Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-06-07
M. c. T. u. NOTES.
THE sALooN-KEEPER's SIGN.
BIZ R,ehard j. Craddock..

IHNEW HaH ha'ihS
AEN4AH A on the steps of saloon,
NA small boy opened the door
and called into the pro-
prietor, sI say, Mister, yer signs Tell
down."
And surely no traffic could have
more appropriate symbol. Ihe name
given by common consent 10 the sa-
loon-keeper's wares, "into1fcntl"g IL
uuors. ~ is i'm itself strong condemha-
ton. Suppose that man takes grass
of LIQUOR. then another and another
until he sinks into the last stage oil IN
toxication. Was the last glass any
more Intoxicating than the first? Most
certainly not. Tt is not then easily
apparent that no man can indulge IN
intoxicants to the most limited extent
without being taken off the line of
absolute soberiety and having the
normal, healthy action of his system
disturbed, although in the case Of the
smaller indulgence, the change may
not be marked enough TO be outwardly
perceptible?
To man is given not only the power
Of destruction, but also a far more |
dangerous power-that of perversion, |
which is really the destruction OF good
and the creation of evil. And in this
way the saloon-keeper does society
double wrong, he not only robs it of
what is beneficient and good, but SUBJ
stitutes what is evil and burdensome.
War or disease, for instance, simply
take away, but when man becomes
degraded through drink the State has
not only lost the good citizen he might
have been, but has thrown upon it the
burden of his present condition. And
SO too the home must not only mourn
the loss of the husband and father OF
better DAYS, but must also bear all the
bitter trials which daily darken the
drunkard's home. if we follow up
this line of thought to the end of the
sad chapter in the powerful light OF
contrast, and mark the wide difference
between the good citizen and the GRIM
inal or pauper; between the happy,
prosperous home and the hoyel which
shelters only poverty and despair; be-
tween the tender cares of the true hus-
band and father and the unnatural
blow of drunken rage; between the
healthful vigor of sober manhood and
the drunkard's shattered frame; be-
tween the dignity of intellect and the
senseIess gatherings of the tipsy fool;
between the courage and hopefulnese
of the sound mind and the agony and
despair of the victim of delirium tre-
mems, if we remember-frst, all that
the liquor traffic takes away from So
ciety and then all that it infiicts upon
it, we may then be able to form Y'me
lust idea of the enormity of this great
evil.
The poet Gray, in his "Elegy Writ
ten in a Country Churchyard. sings
eloquently of the possible statesmen.
heroes, and poets who have lived and
died in obscurity, because
"Chill perjury repressed their noble rage,
And froze the genial current of the SOUL"
But what pen shall ever trace that
far sadder story of the hosts of promis-
ing careers which have been thwarted
and perverted by intemperance, of all
the brightness of intellect which has
been uuenched in the Intoxicating cup?
Who can place limit to this loss?
Who can say that the Nation has not
lost Washingtons and Lincolns 10y its
liberation of this evil traffic?
Not long ago, the young son of w.
C. II. U. woman died. His father HAD
always voted for high license. This,o
course. grieved his wife, but her sun
comforted her by saying: "When l
vote, mammal it Will be as you would"
He was called up higher before he was
old enough to represent his mother at
the ballot-box, but at the late city cleo
ton, his father, for the first time in his
life, voted the straight temperance
ticket for the dear boys sake who are
still left in the earthly Union
Signal.
Noah got drunk, the Bible tells us.
IA young man, leaning over our
shoulder as we wrote the word "us."
interrupted us by saying: THAT'S no
excuse for you or me. "l-Pioneer.
LET HER DO WHAT SHE CAN.
Emily j. Buybee.
Let her do what she can for humanity's