The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-06-25
II. H..v..s fan y. mus. h.v. . ...l.,i.

-
coat"
Twas out West, and . minister OF the
gospel told me, in Iowa, that his church
and the neighborhood had been impover.
ished BY the fact that they put mortgages
on their farms in order to send their fami.
lies to the Philadelphia Centennial Il
was not respectable not 70 go to the Cen.
teunial. Between such evils and pauper.
ism there il . very short step. The vast
majority of children are there because
their parents are drunken, or lazy, or reck.
lessly improvident.
Ihave no sympathy for skin flint saw.
ing, but plead for Christian prudence.
You say it is impossible now to Law up
any thing for rainy day. know it, but
we are at the daybreak of National pros
turn the gas low when they go out of the
parlor. They feel embarrassed il the door.
bell rings before they have the hall light
ed. They apologize for the plain meal IL
you surprise them at the table. Well, it Is
mean il it is only to pile up q misery
hoard. But il 1t be to educate your chill
dren, il il be to give more help to your
wife when she does not feel strong. il it be
to keep your funeral day from being hor.
rible beyond all endurance because it il to
be the disruption and humiliation of the
domestic circle-if it be for that, then It 10
magnificent.
There are those who are kept in poverty
because Of their own fault. They might
have been well OF, but they smoked or
chewed up their earnings, or they lived
hax has~ a..
same wages and on the came salaries
went on to competency. I know . man
who was all the time complaining of his
poverty and crying out against rich men,
while he himself keeps two dogs and chews
and smokes. and Is full to the chin W it'll
whisky and beer. wilkins Micawber said
to David Copperheld:
"Copperfeld. nv boy, one pound in.
come, twenty shillings and slxpe nee ex-
penditure; result misery. But, Copper.
field. my boy, one pound income, nineteen
shillings and sixpence; result, happi.
ness"
But, o working men of America, take
your morning dram, and your noon dram,
aud your evening dram, and spend every
thing you have over for tobacco and ex-
self and your children for ever. II BY
some generous fat of the capitalists of this
country, or by a new law of the Govern
ment Of the United States, twenty five
per cent or fifty per cent or one hundred
per cent were added to the wages of the
working classes Of America it would be no
advantage to hundreds of thousands of
them unless they stopped strong drink.
Aye, until they quit that evil habit, the
more money the more ruin; the more
wages the more holes in the bag.
The disciple of alcoholism suffers the
loss of his self-respect. Just as soon as
man wakes up and finds that he is the
captive of strong drink he feels demeaned.
do not care how reckless he acts. He
may say: 81 don't care" He does care.
He can not look pure man in the eve I'M.
less it is with positive force of resolution.
Three-fourths of his nature is destroyed;
his self-respect is gone: he says things he
would not otherwise say; he does things
ne would not otherwise do. When a
man Is nine-tenths gone with strong drink,
the first thing he wants to do is to
persuade you that hs can stop any
time he wants to. He can not.
The Philistines have bound him hand
and foot, and shorn his locks, and put out
his eyes, and are making him grind in the
n.ill of a great horror. He can not stop.
will prove it. He knows that his course is
bringing ruin upon himself. He loves
himself. II he could stop he would. He
knows that his course is bringing ruin upon
his family. He loves them. He would
stop il he could. He can not. Perhaps he
could three months or q year ago, not
now. Just ask him to stop for a month.
He can not: he knows be can not. SO he
does not try. I had a friend who for If
teen years was going down under this
evil habit, He hosl large means. He had
given thousands of dollars to bible socie-
ties and reformatory Institutes o: a II sorts.
He was very genial, very generous and
very lovable, and whenever he talked
abou. this evil habit he would say:
81 can stop any time" But he kept go
fng on, going on, down, down, down. His
family would say:
81 wish you would stop"
"Why," he would reply, 81 can step any
time if l want to-"
After awhile he had delirium tr-mens;
he had It twice; and yet, after that he
said:
Il could stop at any Tins If I wanted
to-"
He Is dead now. What killed him: Rum!
Pun! And yet among his last utterances
was:
81 can stop at any time"
He did not stop il be because he could
not stop it. Oh, there is q point in inebria-
ton beyond which IL a man goes, he can
not stop!
One Of these victims said to Christian
man:
"Sir. il I were told that couldn't get
. drink until Tomorrow night unless had
all my fingers cut off, would say: Bring
the Ratchet and cut them OF now"
I have a dear friend in Philadelphia
whose nephew came TO him one day, and
when he was exhorted about his evil
habit. said:
"Uncle, I can't give it up. II there
stood a cannon and it was loaded, and a
glass of wine were set on the mouth Of
that cannon. and knew you would fire it
off just as l came up and took the glass, I
would start. for must have it."
Oh, II is a sad thing for a man to wake
up in this life and feel that he is a captivel
He says:
81 could have got rid Of this once, but
can't T. ow. might have lived an honor
able life and died Christian death; but
there is no hope for me now; there is no
escape for me. Dead but cot buried. an
a walking corpse. l am an apparition Of
what once was. I am a cagei immortal
beating against the wires Of my cage in
this direction: beating against the cage