Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-07-05
M. G. r. u. NOTES.
"REEokmED MEN -
b Laura y. RittenE,ouse.

women that we temperance people
sometimes get in response TO appeals
for assistance or sympathy in our
work.
don't want my family to associate
with reformed men,"
with those who are not reformed; with
moderate drinkers AMI tipplers; with
immoral men; do you?
You say, perhaps, you want neither,
but the men who are now, and have
always been, sober and moral and pure.
That is all right; that is eommendable.
But you profess to be Christians. Ii
you will consult your Bibles will find
That the Master you love and profess t.
follow did His greatest work among
the very class you despise and refuse
to associate with.
And as matter of stern and solemn
fact, how many men do you know who
are not either reformed men or mel
who ought TO be reformed? How many
who have not "sown wild oats?" How
many who have grown up from infancy
to manhood unsullied and pure? How
many who can honestly look into their
past lives and see nothing 10 bring the
blush of shame to their cheeks if their
consciences are not utterly scared?
Who are the reformed men? Not
only the poor unfortunates whose APP
petites have led them into poverty,
moral and physical ruin and disgrace,
but men who have given up impure
thoughts and actions.
Pick out the spotless ones, oh! my
dainty friend, you, who refuse 10 as
sociate with reformed men, and hold
them up before the public gaze that
the ewes of men, and especially of wom-
en-. NAV be refreshed by gazing upon
them. HON many figures would II
take to enumerate them? 1 leave that
TO your knowledge and inner conscious
ness to decide.
There are other evils as bad or nearly
as bad as drinking - outcrops, out
prowtI,s of the drink custom, II you
please, but not always belonging to IL
and yet, you men and you women
who will not associate with reformed
drinking men, take these men, loath-
some with impure minds and bodles'
into your families, and let your SONS
model after them, and yoUr daughters
marry them.
Won did this, knowing it-With your
ewes wide open. You meet them In
your parlors, in the parlors of friends,
and in the church, at the communion
table, with the breath of strong drink
upon their lips, and the burden OF I'M
pure lives upon them, and you smile
upon the m and take them into the
charmed circle of friendship, even while
you refuse to associate with the REFORM
ed man in temperance meeting.
Has wealth and social position and
policy something to do with this? You
best know; L cannot answer for you,
but let me ask you, which is better to
associate with the man who is penitent
and has the courage to turn away from
evil ways, or the one who is going on
in them unchecked, impenitent, and
unreformed?
Do not deceive yourself by imagin-
ing that it necessarily follows because
man has etered the pale of the church,
that step of itself renders him safe
companion, or places him above the
poor, reformed drinking man, even 1t
he should be outside the church, Good,
pure living must show the soundness
of the heart within, and mere empty
words or hollow forms do not constitute
piety.
/ have had to associate sometimes
u it'll unreformed church-members. i
have sat in churches even, in the
house of the Lord" when my stomach
has been nauseated and my sense of
smell offended by the fumes of alcohol
and tobacco from the lips of church
members, polluting an atmosphere that
should be pure and holy, and defiling
the bodies that should be the temples
of the Holy Spirit.
Then, since no place seems exempt
from such men, oh! ye of delicate So
cial nerves, who hold your skirts so
dainty aside for fear of contamination
with the now reclaimed, but once fall
len,. had you not better retire to the
shades of private life altogether, where
you may daily return thanks that you
are rot as others are?
If not, come out openly, without any
more fiimsy excuses. aud say you are
not in favor of temperance, or that you
are afraid To advocate it. That will be
honest, at least, and we workers in the
great field Of reform will have more
solid respect for you than we have
now, while you profess sympathy with
our cause, yet are too Weakened, or
too cowardly, or too polite to let the
world know it.
Do not, for consistency's sake and
for the sake of the Christianity many
of you profess, say that fear of associa-
ton with reformed men is the cause
that prevents you from taking part in
a great moral cleansing and purifica-
ton.
THAT'S ABOUT THE SIZE OF 1T.
The patrons of 1900 Philadelphia
N