The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1886-04-01

OF the 60 entries on tjase four pages
y AZ, for whisky, beer and drinks =
almost one-half the number The
total amount of purchases is $l0.G9.
but OF this &i.35 is for these Internal
po;soas. These entries are but a fair
sample of the whole book. ANY four
pages, taken at random, would show
similar figures.
That the owner of this book is poor,
is evident from the character and the
small quantity Of his purchases. As
there are no entries, save at ON" ortwO
places in the book, of vegetables pur-
chased, We infer that he raised his own
which were probably stored in the eel
lar. and afforded part Of the subsist-
anca of his family. If they ate any
meat except the hcrrings mentioned. l..
was probably bought elsewhere. But
leaving these items out of the question.
what a.pictWE' OF poor fare and pinched
housekeeping do these entriys show!
That thtra Is at Least ere child in the
family is probable from the item, "doll,
seven ccnty" What chance has that
poor staryeling littlt one. think YOU.
to grow to perfect manhood OrWOman-
hood, with sound body. with full physi-
cal powers. and education enough to
battle with the world on terms Of equal
ity with t!,n children of men who are
free from the domination of the ac-
cursed drink habit? None 1t is one
of the worst of the unnumbered woes
that follow the drink habit, that the
curse falls heavily upon the children.
To grow into Il strong adult, capable
OF bearing lifc's burdens, a child must
have plenty OF good, n0urishing food.
must be warmly clad. must be well
cared for physlcally; and in our mod
crn civilization, an education is as
necessary a preparation for the life
battle as 4 strong, healthy body. And
thr children of drunken parents very
rarely have strong, well-balanced
minds; they inherit the enfeebled brain
II tae rum-poisoncd parent
In the two weeks We Judge these en-
tries to cover, this man guzzlcd $1.55
in beer, -. % in whisky, and 75 cents
in rum and "drinhsn in the same
time, he and his family purchased So. 26
in flour. Compare $f.35 spent in
Drunkenness with an expenditure of
S3.26 for -four in the same time! Look
over the rest of the list of purchases;
there is but one thing that can by any
stretch of imagination be called a lux
ury Jelly and that purchased Il few
cents worth at time, probably to
render the bread and oleomargarine
butter palatable to the little child!
But why comment longer on this
tcXt2 The bare facts are enough for
any thinking man. He can fill out the
paiaful picture without aid. He can
imagine the bare comfortless home,
the careworn wife, the ill-fed child, the
coarscly-clad, bloated husband and
father. Unfortunately, such eases are
all too common. Any one familiar
with the life of the poor in cities will
recognize this unknown case as but
one Of thousands and tens of thousands
of men going surely down to poverty.
misery and death, dragging their
wretched wives and innocent children
along with them. 1t is only the COM
mon instance of man upon whom the
rum demon has its Internal grasp, that
is all; laboring man. nearly half OF
whose outlay, the first week in this
month of February, was for drink.
is incrc any dTgulhent loI iho uoih
nable rum traffic that can stand for a
moment in the sight of such showing
ono which is simply representative
of uncounted others in all the cities and
towns of our land? What is there so
sacred in rum that it must be allowed
10 continue lis heIliSh work of making
mcn insensible to the needs of wife and
children, deliberately brutalizing and
running themselves day by day, steadi-
" sinking deeper into the horrid pit
which shall sooner or later enguli