Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1886-05-07
GOUGHt0lN


the most powerful has never bN
lished. came across il to-day
in Coughs own handwriting, am
delivered by him twenty-sx years
After It's delivery, young law stuo>
in the audience, Mr.. T. s. Shepher
now a resident of this city, asked Mry
Cough TO favor him with his words in
writing. Mr.. Cough consented. on con-
dition that the manuscript never be pub
lishcd while he was on the lecture plat
form. The conditions were assented TO,
and Mr.. Cough jotted down the follow.
ing;
There is no poison in that cup; no
iiendish spirit dwells beneath those
crystal drops 10 lure you and me and all
of us 20 ruin; no spectral shadows play
upon its waveless surface; no widows
grOans or orphans tears rise to God
from those placid fountains; misery,
crime, wrctchedncss, woe, want and
rags come not within the hallowed pro
cincts where cold water rcigns supreme
Pure now as when il left It's native
heaven, giving yigor to our youth,
strength 10 our manhood, and solaco 10
our old age Cold water is beautiful
and bright, and pure everywhere. In
the moonlight fountains and the sunny
rills; in the warbling brook and the
giant river; in the deep, tangled Wild
wood and the cataract's spray; In the
hand of beauty or on the lips of man-
hood-cold water is beautiful every.
whcre.n -
Now follows the execration on ruI
"ltuml There is poison in that Gu
There l. a serpent In that cup Whoa
sting is madness and whose embraces 4
death There dwells beneath that smil-
ING surface iiendish spirit which for
centuries has been wandering over the
earth, carrying on 4 war of desolation
and destruction against mankind,
blighting and mildewing the noblest af-
foctions OF the heart and corrupting
with It's foul breath the time Of human
life, and changing the glad, green earth
into lazar-hOusc Gaze on III But
shuddcr as YOU gaze! Those sparkling
drops arc murder in disguise; so quiet
now, yet widows groans and orphans
tears and maniacs yclls are in that cup.
The worm that dicth not and the fire
that is not qucnched are in that cup.
Peace and hope and love and truth
dwell not within that fiery circle where
dwell, that de,olating monster WHY
men call rum. Corrupt now rs when IL
left its native hell, giving fire to the eye,
madness TO the brain, and irwin to tho
soul. Rum is vile and deadly and ao-
cursed everywhere. The/ poet would
likcn it in its fiery glow /o the flames
that flicker around NJ abode Of th'
damned The eola/ion would poin
You to the drWkarlZ loom. while IN,
historian would uZold the record Of tn
past and point w ~ the fate of empire
and kingdom, 'S ~ - min by the sire
song Of the tcmI ,cr and sleeping no.
In cold obscurtv.NH 49, ,,rccks OF VIII,
once We're great grant ana glorlou
Yc,,rum is corrupt and yiN and dead
accursed everywhere. r type ~
scmLlance of all earthly co AnptioA
Base art thou vet as when n :
man warned Us of thy powcro" * ~
flee thy cnchantment. Vile art IuUtr W.
as when thou first went on thy unholy
mission -Glling earth with desolation
and madness, woe and anguish. Dead
ly art thou yet rs when thy envenomed
tooth first took fast hold on human
hearts, and thy serpent tongue first
drank up the warm lifc-blood of inn
mortal souls, Accused art thou vet as
when the bones of thy first victim rotted
in q damp grave, and its shrek echoed
along the gloomy cayerns of hell. Yes,
thou Internal spirit of rum, through all
past time hast thou been, as through all
coming time thou shalt be, accursed
everywhere.
IN the fiery fountains of the still; in
the ,eething bubbles of the caldron; in
the kingly palace and the drunkard's
howell; in the rich mans cellar and in
thc poor mans closet; in the pestilentiaI
vapors Of foul dcns, and in the blaze Of
gildcd saloons; in the hand of beauty
and ON the lip of manhood-rum Is
vile and deadly and accursed every.
where
Rum, we yield not to thy unhallowed
influence, and together we have met TO
plan thy destruction. And by what
new name Snail we call thee, and TO
what shall we likcn thee when we speak
of thy attributes. Others may call thee
child of pcrdition, the base born pro-
geny Of sin and Satan, the murderer OF
mankind and the destroyer of immortal
souls; but this night will give theo o
new name among men and crown tkee
with new horror, and that new name
shall be tho sacramcntal cup OF the rum
power, aud | will say to all the onsand
daughters of earth-Dash II down. And
thou, rum, shalt be my next in my pill
grimage among men, and not alone
shall my tongue utter it, but the groans
OF orphans in their agony and the cries
Of widows in their dcsolation shall pro-
claim it the enemy of home. the traduce2
of childhood, and the destroyer Of mani
hood, and whose only antidote Is tn
sacramcntal cup of temperance, cold
water"