Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1888-02-24
THE REV. SAM SMALL.


From the BarrOom to the Pulpit
Features of the Lecture Last Night.
"From the Barroom to the Pulpit" was
the subject of the lecture in the Atheneum
last evening by the celebrated Georgia evan
gelist, Rev. Sam Small,
The eloquent preac her very graphically
related the terrible sc enes of his life as q
confirmed drunkard. At time when he
was occupying positions of trust and profit
he found that 1t was impossible by human
will power to bind these passions of his life.
His friends secured his appointment to a
mission abroad by the President of the
United States, but the giddy whirl of court
life made him once more victim to his
awful appetite for drink and returning to his
home in Atlanta he was surrounded by strong
friends who tried in vain to build him up.
OscilIating fortune and defeat accom-
panied him and gloom pervaded his house
hold. cat length" said the speaker, "my
wife went to the judge of the court of which
/ was an official and requested hin to write
notice to all the saloon keepers in the city
| commanding them. in the terms of the law
of the State, not to sell me any liquor what
ever, and instead of being governed by it
they stuck them up in their saloons and
made them the subject of Joke and
ridicule. Talk about law! These outlaws of
the nineteenth century ignore the law. Those
men knowingly were leading me swiftly on
toward a drunkards grave and drunkard's
hell. When I am called a crank on this SUBJ
| ject thank God for making me a crank and
trust may die fighting this awful infamy
During all these fifteen years in which was
pouring my money into the tills of the saloon
keepers there wasn't single one who called
me a crank" Mr.. Small here related his i'm
preston of Sam Jones, to whom, from curios-
| ity, he listened for the first time in 1885,
| 81 had no idea," said Mr.. Small, "of being
affected by his preaching, for I was pretty
| orthodox % in those days, for rum drinkers
should be preached and have often thought
that the emily thing necessary to convert
| bloated rum drinker into q theological semi
| na1y was an act of the legislature incorpo-
rating him. But Sam Jones' sermon made
great impression on me, and although re-
sorted again to my cups to blur those
pictures, which memory was presenting to
my mind was unable to bring the insensi-
bility which so madly sought, and the fol-
lowing Tuesday just as I was trembling on
the brink of suicide the photograph of mem
DRY turned back until I seemed to hear my
mothers voice pointing me toward God. At
last I said, have tried all that human art
and medical skill can do. will go to Christ.
For four hours plead with God and at last
the victory came" Mr.. Small then related
how he Immediately made public proclama-
ton to his former companions, in convo-
cation called and held that very night, that
he had resolved to cut aloof from his former
sins and lead renewed Christian life. So
great was their surprise that his continuance
in this new life was made the subject of open
pool room bets by his old associates. The
speaker then made an eloquent appeal in IA
vor Of the cause of prohibition and ridiculsd
the claim that the subject should be kept out
of the pulpit. ''If you could telephone to
the devil tonight for directions he
would telephone back, Get the preach
ers to let the rum question alons'
They say it is political question
when you try to have it mentioned in the
pulpit but while have seen plenty of rum
in politics and politicians mover saw any
politics in rum. But you can't palm it off
on the politician as a political question. If
you approach them they say, Don't bring
that here, for it is moral question
"When I got to be Christian" said
Small, 81 had to quit the Democratic party,
and know, you do, that it is perfectly
hopeless to ever expect that the Democratic
party will ever give the country prohibit
tion." The lecturer then paid his respects to
the Republican party and to the high license
theory in a similar vein and concluded with
brilliant allegorical representation of ths
part which the cause of temperance would
ultimately occupy In the Anal victory.