Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-01-08
the drunkard's soul. The pawnbroker,..
shop is only n eddy of the great stra.n
Of municipal drunkenness. o"A

o.and BACK, young man! Take not tho
hrst step IN the path that leads there. Let
not the lame OF strong drink ever scorch
your tongue. You may tamper with these
.hings II escape, but your influence will
De wrong. Can you not make a sacrifice
Tor the good of others? When the GOOD
ship London went down, the CAPTAIN was
told that there was a way Of escane :, ~
OF the lifeboats. He said: nNo. I will ~
down with the passengers An the n,o.1S
acknowledged that heroism. Can you not
aeny yourself insignificant indulgences for
the good of others? Be not allured bv
tne fact that you drink only the
moderate beverages. You take only nile.
ana a man has to dsink o large amount
OF it to become intoxicated. Yes: hut
there's not in all the city to-day an ine-
briate that did not begin with, ale.
"AAx," what does that mark meanY
on the beer barrels; "XXXn
on the brewers dray; Xxx" on the
side of the bottle. Not being able to find
any one who could tell me what this
mark means, l have had to guess that the
wnoie thing was an allegory: "XXXn-
that Is, thirty heart.breaks, thirty agon.
les, thirty desolated homes, thirty chances
LOT a drunkard's grave, thirty ways to per.
dition. "XXXW If I were to write a
story the first chapter would be "XXX,"
the last the pawnbroker's shop. Be watch
full! At this season all the aliurements to
dissipation will be especially busy. Let
not your fight to hell be in the winter.
I also remark that the winter evenings.
through their very length, allow great
swing for indulgences. Few young mon
would have the taste to go to their
rooms at seven O'Clock and sit until
eleven, reading Motley's Dutch Republic
or John Fosters essays. The yeung men
who have been confined to the store all
day want fresh air and Sightseeing; and
they must go somewhere. The most of
them have of a winters evening three
or four hours of leisure. After the even
ing repast the young man puts on his hat
and coat and goes out. 'Come in here,',
cries another. &C.," says Satan; "you
ought to see for yourself" Why don't
you go?" says a comrade, sit is a shame
for a young man to be as green as you
are. By this time you ought to have seen
everything"
Especially is temptation strong when
business is dull. have noticed that men
spend more money when they have little
to spend. TIL tremendous question to be
settled by our great population, day by
day, is, how to get a livelihood. Many of
our young men just starting for them
selves are very much discouraged. They
had hoped before this to nave set up a
household of their own. But their gains
lave been slow, their discouragements
1nqnv Tho vnNr n M opp ho~Jl, &ol-o
care of himself. How can he take care of
another? And, to the curse of modern so.
ciety, before a young man is able to set up
q home II his own, he is expected to have
enough to support in idleness somebody
else, when God intended that they should
begin together and jointly earn a liveli-
hood, So, many of our young men are
utterly discouraged and utterly unfit to re.
sist temptation.
The time when the pirate bore down
upon the ship was when its sails were
dow and it was making no Roadway.
People wish they had more time to think.
The trouble is, in dull times, that people
have too much time to think Give to
many of our commercial men the four
hours of these winter nights, with nothing
to divert them, and before spring they will
have lodgings in an insane asylum. 1 re-
mark further that the winter is especially
trying to the moral character of our
young men, because some of their homes
in winter are especially unattractive. In
summer they can sit OF the steps or lave e
bouquet in the vase on the antel, and the
evenings are so short that soon after gas
light they feel like retiring. Parents do
not a k enough pains to make these long
winter nights attractive. 1t is strange that
old people know SO little about young peo-
pie. One would think that they had never
been young themselves, but had been born
with spectacles on. 1t is dolorous for
young people to spend the three or four
hours of a winters evening with parents
who sit talking over their own ailments
and misfortunes and the nothingness of
this world. How dare you talk such bias
phemy? God was busy six days in max
ing the world, and has allowed it to hang
six thousand years on his holy heart; and
that world hath fed you and clothed you
and shone on you for fifty years, and yet
you talk about the n%othingness of this
world? Do you expect the young people
in your family to sit and groan about this
ma AlASCAVS oAA6AoCu) ouh
shower-baptized, lower-strewn angel
watched, God-inhabited planet? From
such homes young men maxi a wild plunge
into dissipation. Many Of you have the
means-why do you not buy them a violin
or a picture? or have your daughter
cultured in music until she can help
to make home attractive? There
are ten thousand ways of lighting
up the domestic circle. 1t requires
no large income, no big house, no rich
wardrobe, no chased silver, no gorgeous
upholstery, but a parental heart awake to
its duty. Have a doleful home and your
children will not stay in it, though you
block up the door with Bibles and tie fast
to them a million catechisms. I said to a
man "This is a beautiful tree in front of
your house," He answered, with a whine:
eyes; but it will fade" l said to him:
"You have a beautiful garden" He re-
Piled: eyes, but it will perish" I found
out afterward that his son was a vaga-
bond, and 1 was not surprised at it. You
can not groan men into decency, but you
can groan them out of it.
PRAY We that your flight be not in the winter.