West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1886-03-17
WESTVIRGINIA FREEMAN
RUNS ARRANGEMENT.
Coughs Thrilling Indictment OF
the Fiend of Drink.

IN cleveland IN 1ooO, anu Ale'
published since his death in the
Wayne O. Herald:
Rum! There is poison in that
cup; there is serpent IN that cup
whose sting is madness and whose
embrace is death. There dwells
beneath that smiling surface a
fendish spirit which for centuries
has been wandering over the earth
carrying on war of desolation and
obstruction against mankind,
blighting and mildewing the no
blest affections of the heart, and
corrupting with it's foul breath the
tide of human life and changing
the glad green earth into lazar
house. Gaze on it But shudder
as you gaze!
Those sparkling drops are muir
der in disguise; so quiet now-yet
widows groans and orphans tears,
and maniac's yells are in that cup.
Peace, and hope, and love, and
truth dwell not within that fiery
circle which hold that desolating
monster which men call Rum. Cor
rupt now as when it left its native
hell, giving fire to the eye, mad
ness to the brain and ruin to the
soul. Rum is vile and deadly, and
accursed everywhere. The poet
would liken it. in its fiery glow to
the flames that flicker around the
abode of the damned The theolo-
gian would point you to the drunk
ards life, and thunder ia your ears
the drunkard's doom, while the
historian would unfold the dark
record of the past, and point you to
the fate of empires and Kingdoms,
lured to ruin by the siren song of
the tempter and sleeping now In
cold obscurity the wrecks of what
once were great, grand anc glor-
lous, Yes, Rum is corrupt and
vile and deadly and accursed every
where. Fit type and semblance of
all earthly corruptionl Base art
thou yet as when the wise man
warned US of thy power and babe
us flee thy enchantment. Vile art
thou yet as when thou first went
forth on thy unholy mission, filling
earth with desolation and madness,
woe and anguish. Deadly art thou
yet as when thy envenomed tooth
first took fast hold on human
hearts, and thy serpent tongue
first drank up the warm life blood
Of immortal souls. Accused art
thou yet as when the bones of thy
first victim rotted in damp grave,
and its shrek echoed along the
gloomy caverns of hell. Yes, thou
internal spirit of Rum, through
all past time hast thou been &C
cursed everywhere.
en the fiery fountains of the still,
in the seething bubbles Of the caul-
dron, in the kingly palace and the
drunkard's howell, in the rich mans
cellar and the poor mans closet, in
the pestilential vapor of foul dens,
and IN the blaze of gilded saloons,
in the hand of beauty and the life
of manhood, Rum is vile and dead
ly and accursed everywhere.
Rum, we yield not to thy unhal-
lowed influence, and together we
have met to plan thy destruction.
And by what new name shall we
liken thee when we speak OF thy
attributes?
Others may call thee the child
of perdition, the base born progeny
of sin and satan, the murderer of
mankind and the destroyer of i'm
mortal souls, but | this night will
give thee q new name among men,
and crown thee with a new horror,
and that new name shall be The
Sacramental Cup of the Rum Pow
err, and I will say to all the sons
and daughters of earth, dash it
down!
And thou, Rum, shalt be my text
in my pilgrimage among men, and
not alone shall my tongue utter it,
but the graves of orphans in their
agony, and the cries of the
widows in their desolation shall
proclaim it the enemy of homes,
the traducer of childhood and the
DESTROYER of manhood, and whose