The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1885-05-29
To saloon

a walk with me. know your ambition is
to make money. That you are in this dis
graceful and accursed business simply for
the money you can make. | know you
satisfy conscience by the thought if you
did not follow the business some other
man would. l know you have no conf
dence in your clerks; that you believe ev-
cry man to be a rogue; that your business
is such that you cannot help this. But |
only want to al a short walk. I beg of
you to leave for an hour. | want to show
you some dismal sights. | want you. in
fact, to see the results of your own bust
ness. There is none SO easily traced, none
whose fruits are SO easily found. Come
with me.
Let us go to the graveyard. This is, |
know, a dismal place, but you are used to
seeing rough sights. Here we are at the
grave of a young man: a y0ung German.
tie was cut o i'll his early manhood.
You remember him. He was a big-heart-
cd generous fellow. One of those men
who liked his beer, who talked of his
rights. 1t was his boast that he could
drink or let it alone. This is his last but
untimely end. Some of you remember the
last day he was seen alive. He bought
beer to celebrate the wedding of his rcla-
tive in what he deemed a becoming man
ncr. But when he come to go home he
sat dow on the railroad track, went to
sleep, when an engine sent him before the
just Judge. The grass ON his grave has
only begun to grow. His children are
fatherless, his wife a widow, all through
your efforts. Let's see, you make a profit
on the beer. His hard earnings and his
death contributed to your wealth, But do
you think it pays? Do you not shudder?
Here is another grave. You remember
Long John He was a temperate man.
He spent very little money at your bar.
But one cold day, when the northern winds
blew fercely, in early winter, he deemed a
few drinks would keep out the cold. You
remember the result. You remember
when the word was brought back to town
that he had been frozen to death. This is
his grave. His wife and child are in want.
For the paltry profit on the sale of a few
glasses of Rum, you sent this man to this
untimely grave. Although you may be
richer in pocket, although you may seek
to satisfy conscience by saying: ''Had |
not sold it to him, some one else would,
"a poor, very poor plea.) Yet | again ask
if you think it pays? Do you not shud-
der?
, Here is the grave of a woman. She
had tried to prove Gods word a lie, that
wine is not a ''mocker, that at the last it
will not ''bite like a serpent or Hsting
like an adder" but this is her end. This
again shows what your business leads to.
Does it pay?
This grave is the one of another unfor-
tunate. 1t was a railroad train which sent
him into eternity while drunk. Public SELL
timent has never said a word to you. No
one has sought to point the bony finger of
scorn and hatred at you for selling him
Rum. His widow nor orphans have not
sought to collect damage off of you, but
they have tried to get all of this off of the
railroad company. Are you not the most
to blame? SHOULD you not by rights sup
port the destitute family? Who should
pay the bills, you or the railroad companyo
On their track he was a trespasser. You
enticed and invited him to partake of the
poison which caused him to lie in a drunken
stupor on the railroad track in the face of
danger. Again, does it pay?
Don't turn away. Come to this last
grave ana see some more of your handi-
work. This man was sensitive. lie could
not endure the thought that the world
should know him to be a drunkard. He
bought his liquor in 4 coal oil can and
carried it home. Delirium tremens. with
all the horrors of the damned. was the re-
suit, and now this is his last earthly rest.
ing place. See, his grave is yet fresh
earth, no grass. Only a few weeks ago he
had to face Him who said: "No drunkard
shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven" All.
again, does it pay?
Remember all these have occurred with
III the past few months, here, at home.
within our own county. Don't you want
w W ohf ipit SidftS- we'll. We Will
walk back to town. AS we 90 along I
can point out to you residences of men
who a few years ago were well TODD.
Men who stood high, who were honored
and respected, but who to-day are without
credit, without friends: whose money.
character, integrity and standing are all
gone, for which there is but one reason
Rum. Your business has caused the pow
erty. 1t has blasted the hopes, torn
asunder ties that We're holy, and sent grand
and noble-hearted men and women to hell.
All, again, does it pay?
Think of this. Are you ready to con-
fess that you cannot find a business with
less danger, which produces less misery.
whereby you can make an honest living
and fulfill the command Of heaven, earn
your bread by the sweat of your brow ?
Try. See if conscience will not approve.
See if life will not be sweeter. better.
brighter.-Mss0uri Agttotor.