The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1888-11-21

Col. George. number of years ago, he came to
ST. Paul and took charge of the etropoitan hotel.
He made a host Of friends; he hail fell
well met and a prince of good fellows From
a moderate drnker he became slave to the
habit he neglected his business: his property was
sold at auction and at last he found himself in
Omaha: homeless friendless, drunkard, despsed
by all, befriended by none. Can you imagine an
evil that can bring man down from such an high
estate. to such depth of depravity and degrade
tion save the evil of intemperance? Not long ago
l driving through forest in Wisconsin, on
my way to an Indian reservation. 1t was late in
the evening and very cold. AS driving
along, tan lying by the roadside attracted our
attention. Upon being asked who and what he
was, he staggered to his feet and attempted to
ply. Unable to maintain his balance. he fell to
the ground striking his head against log. In as
sisting him into the wagon he was recognized as
an expert in the valuation of pine lands. and one
whose name was an authority upon such ques-
tons. Yet here he was, incapable of taking care
of himself. staggering around within few feet
of swiftly flowing river, and but for timely
discovery. he might have frozen to death fallen
into the icy embrace of the river. The first thing
he did. upon getting into the wagon. to reach
down into his bootleg and draw forth flask of
liquor He made a mistake and passed it to me-
At the first opportunity, threw it away. Soon
after our arrival at our stopping place, he asked
the driver. who he gave the flask to. The driver
answered: to Father Murphy Strange to say,
he never asked me for it,
1.-The following statistics are worthy of consid.
GRAFTON. On basis of thousand: of teeto-
talers. eleven die annually of moderate drinkers,
twenty-three; of hard drinkers, forty-five. The
average age of the teetotaler is fiftyseven years;
of the hard drinker. only thirtyfve. 1t will thus
be seen that intemperance directly operates to
shorten life. Gladstone the Grand Old Man
says: Intemperance is the cause of more crime
and suffering than war, pestilence and famine
"Wilberforec, in a controversy upon the slavery
quest on once wrote the word God upon a slip of
paper and placed gold coin over it. He then
asked his. opponent if he could read the wordY
Receiving negative reply. he as ked, why" The
answer was because the gold hides it, Yes,
said Wherefore, you cannot the error of your
position because the gold hides it from your view.
This is the reason why so many engaged in this
terrible rum traffic, cannot, or will not, see the
great evil of it. One night. some fifty years ago,
in Massachusetts village temperance meeting
was in session. at its close any who wished to
sign the pledge were asked to come forward.
Away in the rear of the room, a man arose; his
bloated face, his bloodshot eyes, his ragged Dress
all proclaimed his character and position, even if
the audience had not often seen him Keeling long
the street or lying in some gutter beastly drunk
ard. AS he walked slowly forward the smiles be-
came aud BILE, and a stranger would have known
by the jeers and sneers, that all thought b IN be-
yond the hope of reformation. He signed the
pledge, and facing the audience. he gave them a
look that none ever forgot After moment he
said: is it crime to be mani? and followed by
bitter denunciation of intemperance and its vo-
taries. and fairly presaged his future career For
nearly fifty years this fought the liquor traf-
fc, from pulpit and rostrom, the foremost in the
ranks of temperance lecturers. Knowing so many
OF you personally. and that intemperance is the
ma cause of your being here l ask you this
Question: is it crime to be man? Can you
not make IA solemn pledge, to yourself that you
will never touch liquor again. The signing of the
pledge is futile without this solemn compact be-
tween God and yourself. May God help you to
make this decision upon which, in so great a
measure your future life depends
A Good Mans Tenderness.