Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-06-14

some generous nat of the capitalists of this
! country. or by new law OF the government
OF the United states, % per cent, or 81 per
cent. or 100 per cent. were added to the
wages of the working classes OF America, IT
would be no advantage to hundreds Of thous-
ands 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.
My plea this morning ia to those working
people who are in a disci pleshiD to the whisky
bottle, the beer mug and the wine flask. And
| what ] say to them VIII not be more appro-
} pirate to the working classes than 10 the
! business classes and the literary classes and
I the professional classes and all classes, and
( not with the people of one age more than Of
| all ages. Take one good square look at the
! suffering Of the man whom strong drink has
enthralled, and remember that toward that
goal multtudes are running.
The disciple of alcoholism suffers the loss Of
his self re pect. just as soon as aman wakes
up and finds that he is the captive of strong
drink he feels demeaned. ] 40 not care how
reckless he acts. He may say: Il don't
care:' he does care. He can not look pure
man in the eye unless IL is with positive force
of resolution. Three fOurths Of his nature :
destroyed; his self-respect is gone; he says
things he would not 0Uherw Use say; he does
things he would not otherwise do. When a
man 10 nine tenths gone with strong drink.
the first thing he wants to do is to persuade
YOU that he can stop any time he wants to.
He can not. The Phillstines have bound him
hand and foot, and shorn his locks, and put
Dub MS eyes. anu are ludklu- MIN RTlnl IN JDe
mill of great horror. lie cannot stop. /
Will prove 1t. He knows that his course j s
bringing ruin upon himself. He loves him
self Ii he could stop he would. He knows
his course Is bringing rum upon his family.
He loves them. He would stop IL he could.
He cannot. Perhaps he could three months or
year ago, not now. Just ask him to stop for
month. He cannot; he knows he cannot. so
he does not try. | had friend who for fifteen
years was going down under this evil habit.
He had large means He had given thousands
Of dollars TO Bible societies and reformatory
institutions OF all sorts. lie was very
genial. very generous and very lovable,
and whenever ne talked about tins
evil habit he would say: ~ can stop it any
time" But he kept going on, going on, down,
down, down. His family would say: II wish
you would stop" why" he would reply, Il
can stop any time if | want to-" After a
while he had delirium .tremens; he had it
twice: and yet, after that, he said: II could
stop at any time il l wanted to-" He is dead
now. WHAT killed him? Rum. Rum! And
yet among MS last utterances was: IL can
stop at any time" He did not stop it because
he could not stoplt. Oh, there is a point in
inebriation beyond which if man goes he
can not stop!
One OF these victims SAID to a Christian
man; "Slr, If were told that couldn't get a
drink until Tomorrow night, unless | had all
my fingers cut OF, would say: Bring the
Ratchet and cut them off now" l have a
dear friend in Philadelphia whose nephew
came to him one day, and when he was eX-
can't give it up. If there stood cannon and
IL was loaded. and glass of wine were set on
the mouth of that cannon, and l knew that
you would fire it off Just as | came up and
tooS the glass, l would start, for must have
it." Oh, IL Is sad thing for a man 10 wake up
In this life and feel that he is a captive
He says: ~ could have got rid of this
once. but can't now. / might have lived an
honorable life and died q Christian death:
but there is no hope for me now, there is no
escal for me. Dead, but not buried. am
walking corpse. l am an appartion of what
cnce was. l am Gagged immortal beating
against the wires of my cage in this direc-
ton; beating against the cage until there is
blood on the wires and blood upon my soul.
yet not able to get out. Destroyed without
remed yn'
go on and say that the disciple of rum suf-
fers from the loss of physical health. The
Older men in the congregation may remember
that some years ago DR., Sewell went through
TINS country and electrified the people by s
lectures, In which he showed the effects of
alcoholism on the human stomach. He had
seven or eight diagrams by which he showed
the devastation of strong drink upon the
physical system. There were thou ands of
people that turned back from that uicerous
sketch swearing eternal abstinence from eve
rythng that could intoXicate.
God only knows what the drunkard suffers.
Pam nes on every nerve, and travels every
muscle, and gnaws every bone, ami burn 5
with every flame, and stIugs with every
poison, and pulls at him with every torture.
What reptiles crawl over his creeping limbs !
What friends stand by his midnight pillow
What grOans tear his ear. What horrors
shlger through his soul! Talk of the rack.
talk OF the lnquisltiOn, talk of the funeral
pyre, talk OF the crushing Juggernaut-he
feels them ali at once. Have YOU ever been IN
the ward OF the hospital where these inebri-
ates are dying, the stencil of their
wounds driving back the attendants.
their voices sounding through the
night? The keeper comes up and says {:
"lfush, now, be still. Stop making all this
D. % -
for as soon as the keeper is gone they begin
again: Ion G0d! Oh God Help! Help! Rum
Give me rum! Help! Take them on me! Take
them of me! Oh GOdn Aud then they shriek
ana they rave, and they pluck out their hair
by handfuls. and bite their nails into the
quick, and then they groan, and they shrek
and they biaspheme, and they ask The keepers
to kill Lnem: "Stab me! Smother me! Stran-
gle me Take the devils of me!' Oh, it is no
fancy sketch! That thing is going on now all
up and down the land, and tell you further
that thisls going to be the death that some Of
you will die. | know 1t. | see IL coming
Again, the inebriate suffers through the loss
of his home. l do not care how much he loves
his wife and children. If this passion for
strong drink has mastered him he VIII do the
most outrageous things, and n he could not
get drink in any other way he would sell his
family into eternal bondage. How many
homes have been broken up in that way no
that will so destroy man for this
life and damn hun for the life
that is to come? l hate that strong
drink. With all the concentrated energies
Of my soul hate il. Do not tell me that a
man can be happy when he knows that he is
breaking his wfe's heart and clothing hi 5
children with rags. Why, there are on the
roads and streets OF this lana to-day little
children, bareioOted, uncOmbed and unkempt
want on every patch Ofthcr faded dress and
on every wrinkle Of their prcmaturely old
CONFERENCE.-The would have been in
churches to-day and as well clad as You are,
hut for the fact tina: rum destroyed their pa
rents and drove them into the grave. rum
thou foe OF God, thou despoiler OF homes, thou
recruiting officer of the pit, bate thee!
But my subject takes a deeper tone, and
that Is that the unfortunate Of whom / speak
intimates that in the future world. If we are
unfOrgiven here, our bad passions and appe-
titles, unrestraned, will 20 along with us and
make our torment there. SO that, / suppose.
wnen an inebriate wakes up IN the last world
he Will feel an infinite thirst clawing on him .
Now, down IN the world, although he NAV
have been very poor, he could beg or he could
would slake his thirst for little while; but
IN eternity where is the rum To come
fromy Dives could not get one
drop OF water. From what chalice
OF fire will the hot lips OF the drunkard drain
his draughti No one TO brew 1t. No one to
mix ~. No one to pour II. No one to fetch
IL. Millions of worlds then for the dregs
which the young man just now sluug on the
sawdusted floor of the restaurant. Millions
OF worlds now for the rind thrown out from
the punch bowl OF an earthly banquet. Dives
cried for water. The inebriate cries for rum.
On, the deep, eNhausting. eXasperatinc. lever
lasting thirst OF the drunkard IN hell. Why, N
hend came up TO earth for some informal
work IN grOg- shop, and should 20 back, TAX
INK on 10 wing just one drop OF that Tor which