The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-04-15

Where the Shot Strike.

A few days ago l called upon poor
but godly woman of seventy, who is
spending the lonely years of her
widowhood in the third story of tene..
ment-house. Her husband served
short time in the war, and by the lift of
small pension and the kindness of
some of my people she manages to keep
the wolf from the door. You have
one son left" said to her, and he
ought to be glad to bring his earnings
home to his old mother.n Ahr' she
replied, with tears in her eyes, "my
son takes all that he earns over yon-
der "-pointing to dramshop. That
masked battery is dealing out its deadly
volleys day and night, and that poor
widows garnet room is one of the
places Dhere the shot strike. {" Pray for
my poor j ;" were her last words to me.
AT the next home that l visited, de-
voted Christian wife told me of the
heart-breaks she was suffering on ac-
count of the persistent drunkenness of
beloved brother. Nothing that we
can do has any influence" she said to
me, sorrowfully; {" he seems to be past
hope" A block or two farther on
halted at brown-stone house to find
out whether a gentleman whom / had
induced to sign the pledge of absti-
nence was still holding out.
A touching scene had witnessed in
that house, some months ago, when l
went there at the invitation of his
daughter The father-a most kind
hearted and indulgent father, too-had
reformed twice before and fallen again.
plead with him until he laid his head
on my shoulder and sobbed like child.
The sweet daughter leaned over on him
and sobbed too and after prayer for
him, he gave me his solemn promise to
let the accursed cup alone. Thus far,
he has held to his pledge; but how long
he may keep the tiger chained, can
not tell. 1t is lamentable fact that
very small percentage of inebriates are
permanently reformed. Out of the
whole number who have connected
themselves with my church (after an
apparently thorough conversion) there
are only two or three who have not had
some slips backward.
Constant vigilance, constant keeping
out of temptation, and constant hold on
Gods arm are the price they pay who
are {" saved as by fire." A most noble
and Christly undertaking is that which
DR.. Banning's christian Home for
Inebriates" is engaged in; but as we
look over the wounded victims of the
bottle who are brought in there, we
discover that it is only another place
,Chere the shot strikes.
My experience during that afternoon
walk was just a repetition of the " old,
old story" / am continually encoun-
tering the broken-hearted wives, the
sorrow-stricken mothers, and the dark
ened homes; they all tell where the
deadly missiles strike that are dis
charged from the liquor-stores and the
drinking saloons. The liquor-vender
pockets his profits of iniquity; but they
are coined out of woman's heart's-blood,
and childhood's miseries. Need it be
wondered at that some of us who face
these facts until they burn into our
souls like fire, are ready to fling aside
old party ties and wornout issues and
to hurl our ballots in the direction of
prohibition? Even if suppressive laws
do not suppress all the slaughter-houses,
they diminish the number, they drive
the traffic Gas in Maine) into dark cor
ners, and they put it under the same
ban with the gambling-house, with OBJ
scene literature, and with smuggling.
With stiff public sentiment behind
them, prohibitory laws have wrought
vast benefit. When the Marquis of
Lorne was asked how the prohibition
of dram-shops worked in those portions
of Canada in which such laws exist, he
replied admirably; it makes all the
difference between savagery and civih-
zation." l get the same testimony
from Canadian clergymen. One of my
church-members now aresidentin Kan
sas, writes me that " in our town we
have no dram-shop, and therefore none
of the poverty and misery which the
dram-shop breeds" No shots strike
there.
But deeper down than prohibitory
laws lies custom and lies conscience.
The drinking usages feed and sustain
the dram shop. The duty of the church
of Christ is to train conscience and to
correct evil customs; with nothing can
the church deal more legitimately than
with the drink-evil in all its personal,
social, and moral bearings. Nor has it
any moral right to shirk its response
bility before God, and relegate entirely
to legislators and policemen its own
ooleiHi, imperative uulleS' AS ClilZeuS
we may vote to suppress drinking
haunts, just as we vote to suppress
gaming-houses But as Christians we
are bound to war against the drinking
usages which entrap our young men,
lead to drunkenness, desolate homes,
and damn precious souls. The shots
strike right among and through our
congregations; what can we do about
it? Two things can be done:
FirSt-The effort to save men from
the curse of the Intoxicating cup
is distinctively Christian effort; it
fought to have its fountain-head in
Christian hearts, and its organized
force in every individual church. Every
pastor should set forth the deadly peril
of the drinking-usages and endeavor to
awaken temperance conscience among
his congregation. If sacrifice is re-
quired, let it be made; the very essence
of the religion of Jesus Christ is self
denial, and if need be, sacrifice for the
good of others. We live in self-indul-
gent, fashion-loving, pleasure-seeking
atmospheres; the bottle has no business
on Christians table; if found there,
where may it not go? There is no fear
of asceticism; the danger is from too
much laxity in the direction of drink