "When the
character of drunkenness is fully form
ed, the unhappy victim is lost to those
motives which ordinarily influence all
other classes of men. In this state of
things nothing but a miracle of divine
grace can effect his reformation. The
certain and acknowledged prospect of
the wreck of his family, his fortune
and his character and even the ruin Of
his immortal soul is not sufficient to
arrest his course; and yet, perhaps the
same man may formerly have been in
such a state Of equilibrium or indeci,
sion upon the subject that the smallest
motives might have prevented the for
nation of habit which, in its maturi-
ty, becomes so irresistible. This con-
sideration is certainly sufficient to jnst-
ify an effort for saving our fellow men
from the domination of so destructive
vice. For this purpose we earnestly
recommend to the officers and mem
bers of our church to abstain even
from the common use of ardent spirits,
No young man ever commenced
drinking with view of becoming g
drunkard, but oh how many have gone
that way. The young men are not SC
much to blame. Those in what are
called high circles have laid the snare
for them by Offering them the wine cuI
in the social circle or at the family
gathering. Would who that those &C
thus, perhaps ,thOughtlessly and with
out intending any wrong, would heeC
the advice of the Great Apostle of thu
Gentiles: "Iti is good neither to eat Aesl
nor to drink VINE nor anything where
by thy brother stumbleth or is offended
oris made weak"
| do not undertake to say that thos
who use intoxicating liquors, in wha
they call moderation, are guilty of {
crime or sin. | Judge no man
"who art thou that judgest anothe
mans servant: to his own master h
standeth or falleth." But | do say
fearful will be the responsibility of an
one who, by his example, leads a youn
man into the depths of intoxication
Although man may by his stron
nerve and determined will be able t
walk upon the brink of a precipic
with safety, this furnishes no excus
for his leading others there, who's
nerves are less strong, and who will 6
over into the raging gulf below.
Sometimes young men attempt t
induce those of their associates who al
striving to reform and to overcom
their bad habits; to 60 backward an
to sink in the slough of drunkenne'
and dependency. This may often
done thoughtlessly and without an
malicious intent; even then it is ba
enough, but when it is done of purpo'
in order to pull down those who al
trying to rise. it becomes the work Of
demon and shows a heart fatally ber
on mischief. trust there is not sue
young man in Maury county. 1t
hard enough for man to abandon Il
habit of drinking when he has once b
come its victim, with all the assistant