The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1886-07-01

Our Evening Sermon

this remark in public, and strange to say,
it was sanctioned by another, a man pos
sessing at least ordinary intelligence:
"The man who drinks to excess is gull
tier than the man who sells liquor to him
when in that condition"
Well, let us see. The hope of the dog
gery-keeper is to profit from the infirmi-
ties of better men than himself. There
fore the whole aim of his business is to
create and foster those infirmities. To
depend upon the moderate drinkers"
alone for subsistence, would be slow bus
mess for the keeper of the den. These
might number dozen or two, who would
occasionally drop in and take something,
but who would only pay for what they
used. But the man who gets excited,
drunk, and who frequently calls up the
crowd, throws out his hard earnings, and
sees the bar-keeper rake them in, is the
man who pays the den. Whisky drink
ing, or what is ten times worse, beer
drinking, becomes horrible disease, and
the victims have no more power to over
come it than they have to break down,
by an exercise of will-power, any other
dreadful disease. When they become
thus affected and afflicted they are fine
picking for the saloonist. We see, then,
that the hope of success in the dOggery
business is to get men to that point of in
temperance which makes them reckless
and extravagant The bar-keeper who
sells to man in such condition will
say "well, his money is his own, let him
spend it as he pleases !" The bar-keeper
does not believe any such stuff. A large
number of drinking men, or men afflicted
by the disease of Intemperance, have
families whom it is their solemn and SER
ious duty to protect and provide for. The
money belongs largely to those families,
and the fellow who sells the husband and
father poisons for that money and stores
it away in his till, feels just as much that
he is stealing as though he caught one of
the drunkard's children ON the street and
robbed it. Not a doggery-keeper on the
face of the earth will try to maintain
that his "business" is right. All the ar
gument advanced is to the effect that
there is money in it, and one man might
as well be making it as another.
Look at the miserable wretch, with
blood-shot eyes, faltering step, thick
tongue, as he walks in and lays his last
nickel On the counter, and with a hand
so trembling as to almost drop the horri-
BILE glass pass the poison to his fevered
and blistered mouth. Say to me that
that brute-that disgusting beast behind
the counter is not more to blame than
the victim? You might just as well tell
me that the man who commits a murder
is not as much to blame as his victim.
There is no question as to the right and
wrong of the situation. The seller
knows he is wrong, and will not attempt
to deny it. He knows that every dollar
that he takes from the miserable wretch
is taken from his family.
We knew a young man in the neigh
boring city of Portsmouth, a notebook
ing, manly young fellow, upon whom his
parents looked with great pride. Care
was bestowed upon his training, the aim
being to fit him for profession. Gifted
with fine natural abilities, he received a
fair education, and bade fair to honor his
parents and be of lasting benefit to the
community. But the evil moment came,
and he was persuaded to take drink.
The fall was rapid. 1t was not long un-
til he became notorious sot and dead
beat. Every effort was made by kind
and affectionate father to save, and re-
claim him. But, earnest as were the eff
forts Of the parents on the one side, the
efforts of the doggery-keepers on the 9TH
er side seemed to be the most successful.
Finally this young man was sent away
to an Asylum for Inebriates, and after a
season was pronounced cured, and re-
turned. Coming back a seeming stran-
ger to his former vile practices, it was
fondly hoped that he would be safe. But
the imps of Satan were not going to sit
idly in their dens and see soul saved, if
they could prevent it, and in a short time
the young man was pilfering the proper
ty of his parents and trading for liquor.
The fellows who keep drinking-dens will |
not hesitate to receive in pawn for liquor |
the stolen property of others, and never
stop to question the means, so the end is |
This young man never regain
ed the character he threw away when he |
entered the first doggery and the result |
is, a father who is a man of wealth and |
a valuable man in any com
was compelled, for very shame, |
to remove to a far distant State, while the
miserable wretch of q sOn-the last we |
heard of him-was serving out term in
a work-house.
No, friends, it is cruelty wrong to at
tempt to place the devil in human shape |
if we call hogshead human shape
above the miserable, cringing wretch,
who hangs upon the counter and trem-
blingly LAYS his last dime down. We fire.
Quentiy hear of some Of the keepers of
these vile dens who complain of the
drunkards. They call attention to the
keepers ''business." The object is to har-
vest mems stomachS. and it is terribly |
annoying to the sensitive doggery-keeper |
if men will not drink, and spend their |
money, right along, without getting |
drunk or bosterous. They do not want |
the world to know how they work their
victims. Their little scheme OF profit |
should not be interfered with!
Away with all sympathy with the in
carnate devil who destroys men for
money. There is not a doggery-keeper
living who possesses the least grain of
humanity or conscience. His whole
stomach-he has very little souls !
wrapped up in his horrible traffic. He
has no love for mankind, no respect for
God. He only deserves the contempt of
mankind. He is devil.
Old people suffer much from disor-