The Monitor., 1885-06-26
YOm May Call Me u Fanatic.


Il. Por'k Burgess, d. d., in Temperance Issue.
Yom May Ca!l Me "a Fanatic.
look among my own acquaintances in
my own town and county and see men,
who few years ago Were rich, well-to-do,
but who to-day are in poverty, who look
ont for and gladly accept any small jobs
by which they may earn few odd dimes
then | ask myself the reason Of their
changed circumstances, to which their can
be but one rcply--Rum. | see women,
wives and old mothers to whom Il few
years ago the word want was Il strange
language, the meaning of which was un-
known, but who to-day are in need of the
common necessaries of life: who take in
washing; who are dead to the world and
forgotten by the little world in which they
moved as honored and respected actors;
then | ask myself the same old question,
why this change, to which the same old
reply comes-Rum.
go into our churches and note the alb
sence OF familiar forms of a few years ago
-
strangers, and then go in quest of those
earnest souls, whose prayers and eXhorta-
tions seemed to be inspired of the Father.
| find them on the street and am greeted
with hoarse laugh. Eyes are blood-shot
and the personal appearance betokens neg
lect. | draw near to see if am not mis-
taken, when my ear catches the profanity
which carelessly falls from the lips that a
few years ago only breathed the word of
Deity with reverance and in prayer They
are the same ones whose absence Inoted at
the church, no not the same. but changed.
and why? The answer is the same again
Rum.
Wonderiugly, meditatively and sorely
perplexed at heart | go to the burrying
ground-the city of the dead. Here find
a fresh mound of a friend of former years.
ask the cause of his DEATH and am
shocked when told that it was dclirium
tremens; that he tried to reform but could
not. Ashamed that his neighbors
should know of his weakness, he bought
rum of the man of good moral character"
and carried it home in a coal oil can and
drank till this is his last earthly resting
place: again the cause is--Rum. | find
another mound, yes two, and am told that
these men while under the influence of
rum sat down on the railroad track, and
without word of warning-with no
chance to kiss babies and wife farewell.
an engine. coming around a curve sent
them into eternity. Yes, sent them into
the presence of Him who said no drunk
ards shall enter here | cannot help but
blame and condemn-Rum.
find other mounds of those who were
frozen to death while intoxicated the grass
of whose graves has not yet begun to grow,
but | only wait long enough to learn that
these too, is the work of-Rum. till |
hasten home, to my comfortable home |
look at my wife and babies in the face
Here we are happy and here we live under
our own wine and fig tree in the love of
God and by the sweat of our brow, earn
our daily bread. Here the tempter has
not come. but say there is danger, |
know it, | feel it. Ny love for my home
grows stronger when, all at once, | invol-
untary say: So long as shall live ] shall
fight this enemy Of homes, this enemy OF
God, of religion, this enemy Of man, of
everything pure and good.
have reflected. The more reflect the
more earnest / become in my resolution
My daily prayer now is that my love for
everything pure and good shall not grow
less; that my desire to protect those love
shall never be more Indifferent. God help
me to keep this resolution This, You say,
makes me fanatic or crank Call
me what You will Write in letters so
large, that he who runs may read: IF
love of home and family, God and His holy
religion, and everything pure aud good
make me fanatic OF crank, then am |
both, then am q fanatic Missouri 1g-
iat0r.
They that license the sale of strong
drink, license gambling houses. license
libertinism, license disease, license all suf-
ferings, all crimes, all spoilations, all dis
asters, all murders. all woes. 1t is the
courts and legislatures that are swinging
wide open this grinding. creaking, stupen-
dous gate OF the lost.-1aia4age.
The ConstitatiOnalist, Of Plainlield says:
''Thc procession Of deerepit little boys who
smoke cigarettes has begun to deposit its
victims in the insane asylum in New Jer-
sey. If it goes on increasing there will
lave to be more prisons, poor houses and
pauper insane asylums than all other build
ing put together in New Jersey