St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1886-01-02

| Aooot W lGu tuc Clluk VI u LuauuduS CudlH
| Stop and look into the window of that
pawnbroker's shop. Elegant furs; elegant
watches; elegant scarfs; elegant flutes.
| People stand with a pleased look, gazing
at these things; but l look with shudder,
| as though l had seen into a window of
| hell. Whose elegant watch was that? 1t
was drunkard's. Whose furs? They be-
longed to a drunkard's wife. Whose
| flute? Whose shoes? Whose scarf? They
belonged to drunkard's child II could
l would take the three brazen balls hang
ing at the doorway, and clang them to-
gether until they tolled the awful knell of
the drunkard's soul. The pawnbroker's
shop is only one eddy of the great stream
of municipal drunkenness.
Stand back, young man. Take not the
first step in the path that leads there. Let
not the flame Of strong drink ever scorch
your tongue. You may tamper with these
things and escape, but your influence viii
be wrong. Can you not make a sacrifice
for the good of others: When the good
ship London went down, the captain was
told that there was a way of escape in one
of the lifeboats. He said: "No: | will go
down with the passengers" All the world
acknowledged that heroisln. Can YOU not
deny yourself insignificant indulgences for
the good of others? Be not allured by
the fact that you drink only the
moderate beverages You take only ale,
and man has to drink large amount
of it to become Intoxicated. Yes: but
there's not in all the city to-day an inc
briate that did not begin with ale.
xxx" what does that mark mean?
"XXX" on the beer barrels: Xxx y"
on the brewers dray; xxx" on the
side of the bottle. Not being able to find
any one who could tell me what Ibis
mark means, have had to guess that the
whole thing was an alegory: "XXX"-
that is, thirty heart-breaks, thirty agon-
les, thirty desolated homes, thirty chances
for drunkard's grave, thirty ways to per-
dition. Xxx" If l We're to write a
story the first chapter would be "XXX,"
the last the pawnbroker's shop. Be watch
full! At this season all the aIlurements to
dissipation will be especially busy. Let
not your flight to hell be in the winter.
also remark that the winter evenings,
through their very length, allow great
swing for indulgences. Few young men
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 young men
who have been confined to the store all
day want fresh air and sight seeing; and
they must go somewhere. The most of
them have of winters evening three
or four hours of leisure. After the even
ino flo l,+
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 young man to be as green as you
are. By this time you ought to have seen
Especially is temptation strong when |
business is dull. / have noticed that men
spend more money when they have little |
to spend. The tremendous question to be |
settled by our great population, day by |
day, is, how to get livelihood. Many of !
our young men just starting for them
selves are very much discouraged. They
had hoped before this to have set up
have been slow, their dscoura gements
many. The young man can hardly take
care of himself How can he take care of
another? And, to the curse of modern So
'lety, before young man is able to set up
/ home of his own, he is expected to have
enough to support in idleness somebody
Else, when God intended that they should
'egin together and jointly earn a liveli-
rood, So, many of our young men are
utterly discouraged and utterly unfit to re-
list temptation.
The time when the pirate bore down
lpon the ship was when it's sails were
lown and it was making no Roadway.
'eople wish they had more time to think.
he trouble is, in dull times, that people
ave too much time to think. Give to
many of our commercial men the four
ours of these winter nights, with nothing
0 divert them, and before spring they will
ave lodgings in en- insane asylum. / re-
mark further that the winter is especially
rying to the moral character of our
Dung men, because some of their homes
4 winter are especially unattractive. In
lmmer they can sit on the steps or have
ouquet in the vase on the maltel, and the |
venings are 80 short that soon after gas !
ght they feel like retiring. Parents do
OF take enough pains to make these long
inter nights attractive. 1t is strange that
ID people know SO little about young peo-
(e. One would think that they had never
een young themselves, but had been born s
18th spectacles on. 1t is dolorous for {
oung people to spend the three or four
ours of a winters evening with parents
no sit talking over their own ailments
Id misfortunes and the nothingness of
lis world. How dare Won talk such bias.