Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-03-10
Another Alleged Fraudulent Sale Of West
Virginia Lands, and the Suit Grow
ing Out Of Il.
Serious Fire Yesterday Af~ternoon-ap-
poIntments OF the Board OF Public
WOrkS-Election Postponed The Gas
House-The Glass Troubls-A
lin to the Capitol Archi-
tect-City GIeanings.

ing MINISTERS Vi the CltJ-Nhcfs H. ~. n.
Cunningham, Rev. DR.. Cook, Rev. DR..
Smith, Rev. Dornblaser. Rev. Jones, Rev.
Hair, Rev. Hart ami others, aud a number
Of citizens prominent in the temperance
cause, among whom was noticeable the Eall
form and beaming countenance Of G. Wesley
Atkinson.
After q preliminary hymn had been sung,
and prayer offered, Mr.. Murphy was briefly
introduced, and at once began his lecture
in 8 tone of voice characterized by a rich
brogue, which proved a charming adjunct to
his naturally graceful and attractive style
and undoubted orstoricsl powers. Mr..
Murphy has grown grayer and stouter than
when here last, some seven years ago, but
the deep enthusiasm and esrnestness in the
cause of temperance which then charac-
| terized him have not diminished, but, on
the contrary seem to have increased with
the added years.
The speaker began by expressing his
great satisfaction at seeing so large an
audience present on the first OF the series
of meetings proposed to be held. He had
a delightful remembrance of coming 10
Wheeling years ago. and speaking in several
of the churches. When he left at the end
of the series of meetings then in progress,
he scarcely expected to come back, but
here he was, and he hoped great good would
come of the revival of temperance work IN
the Nail City. Two things, said by a
speaker in his hearing in Philadelphia years
ago, had made q deep impression upon him.
One was, that real life has always furnished
stranger things than fiction ever dreamed
Of, and the other WAS that it is only
the experience Of ones own life that
we know much about, and both expressions
were very true. Each mar must learn
about this great question Of temperance for
himself. 1t ehnobled a man and enriched
his whole being to have him work out hi,
own salvation, and in the hope of making a
deeper impression upon his hearers than
might be attained in dealing in generalites,
he proposed to detail, briefly, his W life
and his temptation, fall and rescue from
drink.
He was born, he said, on the 9th Of
April, 1886, in Wexford, IRELAND, 5000
miles away across the ocean. and though
separated from that home for many years
ne could still see it in his minds eye, and
oft memory few back to it, and he again
dwelt in the little cottsge-the front yard
filed with sweet flowers, planted By his v
hand, the lovely avenue OF stately elms lead.
ing up to it, and in front of all, the grand
old ocean which he had so often looked out
upon from the cottage door, its surface
dotted with white sails, bearing their
precious freight to the far, off land
Of the free and the home Of
the brave. His parents were particularly
afflicted with poverty in that little homeland
he remembered, when, a little gorsoon, he
used to CLEAN all day in the fields, coming
home at night laden with shesves, and, after
sunset, working by the pale gRmmer of the
moon, they used to push aside the furniture
and thresh out the grain upon the floor.
After long years Of toll, o limited amount
of wealth came to the inmates of that little
cottage, and with wealth came that insepara-
bic craving for fashion which had done so
much harm and caused so much unhappi-
ness. 1t was q blessed thing, he said, for u
man not to be ashamed to be honest AMI to
be able TO appear what he really was. We
needed more of that old.fashioned, honest,
sterling manhood. He knew it was not the
easiest thing in the world for a man who has
to work all day to have to calculate and
pinch and save in order to get the where
with to pay his wash bill, or for a young
woman, after a week of toll, to lie awake
all night eudeavoring to make three
dollars 60 as far as FIVE.
1t was not pleasant to have to go about the
street, brushing against broadcloth aud
silks, but the boy OF. girl who does it is OF
the stuff Of which heroes and heroiues were
made and the time would come when they
would get their reward. The speaker went
on to detail his youthful life, relating among
other things, a grand dinner given by his
parents to o large number of guests, on
which occasion he and the other children
were relegated to the solitude of q back
room until the guests had departed. He
pictured wildly the large table covered with
the cloth of Irish linen, whittier than any
snow you ever saw" and the old, gold rim.
med china, which would sing like a birrud'
if you but lay your finger upon it, but he
entered a forcible objection to the common
practice of RELOCATING the little ones to the
background when a dinner, or party, or
other event was in progress, and suggested
that If there was not room enough for all,
the children be allowed to stay and that
some of the guests depart.
1t was at home. be said, where he 6rst
learned to sip intoxicating liquors, and
where he first sowed the seed of what in
later years, made him a physical wreck
He believed the private sideboard and wine
cellar was the backbone IT the present al
most universal use Of whisky, and if they
were swept away there would be far fewer
saloons and m.shops. He went on to
detail his early life, up to the time he
reached his sixteenth year, when he deter
mined to leave the ever green Isle and
cross the ocean to the shores Of the new
world; the great struggle il cost his mother
to part with him; the Irish custom of the
friends Of those going abroad to gather at
the house of the traveller and pass the last
night at home with him, and on the next
morning to accompany him q part Of the
way on his journey, and before bidding him
q final adieu, to kneel down BY
the roadside and ask the blessing OF
God upon him. He had left his mother
with the intention of being a blessing to
her in after yesrS-with the hope Of strew
ing flowers upon the pathway OF her life and
aiding her when old age had come upon
her-and he would have done Sd bat for his
besettiug sin-s fondness for drink. He
commenced to drink, not because he
wanted to be mean, but, on the contrary,
he began out OF the best impulses of his
nature. In his native land drink was the
embodiment OF good eheer-it had the up,
permost seat in the house-aud out of this
feeling Of hospitality ne insisted. immediate
ly upon his arrival in New York. upon a
number Of friends whom he had met on
shipbeard joining him in q friendly glass.
He desired to be q gentleman, to be social,
and he knew Of no other way. So the party
repaired to q n~eighboring barroom and be-
gan to set EN- up" as they say now. and
the end was q drunken spree which lasted
for a week sndlef him penniless and utterly
miserable.
After SOLDERING up the next thing was to
look for work, which he soon obtained, but