Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-10-04


less invalid under the same flash. On the
road from Margate to Ramsgate, England,
you may find rough monument with the
Inscription: "A boy was struck dead here
while in the act of swearing" Years ago
In a Pittsburg prison two men were talk
ing about the Bible and Christianity, and
one Of them, Thompson, by name,
applied to Jesus Christ
very low and villainous epitbet, and as
he was uttering 1t he fell. A physician
was called, but no help could he given.
After day, lying with distended pupils
and palsied tongue, he passed out of this
world. In a cemetery In Sullivan county,
In this State, are eight headslones In a
line, and all alike, aud these are the facts: !:
In 1851 diphtheria ragged in the village,
and physician was remarkably success
ful in curing his patients. So confident
did he become that he boasted that no
case OF diphtheria could stand before him,
aud finally detied Almighty God to pro-
not cure. His youngest child soon after
took the disease and died, and one child
after another, until all the eight had died
of diphtheria. The biasphemer challenged
Almighty God, and God accepted the chai-
lenge.
But come later down and give you a
fact that is proved bv scores of Witnesses.
This last August OF 1886 man got pro-
yoked at the continued drought and the
rum OF his crops, and in the presence or
his neighbors he cursed God, saying tsat
he would cut His heart out If He would
come, calling Him liar and a coward.
and flashing a knife. And while he was
speaking his lower jaw dropped, smoke
Issued from mouth and n0strils, and the
heat Of his body WAS so intense iT drove
back those who would come near. Scores
of people have visited the scene and saw
the blasphemer in awful process OF eX-
piriug.
Do not think that because God mas been
silent in your case, . profane sweareT,
that he Is dead. ls there nothing now In
the peculiar feeling OF your tongue, or
nothing iu the numbness of your brain
that indicates that God may come to
avenge your blasphemies or ia already
avenging them2 But these cases j have
noticed, l believe, are only few cases
where there are hundreds. Families
keep them still to avoid the horrible con-
spiCuity. Physicians suppress them
through professional confidence. 1t is a
very, very, very long roll that contains
the names of those who died with BIAS
phenies on their lips; and still the crime
rolls on, up through parlors, up through
chandeliers with lights all ablaze, and
through the pictured corridors OF club
rooms, etc., out throughIbusy exchanges,
where oath meets oath, and down through
all the haunts OF sin, mingling with the
rafting dice and cracking billiard balls,
and the laughter of her who hath forgot
ten the covenant Of her God; and round
the city, and round the continent, and
round the earth a seethlng, boiling surge,
flinSs its hot spray into the face OF long
suffering God. And the ship captain
damns his crew, and the merchant damns
his clerks, and the master builder damns
his men, and the hack driver damns his
horse, and the traveller damns the stone
that bruises his foot, or the mud that soils
his shoes, or the detective time-piece that
gets him too late to the rail train. l ar
raigD profane swearing and blasphemy,
two names for the same thing, as being
one Of the gigantic crimes OF this land,
and for its eXtirpatton it does seem as II
it were about time for God to arise.
Then look moment at the evil of
drunkenness. Whether you live in Brook
lyn, or New York, OF Chicago, or Cincin-
natl, or Savannah, or Boston, or
in any OF the cities OF this lard,
count up the saloons on that street
as compared with the saloons five
years ago, and see they are growing far
out of proportion TO the increase of the
population. You people, VINO are so pre-
else and particular lest there should be
some imprudenoe or rashness in attack
ing the rum traffic, will have your son
some night pitched into your front door
dead drunk, or your daughter will come
home with her children because her hus-
band has by strong drink been turned into
a demoniac. The rum tlend has despoiled
whole streets Of good homes in all our
cities. Fathers, brothers, sons, on the
funeral pyTe OF strong drink! Fasten
tighter the victlmsl Stir up the fiamesi
Pile on the corpses! More men, women
and children for the sacrifice! Let us
have whole generations on fire OF evil
habit; and at the sound Of the cornet,
flute, harp. sackbut, psaltery and dulci-
nler let all the people fall down and wor-
ship King Alcohol, or you shall be cast
into the fiery furnace under some political
platform.
| indict this evil as the fratriclde, the
patricide, the matricide, the ux0ricide,
the regiclde of the century. Yet under
what innocent and delusive and mirtnful
names alcoholism deceives the people !
1t is u cordial" 1t is "bitters." IL Is
an ''eye.opeDer." 1t Is an "appetiser." 1t
is "digester." IL Is an "inVigorator."
It is "settler." 1t is might cap"
WHY don't they put on the right labels-
Essence OF Perdit!on," ''Conscience Stu
PETER" give Drachms OF Heariache,"
Tears of Orphanage," "BloOd Of Souls"
''Scabs OF Eternal Leprosy." "Venom Of
the w orm That Never DiesV Only once
In while is there anything in the title
Of liquors to even hint their atrOcity, as
IN the case of sour mash. That | see adj
vertised all over. II is AN honest
name, and any one can understand IT..
Sour mash! That is, IL makes mans
disposition sour, and his associations
sour, and his prospects sour; and then it
Is good to mash his body, and m0sh his
soul, and mash his business, and mash
his family. Sour mashi One honest
name at last for an int0Xicant. But
through lying labels Of many OF the
apothecaries' shops good people who are
only little undertone in health, and
wanting OF some invigoratiOn, have un-
willingly got on their tongue the fanRs
of this cobra that stings 10 death so large
a ratio OF the human race.
Otners are ruined by the common and
all-destructiVe habit Of treating GUS
toners. And IL Is a treat on their coming
to town, and a treat while the bargaining
progresses, and a treat when the purchase
IL made, and treat as he leaves town.
Others, TO drown their troubles, submerge
themselves with this worse trouble. On,
the world is battered and bruised and
blasted with this growing evlll II is
more and more entranced and fortified.
They have millions Of dollars subscribed
TO marshal aud advance the alcoholic
forces. They nominate aud elect and
govern the vast majority OF the office
holders OF this country. On their
side they have enlisted the
roI0htiaat nolltical noWer of the