Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1885-07-03

(Whst the Southern reyiyalist said at temperance
meeting In Atlanta.l
believe liquor is a good thing in it's place,
aud believe lts place il in hell. Ii | was in
hell might drink it, but 80 help me God
never will ON this earth drink it again. .
Georgia is all right at the top and at the bot
tom. We want TO get all right in the middle
and if you refuse to help suppress the infa-
nous wrong that is being done by whskey,
you are rotten yourself. Some of you here
don't know me. / speak plainly. / use
words you eau understand. Now you can
take the Latin word dscayed, and it won't
| phase a fellow. II you take the good old
Anglo-SaTon word "rotten" you can cut his
head of You zee, l choose my words.
You have 100 counties in Georgia where
the liquor traffic ia crippled. In 80 counties
there II prohibition. l say look out for your
| drug stores. Look out for your little simlin-
headed doctors. Some of them fill their sad
die bags with liquor and become travelling
bar rooms. God pity doctor that will pre-.
scribe liquor for a man l might prescribe
1t for poor, dying woman, but would not
| give 1t to a man until he was dead. Whiskey
is not good for one thing in this world for
| which there il not something else that is bet
ter. II the time ever comes when they say
| to me, you'll die il you don't drink Whis-
key" will say, get my shroud ready"
mean to be sober. II fellow gets 30 low
that nothing but liquor will save him, Am
ready TO preach his funeral. rejoice
TO night that in more than twO-thiTds of the
counties of this state whiskey can't be sold
/ at ALL am glad the legislature is going TO
| give us a general local option law. II we
don't turn whiskey out of every county in
| this state at the first election we will try it
| again. / had a great trial not long ago.
have been poor man all my life, and when
| friends in Nashville offered me a house and
offered to stand by me and back me up, it
was a great temptation but / looked down
here and saw my old mother, Georgia.
never loved her so in all my life before.
said "Brethren, no l can't take it, Not
that love you less, but love Georgia more. 4"
When die l want to die in Georgia, and be-
fore die l want TO see every inch OF her
soil rid OF the curse OF whiskey. / am not
mad with the men who sell whiakey am
not mad with the men who make it. / am
mad with whiskey. l am mad with demi-
| johns. ! am glad they haven't got legs.
| Those that have wicker work around them
/ haven't got legs, but there are plenty of old
red nosed demijohns walking around Atlanta.
Amt you sorry for poor woman who, every
time she goes to church, has TO put her ten
der arm in the handle Of an old demijohn
| put it in this way The liquor traffic ought
to be made 10 odious that nobody but an in
fernal scOundrel will sell, and nobody but an
internal fool will drink 1t. Separate these
liquor dealers from their liquor and they will
be all right The church that will house
man who sells whiskey ia dstestable fraud.
The church that will house a man who rents
a house to sell liquor is hateful by ypOcrite.
Some Of these churches in Atlanta are doing
| just that thing.
II there Is in this vast audience one man
or woman who never had a relative or loved
or her to stand up right now. You have all
in-law, ruined by whiskey. My goodness,
these sona. .in-law I'd rather have a boa
constructor around my neck than TO have
drunken son-in-law. The devil can't do any
worse than that. Some of you old hypo-
orites that are dillydallying with the Ehiskey
question are going TO get caught just that
way. The devil is going to slip up ON you
with a drunken son-in-law, and III bet he will
make you prohibitonist with a vengeance.
Look around yonr city and soc the bar
rooms as thick az stars in the heavens. Each
one of the 300 bars in Atlanta represents at
least 10 confirmed drunkards. Three thous-
and men in Atlanta across the line aud gone
TO ruin You can stop it II you want TO.
There are church members enough In this
town TO turn out any day aud vote liquor out
of II. You are afraid TO do IT, You will lot
some bar-keeper with an old rusty pistol cuss
and rear around the polls and scare you home.
You don't want 10 have a fuss. Well, I'll
tell you every good man breads a fuss, but he
don't fear anything that walks on the earth,
The church lays back on the idea that it