The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1886-04-29
COUGH ON COLD WATER.
A Fugitive Gem from the Great Orator
In Which Rum is Severely De-
nOunced.

A Fugitive Gem from the Great Orator
In Which Rum is Severely De-
nounced.
A Wooster, O., correspondent of the
Cincinnati Commercial Gazette writes:
OF all the powerful cxecrations on rum
delivered by the late John b. Cough,
the most powerful has never been pub
lished. / came across it to-day. 1t is
in Coughs own handwriting, and was
delivered by him twenty-six years ago.
After its delivery, young law student
in the audience, Mr.. T. S. Shepherd,
now a resident of this city, asked MIR.
Cough to favor him with his words in
writing. Mr.. Cough consented, on con-
dition that the manuscript never be pub
lished while he was on the lecture plat
form. The conditions were assented to,
and Mr.. Cough jotted down the follow
ing:
'There is no poison in that cup; no
fendish spirit dwells beneath those
crystal drops to lure you and me and all
of US to ruin; no spectral shadows play
upon its waveless surface; no widows
groans or orphans tears rise to God
from those placid fountains; misery,
crime, wretchedness, woe, want and
rags come not within the hallowed pre-
cincts where cold water reigns supreme.
Pure now as when it left its native
heaven, giving vigor to our youth,
strength to our manhood, and solace to
our old age. Cold water is beautiful,
and bright, and pure everywhere. In
the moonlight fountains and the sunny
rills; in the warbling brook and the
giant river; in the deep, tangled wild
| wood and the cataracts spray; in the
hand of beauty or on the lips of man
hood-cold water is beautiful every
| where"
Now follows the execration on rum:
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 smil-
ing surface fendish spirit which for
centuries has been wandering over the
earth, carrying on a war of desolation
and destruction against mankind,
blighting and mildewing the noblest af-
fections of the heart and corrupting
with its foul breath the time of human
life. and changing the glad, green earth
into lazar-house. Gaze on it! But
shudder as you gaze! Those sparkling
drops are murder in disguise; SO quiet
now, yet widows groans and orphans
tears and maniacs' yells are in that cup.
The worm that dieth not and the fire
that is not quenched are in that cup.
peace and hope and love and truth
dwell not within that fiery circle where
dwells that desolating monster which
men call rum. Corrupt now as when il
left its native hell, giving fire to the eye
madness to the brain, and ruin to the
soul. Rum is vile and deadly and &C
cursed everywhere. The poet would
liken it in its fiery glow to the flame:
that flicker around the abode of the
damned. The theologian would poin
you to the drunkard's doom, while the
historian would unfold the record of the
, past and point you to the fate of empires
and kingdoms lured to ruin by the sirer
song of the tempfer. and sleeping nov
: in cold obscurity, the wrecks of wha
: once were great, grand and glorious
Yes, rum is corrupt and vile and deadly
accursed everywhere. Fit type ant
, semblance of all earthly corruption!
.'Base art thou yet as when the wis
man warned us of thy power and bade u
flee thy enchantment. Vile art thou We
as when thou first went on thy unhol,
mission-tilling earth with desolatiol
and madness, woe and anguish. Dead
ly art thou vet as when thy envenomet
tooth first took fast hold on human
, hearts, and thy serpent tongue frs
t drank up the warm life-blood of i'm
mortal souls Accused art thou yet a
when the bones of thy first victim rotte'
in a damp grave, and its shrek echoe,
along the gloomy caverns of hell. Yes
thou internal spirit of rum, through al
past time hast thou been, as through al
coming time thou shalt be, accurse
everywhere.
'.In the fiery fountains of the still; il
the seething bubbles of the caldron; il
the kinely palace and the drunkard
hovel; in the rich mans cellar and i
the poor mans closet; in the pestilentia
, vapors of foul dens, and in the blaze o
gildei saloons; in the hand of beaut,
, and on the lip of manhOod-rum il
i vile and deadly and accursed every
/ where.
! l.. Rum, we yield not to thy unhailoweC
influence, and together we have met t.
, plan thy destruction. And by wha
, new name shall we call thee, and II
, | what shall we liken thee when we speal
! of thy attributes. Others may call the
child of perdition, the base born pre-
, geny of sin and Satan, the murderer Q
: 7 mankind and the destroyer of immorta
souls; but this night will give thee
!. new name among men and crown the
with a new horror, and that new nam
shall be the sacramental cup of the run
: power. and will say to all the sons an
= daughters of earth-Dash it down. An
: thou, rum, shalt be my next in my pi
: grimage among men, and not alon
= shall my tongue utter it, but the groan
3 of orphans in their agony and the erie
of widows in their desolation shall pre-
claim it the enemy of home the traduce
of childhood, and the destroyer of mar
hood, and whose only antidote is th
: sacramental cup of temperance, col
4 | wateriO