The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-08-01
John B. Cough on Two Cups.

John B. Cough on Two Cups.
John B. Cough, the great temperance lee
turer, did more perhaps than any other one
TO educate the public sentiment against the
rum traffic. In one Of his lectures he usedI
the following language, referring to cup or
cold water as the cup Of blessing, and TO tns
wine cup as the cup Of horrors:
TIE CUP OF BLESSING.
s'There is no poison in that cup, no fendish
lure you and me and all of US to ruin; no
spectral shadows play upon its waveless su1
face; no widows groan nor orphans tears
rise to God from those placid fountainss
misery, crime, wretchedness, woe, want, and
rags come not within the hallowed precincts
where cold water reigns supreme-pure now
as when it left its native heaven, giving
vigor to our youth, strength to our manhood
and solace to our old age. Cold water Isl
beautiful, and bright, and pure everywhere.
In the moonlit fountains and the sunny
Hlls; in the warbling brook and the giant
river: in the deep, tangled wildwood and the
cataract's spray; in the hand Of beauty or on
the lips Of manhood-cold water is beautiful
THE CUP OF HORRORS.
''Rum There is poison in that cup.
There is q serpent in that cup whose sting 10
madness and whose embrace Is death. There
ish spirit which for centuries has been wan.
dering over the earth, carrying on war OF
desolation and destruction against mankind,
bliphting and miIdewing the noblest affec-
tions Of the heart and corrupting with its
foul breath the tide OF human Life, and
changing the glad, green earth into hzar
house. Gaze on i'll But shudder as you,
gael Those sparkling drops are murder In,
disguise; SO quiet now, yet widows groans
and orphans tears and maniacs' yells are In
that cup. The worm that dieth not, and the,
fire that is not ouenched, are In that cup. 4
"Peace and hope, and love and truth, DWELL
not within that fiery circle where dwells that
desolating monster which men call rum, corr
rupt now as when it left its native hell, giv.I
ing fire to the eye, madness to the brain and
ruin To the soul. Rum is vile and deadly and
accursed everywhere. The poet would iken
IL. in its fiery glow, to the flames that flicker
around the abode Of the damned. The theo-
logian would point you to the drunkardsl
life, and thunder in your ears the drunkard's
doom, while the historian wonld unfold the
dark record Of the past, and point you to the
fate of empires and kingdoms, lured to ruin
by the siren song OF the tempter, and seep.
what was once great, grand and glorious;
Yes, rum is corrupt and yile and deadly and
accursed everywhere. Fit type and SEM:
blance of all earthly corruption! !
"Base art thou yet, as when the wise man
warned US OF thy power and bade rs Zee
thy enchantment Vile art thou yet, as
when thou first went forth on thy unholy,
mission-filling earth with desolatIon and;
madness, woe and anguish. Deadly art thou
vet. as when thy enyenomed tooth first took
hold on human hearts, and thy serpent,
tongue first drank up the warm life blood OF
immortal souls Accused art thou yet. as
when the bones Of thy first victim rotted IN
a damp grave, and its shrieks echoed along
the caverns Of hell Yes, thou infernal
spirit Of rum, through all past time hast
thou been, as through all coming time thou
shalt be,
ACCURSED EVERYWHERE
sIn the fiery foundations of the still; in
the seething bubbles Of the cauldron; in the
kingly palace and the druukard's howell; In
the rich mans cellar and the poor mans
closet: in the pestilential vapors Of foul dens,
and in the blaze of gilded saloons; In the
hand of beauty, and on the lip OF manhood;
rum is vile and deadly and accursed every
where.
f1uence, and together we have met to plan
thy destruction. And by what new name
shall we call thee, and to what shall we llken
thee when we speak of thy attributes? 9th
ers may call thee the child Of perdition, the
base born progeny Of sin and Satan, the mur-
derer of mankind and the destroyer Of i'm
mortal souls; but this night will give thee
a new name among men and crown thee with
a new horror, and that new name shall be
the sacramental cup of the rum power; and
will say to all the sons and daughters OF
earth: Dash it down! And thou, rum, shalt
be nv text in my pilgrimage among men;
and not alone shall my tongue utter II, Dut
the the eroans Of orphans in their agony and the
cries of widows in their desolation shall pro.
claim it the enemy Of home, the traducer OF
childhood, and the destroyer of manhood.
whose only antidote is the sacramenta cup
of temperance cold water!"