The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1886-03-12

oZ are IOr WHISKY, beer and drinks
almost one-half the number. The
total amount of purchases is $10.69,
but of this 81 80 is for these internal
poisons. These entries are but fair
sample of the whole book. ANY four
pages, taken at random, would show
similar figures.
That the owner of this book is poor,
is evident from the character and the
small quantity of his purchases. AS
there are no entries, save at one or two
places in the book, of vegetables pur-
chased, we infer that he raised his own,
which were probably stored in the Gel
lar, and afforded part of the subsist-
ence of his family. If they ate any
meat except the behring's mentioned, it
was probably bought elsewhere But
leaving these items out of the question,
what a picture of poor fare and pinched
housekeeping do these entries show!
That there is at least one child in the
family is probable from the item, "doll,
seven cents" What chance has that
poor starveling little one, think you,
to grow to perfect manhood orwoman-
hood, with sound body, with full physi-
cal powers, and education enough TO
battle with the world on terms of equal
ity with the children of men who are
free from the domination of the ac-
cursed drink habitP None. 1t is one
of the worst of the unnumbered woes
that follow the drink habit, that the
curse falls heavily upon the children.
To grow into strong adult, capable
of bearing life's burdens, child must
have plenty of good, nourishing food,
must be warmly clad, must be well
cared for physically; and in our mod
ern civilization, an education is as
necessary preparation for the life
battle as strong, healthy body. And
the children of drunken parents very
rarely have strong, well-balanced
minds; they inherit the enfeebled brain
of the rum-poisoned parent.
In the two weeks we Judge these en-
tries to cover, this man guzzled $1.55
in beer, So. o. in whisky, and rs cents
in rum and drinks" In the same
time, he and his family purchased So. 26
in flour. Compare $435 spent in
drunkenness with an expenditure of
3d. for flour in the same time! Look
over the rest of the list of purchases;
there is but one thing that can by any
stretch of Imagination be called lux
ury-jelly-and that purchased few
cents worth at time, probably to
render the bread and oleomargarine
butter palatable to the little child
But why comment longer on this
text? The bare facts are enough for
any thinking man. He can ill out the
painful picture without aid. He can
imagine the bare comfortless home,
the careworn wife, the ill-fed child, the
coarsely-clad, bloated husband and
father. Unfortunately, such cases are
all too common. Any one familiar
with the life of the poor in cities will
recognize this unknown case as but
one of thousands and tens of thousands
of men going surely down to poverty,
misery and death, dragging their
wretched wives and innocent children
along with them. 1t is only the COM
mon instance of man upon whom the
rum demon has its internal grasp, that
is all; laboring man, nearly half of
whose outlay, the first week in this
month of February, was for drink.
Is there any argument for the dam
nable rum traffic that can stand for a
moment in the sight of such a showing
one which is simply representative
of uncounted others in all the citieSa and
towns of our land? What is there so
sacred in rum that il must be allowed
to continue its hellish work of making
men insensible to the needs of wife and
children, deliberately brutalizing and
running themselves day by day, steadi-
ly sinking deeper into the horrid pit
which shall sooner or later engulf
them? What is there in this damna-
BILE business that men should be al
lowed to follow it? The rum-seller is
the first lieutenant of the devil. He
daily and hourly tempts men to barter
their souls for rum. He tempts them
to exchange their manhood for the di-
rect and most hopeless form of slavery.
He casts over them spell more terri
BILE than that of Gree; for she only
turned men into beasts, but rum turns
them into demons. Under its malign
influence. a mans duty, husbands
love, a fathers care, are all swallowed
up in scorching, burning, Zodiac
cursed thirst. To satisfy that red-hot
blast from hell, when he feels it, man
will leave his wife to starve and his
children to perish. And the rum-sell-
er cares not, so long as his victim has
the money to buy the brewery slop and
distillery poison which he sells. He
has already mortgaged his soul to the
devil a thousand fold, and the misery,
want and suffering that his accursed
trade causes affects him not, if only he
can acquire wealth. Toledo Blade.
Tho nr;nL Hani4