The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-06-30
have sealskin coat" Now, between such


| while riding with a clergyman in Iowa. that
! nearly all his congregation and the neighbor-
hood had been financially ruined by the fact
that the farmers had rut MORTGAGES on their
farms in order that they might send their
families to tho PHILADELPHIA Centennial EH-
hibition. "Why." he said, cit was not con-
sidered respectable here MOTTO 60 to the Phil
adelphia Centennial Exhibition" So they
all went All, my friends, if by some fiat Of
the capitalists, if bv some new law of the
government of the United States, twenty-five
per cent, fifty. per cent. TO- per cent
could be added to the wages Of
the working people, hundreds of thousands
of them would be no better off. More
money. more rum. More wages, more holes
in the bag. Scores of people who might have
been we'll off to-day, are in destitution be-
cause they chewed, or smoked, or drank. or
lived beyond their means, while others on the
same salary went on to competency. l
know man now who is all the time COM
planning of his poverty and crying out
against rich men. yet he keeps two
dogs. and he smokes and chews. and he
is filled to the chin with whisky, and beer
Micawber said to David Copperfeld: "Cop-
perfeld, nv boy, one pound income, twenty
shillingS and sixpence outgo. Result, misery.
But Conrerfeld, my boy, one poun income,
nineteen shillngs and sixpence outgo. Re-
suit, happiness" But oh, workingmen, you
take your dram in the morning. and
yol take your dram at noon, and you
take your dram at night, and I will prom
ise you and your children poverty forever.
The vast majority of the children in the
almhouses Of this country had for fathers
drunken OF lazy or improvident mon. ! DO
not know how it is with others who try to help
the DOOR but nine out of ten PEOPLE that l
help are the wives or the children of drunk
ards Now, the times have got to change II
there is to be any relief from these influences:
We have got to live within our. means, and
we have got to be prudent: And here; let me
say, that do not Sympathize with sklnt1lnt
saving. I am pleading for Christian pru-
dence. A mau now may have no means to
save, but we are at the morning Of great
day Of national prosperity, and people are
going to have means to save There are men
who now have not dollar who might have
been their own masters, independent of en-
ployers, independent of capitalists, and what
say, you all know to be true. l know
there are people who think it is mean to
turn the gas down lower when they leave
the parlor I know there are people who
are very much embarrassed if the door bell
rings before the hall is lighted. know
there are people who feel apologetic when
you find them at plain table, plain food.
Well, it is mean if it only be for plllng up a
miserly hoard; but if it be to give better
education to your children, if it be to give
help to your wife when she is not strong, If
it be to keep your funeral day from being
horror beyond endurance because it IS the
annihilation of your home-that is grand, that
is magnificent. It depends very much upon
what you save for, whether it IS mean or
grand know young women IN this city
who are denying themselves all luXurles to
educate brothers, or to give younger sister
musical advantages. What do you call that:
tits next to the angelic Now, want to say
to the workingmen Of America. so far as
can reach them, and I want to say at the
same time the same things to all business
men, men Of all classes and occupations,
the greatest foe Of labor, the greatest
foe of literature, the greatest foe Of religion,
strong drink, and I want this morning in the
name of God to implore you to quit the use
of it. Iwarn you to take one square look at
the suffering man who becomes the deSpollel
of the wine flask or the beer mug or the
whisky bottle, and understand that
vast multitude are running for, that
goal Some of you are running TOR 1t!
he feels bemeaned I do not care how reck.
les he talks. He may say: II don't care"
He does care. He caDnot look you in the
eye without a rallying of his energies and
force of resolution. The Philistines have
bound him hand and foot and gouged his
eyes out and shorn his locks, and he has
already started to grind in the mill of great
horror Just as soon as man, whether ne
be workingman. or, as we call him, busl-
ness man, gets under the influence Of strong
drink, he will try to persuade you first of all
that he can stop at any time. He cannot.
will prove it, He loves himself, he loves his
body, he loves his mind, be loves his soul. He
knows his habits are running all these, yet he
keeps right on. Why does he not stop? He
cannot stop. He loves his family; he thinks
the finest group in all the world IS bis
that his son and his daughter are going out
under the baleful influence Of having had an
inebriated father. Why does he not stopa
He cannot. I had friend who for fifteen
or twenty years was going down under tins
process He was generous soul. He had
given thousands Of dollars to Bible societies,
tract societies, missionary societies, and you
but he liberally responded. Ills HIS
was when applied to for help to say: "Put
nv name down on the subscription paper for
what you think I ought to pay, and will
pay it." Glorious soul Not many like him.
But strong drink put its graphing hooks
upon him and he went on, on, down, down.
He said: II can stop any time 1 want TO-
and and said: Don't you know you are
running yourself, you are running your
family, now, you stop" he said: "Oh.
I could stop any time if WANTED to-" After
awhile he had del;rium tremens. The doctor
said to him: snow, if you have another at
tack of this kind the probability is you won't
get we'll" "Why," said he, doctor, l can
Stop at any time; it is only question of
time. I can stop as easily as turn ng my
hand over" He had second attack.
His physician said: NOW. you must
stop. If you have another attack like
this I can't be any help to you. nor
can any doctor. You must stop" "Oh, }" he
said, 'doctor, I could stop if I wanted TOO, If
I thought it best think you are mistaken,
doctor" He is dead, my friends, dead. What
killed him? Rum! One of the last things he
did was to try to persuade his friends he
could stop if he wanted to- if he thought it
was best to stop-iemonStratlng the fact that
there is q point beyond which IL man
90 he cannot stop. A man said to Christian
friend: IF I were told could not get any
strong drink before tomorrow night unless
had my fingers chopped off, would say:
q dear friend in Philadelphia who was child
ing his nephew for yielding to this tempta-
tion. The nephew said: "Why, uncle, If there
was a cannon and on the top Of the cannon
stood a wine glass, and the thirst were
on me and l knew as | advanced
that cannon would be fired off, |
would start for that wine cup" o. men OF
the working classes and men of all classes, do
not get this grip on you. 1t is an awful thiEg
for a man to wake up udsay; 81 could have
stopped once, but cannot stop now. might
have lived useful life and died Christian
death. Dead but not buried. l am walking