The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-04-07
COUGHS Tribute to Cold Water.

delivered by the late John 3. Cough, the
most powerful has never been published.
1 came across it to-day, says q Wooster
(Chio) correspondent. 1t is in Coughs
own handwriting, and was delivered by
him twcnty-six years ago. After its de-
livery, young Law student in the audi
once, Mr.. r. S. Shepherd, now a resident
of Wooster, asked MIR. Cough to favor
him with his words in writing. Mr..
Cough consented, on condition that the
manuscript never be published while he
was on the lecture platform. The con-
ditions were assentcd to, and Mr.. Cough
jottcd down the following apostrophe on
water and execration on rum as he had
delivered them while holding a glass of
water in his hand
"Therc is no poison in that cup; no
fendish spirit dwclls beneath those
crystal drops to lure you and me and all
of us to ruin; no spectral shadows play
upon its wavcless 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 precincts where
cold water reigns supreme. Pure now as
when it left its native heaven, giving
vigor to our youth, strength to our man:
hood, and solace to our old age. Cold
water is beautiful, and bright and pure
Tr &ho irrhf
ta.ns and the sunny rills; in the warbling
brook and the giant river; in the deep
tangled wildwood and the cataract's
spray; in the hand of beauty or on the
lips Of manhood water is beautiful
everywhere.
Rum! There is poison in that cup.
There is a serpent in that cup whose sting
is madness, and whose embrace is death.
There dwells beneath that smiling sur
face fendish spirit which for centuries
has been wandering over the earth. car
rying on war of dcsolation
and destruction against mankind,
blightlng and mildewing the noblest
affections OF the heart and
corrupting with its foul breath the tide
of human life and changing the glad,
green earth into lazar house. Gaze on
It But shudder US you gael 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.
"Peacc 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 it
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
likcn it in its fiery glow to the flames that
flicker around the abode of the damned.
The thcologian would point YOU to the
drunkard's doom, while the historian
would unfold the dark record of the
past and point you to the fate Of empires
and kingdoms lurcd to ruin by the siren
song of the tempter, and sleeping now in
cold obscurity, the wrecks of what once
were great, grand and glorious. Yes, ,rumis
corrupt and vile and deadly and accursed
everywhere. Fit type and sembance OF
all earthly CORFU ption!
'Base art thou yet rs when the wise
man warned us of thy power and bade us
flee thy enchantment. Vile art thou yet
as when thou first went forth on thy un-
holy mission-filling earth with desola-
ton and madness, woe and anguish.
Deadly art thou yet rs when thy enven-
omcd tooth first took fast hold on hu
man hearts, and thy serpent tongue first
drank up the warm life blood of immor-
tai souls. Accused art thou yet as when
the bones of thy first victim rotted in a
damp grave, and its shrek echoed along
the gloomy caverns Of hell. Yes thou
internal spirit of rum; through all past
time hast thou been, as through all COM
ing time thu shalt be, accursed every
where.
''In the fiery fountains of the still; in
the seething bubbles Of the cauldron; in
the kingly palace and the drunkard's
hovcl; in the rich mans cellar and the
poor mans closet; in the pestilential
vapors of foul dens, and in the blaze If
gilded saloons; in the hand of beauty
and on the lip of manhood. Rum is vile
and deadly and accurscd everywhere.
"Rum, we yield'not to thy unhallowcd
influence, and together we have met to
plan thy destruc ton. And by what new
name shall we call thee, and to what
shall we liken thee when we speak of thy
attributes. Others may call thee child
of perdition, the base born progeny OF
sin and Satan, the murderer of mankind
and the destroyer of immortal souls; but
1 this night will give thee new name
among men and crown thee with new
horror, and that name shall be the sacra-
mental. cup of the rum power. and will
say to all the sons and daughters OF earth!
Dash it down. And thou rum, shalt
benny text in my pilgrimage among men,
a"d not alone shall my tongue utter it,
but the groans of orphans in their agony
and the cries of widows in their desola-
tion shall proclaim it the enemy of home,
the traducer of childhood. and the de-
stroycr of manhood, and whose only an
tidote is the sacramental cup of temper
ance, cold water!'
TI,0p Do