The DeSmet leader. (DeSmet, Kingsbury Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-08-29

Given nj the Fourth Annual Convention
Of Kingsbury County W. &. 7. l.. by
its President, Mrs. Marie Willett
Owen.

Sisters and Friends Of the ". C.. 4. a.:
From the splendldly hung vistas OF
the Art rooms of the Worlds Fair i
brought home as treasured things mem
orles of the pictures; enough of these
to transigure with their splend0rs the
gray walls of shut in - DAYS. and to
make their silence vocal with golden
speech.
a bit of life from Carpenters hand
held sermon. II was little genre in
oil, with most exquisite life tints and
touches. In the expression OF its cen
tral idea, that of souls imperiled, il was
of startling strength. 1t photographed
itself on ones mind. 1t cut itself as
in intaglio on ones heart. \
homely kitchen of French peasants
bare doors, paliid with the scrubbings
OF perhaps thirty years the quaint old
pottery on tine shelves the plates in a
small row against the time-touched
wall : the table with its yawning crack
and other faithful details Of a, simple
home, into which the sunshine had
slanted for possibly three generations.
formed the background Near the table
were grouped paralytic grand mother,
in the cap and apron of the French
peasant, young, beautiful girl, and a
bldSe suitor. The grandmere, confined
to her rocker, is imrloring her child to
receive no further attentions from the
man, when unannounccd he enters the
one door nearly behind them. Eighty
years sorrow are written on her face
Her Sightless eyes have long ago wept
all their tears away. The patient old
face IS Joyless, ashen and stony in this
last life hurt. Her sallow, wrinkled
hand, all knotted by toll and pain, seems
to shake rs it clngs in vain entreaty to
the strong, rounded waist of her one
darling.
The girls mresponsive hand is cool
and rosy from washing the freshly
peeled potatoes, which, with their little
heap Of peelings, are on the table. at
which She is standing. Her face, look
ing out beneath the sunny hair, is
tlecked with the crimson spots left by
weeping, She has caught the solMd of
her Suitor's footsteps, but does not turn
! her head, does not see him. Only the
! side glance towards his footballs tells of
! her interest in him.
His face is drink-llushed, cruel in Its
selllshness, and triumphant. The pure
blossoms he holds towards the girl seem
topale and tremble at his profane touch.
There Is no trace in his face as he looks
at the glri Of the tender reverance which
| is part of true love. There is that OF
eXultatiOn over boast to win -- such
boasts as have for accompaniment the
clinking of wine bottles. The animal
! like CLEAN of his eyes, I.s C2ronlepcy
bloated face and puffy hands ul!.y ii.
affirming him an habitual drinker Ills
costier garb asserts him TO b. from
another rank in life. His dog, partak-
| ing of his masters own assurance, has
! pushed in before him. A companion
! just outside, stares in at the girl with
cool, unrebuked inSolence.
Carpenter has made his picture alive
with suggestions of the anguish the
trOOping years are bringing, not TO these
two imperiled souls only, but through
them 10 the ghostly procession of souls
gliding up the dark vistas of the future.
What can have transformed "a soul
made in Gods image to. thing Sc
black? one asks. Swift comes the pic.
ture-answer: The old original lie Sc
ducteur " himself in reshaping il into
one like unto himself; and his strong.
est and sharpest chisel was alcoholic
drink.
lie Seducteur," the old, the original
is not delineated in the artists colors
nevertheless he was in the artists idea
Was there striking straight at the sou
of the girl, and again and again at the
man, whose body he had first smitten--
vanquShed.
Early in the history Of man Satan
announced his belief in the efficacy OF
soul thrusts, h)Ough the body. After
vain attempts for the downfall of up
right job, he said Touch his bone
and flesh and he will curse thee to Thy
face" lie has acted on this belief ever
since. He came to Christ when his
body vas weakened by forty days fast
ing. lie comes to oyerburdened moth
ers on days which have been especially
crowded. He comes in full force whel
the nervous system is broken under Tn,
too heavy burdens the years have con
stantly pressed upon it. His most de
structive broad-sides against q God-likt
soul-deyelopment Of our race are made
first at its clay. In Our day the deadli
est of his masked batteries thus leyele,
are alcoholic beverages. Nature is o
God. Alcohol is not found in nature
neither is an instinct for its use. 1t il
IA process of destruction which forms
alcohol-the destruction of sweets. I
is process of destruction beins
wrought in the body through anti-hy
gieuic living, which utters the cry fOl
alcoholic drinks. Both distinctions ar,
wrought by the Destroyer. They arr
worthy Satan. They bear marks ol
his handiwork never grasshoppel
showed-that little monster whom {
legend from remote ages AYERS to be tn
exhaustive result of the exercise o.
Satan's entire creative force.
Those of clearest mental vision no
only declare intemperance to be tn,
giant evil of our times. but to be tn
parent of almost all other crimes. Sta
tiStics report eighty-tive of every hun
dred within prison walls were fitted
blinded, maddened, impelled to TIN
crimes for which they are incarcerate'
by alcoholic drinks! It's impossible t.
grasp the full meaning of these mum