The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-09-15

inside the vicious precints-and il is the
regular stayers, those who feel at home
among corrupting influences, who make
their social and moral atmosphere Can
any one dispute this? Go now among
those who shun the saloons and YOU will
lind some bad characters, but also the
greater part of those who are known as
the best men and women in the communi-
ty. Across the bridge between these on
poslte elements, people are constantly
going, changing sides; but the saloon side
generally loses its best and strongest and
takes from the other it's weakest and
worst Trace this saloon line through the
natlVe-born element, and the num-
Der of really upright men and pure
women found on the demorali2ing
SIDE IS small indeed, and nearly all
OF the righteous Lots are children of
European parents or residents of very
large cities. You may argue that these
things should not be so, but they unques-
uonably are, and, in view Of their influ-
ence on the destnies of your children,
would it not be cruel and wicked to dog
gedly ignore thems You can stand on
either side of the line and help in the work
being done whore you are, but you can not
cause the leopard to change his spots or
its constant stream of physical suffering
and moral pollution. OF course, so long
as you stand in and for the saloon you will
carry about and impart to all you touch it's
ever increasingly offensive odor, and be,
in a measure, responsible for the evils that
flow from it. Your son instinctively
feels that it can not be wrong
for him to go where it is right
for his father to be. Is he mistaken? But,
whether he is or not, he is likely to go
all the same (unIess others save him),
and thus, becoming the saloon patroniz-
ing son of drinking father, is firmly
planted on the miry side. While there,
will he always :" slowly sip his mug Of
beer' in supposititious old country style,
with his hailfellows jeering at him for
" goody, goody, mammy's boy" or, will
he not rather give the old man the slip,
and go with the boys2" Are you 50 old
or clammy that you can not remember the
first time some rollicking fellow, a few
years your senior, put his arm about you,
and, as he led toward forbidden fruit,
said: GO it while you are young, for
when you are old you can't;n or some
thing of that sort? If so, may God save
your poor boy from the pitfalls, for you
can not. Whether you realize it or not,
ItlC Nlle+ilNCS arc OIldG, II YOU u4bCuu VI pa
trOniZe saloons your sons viii also, but
they will do it IN the actual drinking
American style. Are you still doubtfuls
Look among the families of your acquamt-
ances and tell me, do you not know that
many-very many-sons of German par
ents or husbands of their daughters fol-
low their fathers into the saloon sober
and confid ent, and come out-no, remain
there-wrecks? By all that is holy and
human in your natures, plead with you
to open your eyes to the light, instead Of
closing them Remember that your chill
dren are not now in Utopia, nor even in
Germany, but in America; that their charac-
tiers and habits arc being formed by the re-,
alities of their actual environments, prom
inent features of which are the American
drink habit and the American saloon,
whose influence becomes more and more
baleful ev cry hour In their behalf l be-
seech you to cast prejudice and sentiment
aside and study this Temperance question.
Do not rest satisfied with reading docu-
ments written for and circulated by liquor
makers and sellers, but search for the
truth, and resolve that, if you are ever in
doubt, you will try to lead your son to the.
safest side. AS you love him, do not cause
him to take any unnecessary risks.