The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-10-10


that was burning desire for intoxicants:
hence, his fatal debauch. She had but one
| fault and that an inordinate fondness for
dress. and hence her own and her husband
bankruptcy. She had but one fault and that
quick temper; hence, the disgraceful out
burst What we all want is to have put
around US strong chain Of good influences
Christian association is link. Good litera-
ture is link. Church membership is link
Scripture research is a link. Faith in God Is
link. Put together all these influences.
Make chain!
Most excellent is it for us to get into COM
pany better than ourselves If we are given
to telling vile stories let US put ourselves
among those who will not abide such utter
ance. II we are stingy let US put ourselves
among the charitable. II we are moroSe let
we are given to title -tattle let US put our
selves among those who speak no i'll OF their
neighbors If we are despondent let US put
ourselves among those who make the oesG OF
things. If evil is CONTAGIOUS, l am glad to
say that good is also catching. People 60 up
into the hill country for physical health; 50
if you would be strong in your soul get
yourself up of the lowlands into the altl.
tudes of high moral association. For many
OF the circumstances of our life we are
not responsible. For our parentage we are
not responsible. For the place of our
nativity, not responsible; for our features,
our stature, our color, not responsible; Tor
the family relation in which we were born;
for our natural tastes, for our mental
character, not responsible. But we are re-
sponsible for the associates that we choose
and the moral influences under which weput
ourselves Character seeks an equilibrium
A. B. is a good man. Y. q. is bad man.
Let them now voluntarily choose each
others society. A. B. will lose part of his
goodness and Y. Q. part Of his badness, and
they will gradually approach each other
in character and will finally stand ON the same
level. One Of the old painters refused
to look at poor pictures because he
said it damaged his style. A musician
cannot afford to dwell among discords, nor
can writer afford to peruse books OF inferior
style. nor an architect walk out among dis
proportione structures And no man or
woman was ever so good as to be able to
l said have it a rule of your life to 60 among
those better than yourselves Cannot find
them9 Then what pink of perfection you
must be! When was your character COM
pletei2 What misfortune for the sanity
and angelic Of heaven that they are not en-
joying the improving influence Of your
society! All, if you cannot find those better
than yourself, it is because you are ignorant
Of yourself. Woe unto you, Scribes and
Pharasees, hypocrites
But, as I remarked in the opening, in
sacred and in all styles Of literature chain
means not only adornment and royalty OF
nature but sometimes captivity. And sup
pose there are those in that sense deliberately
and persistently making chain. Now here
is q young man Of good physical health, good
manners and good education. How shall he
put together enough links to make chain
for the down-hill road' I will give him some
directions First, let him smoke. If he can
notstand cigars. let him try cigarettes think
cigarettes will help him on this road little
raore rapidly because the doctors say there
IS more poison in them, and so he will be
helped along faster, and l have the more
confidence in proposing this because about
fifty Of the first young men of Brooklyn dur.
ing the last year were, according to the doc
tors reports, killed by cigarettes. Let him
drink light wines first, or ale or lager, and
gradually he will be abe to take some.
thing stronger, and as all styles of
strong drink are more and more adulrerated,
his progress will be facilitated. With the old
time drinks man seldom got delirium
tremens before thirty or forty years of age;
now he can get the madness by the time he is
eighteen. Let him play cards, enough money
put up always to add interest to the game.
If the father and mother will play with him
that will help by way Of countenancing the
habit. And it will be such q pleasant
thing to think over in the day Of judg-
ment when the parents give account for the
elevated manner in which they have reared
their children. Every pleasant Sunday
afternoon take a carriage ride and stop at
the hotels on either side the road for Sabbath
refreshments. Do not let the old-fogy preju-
dices against Sabbath breaking dominate
you. Have q membership of some cub
where libertines go and tell about their vic
torious sins, and laugh as loud as any o. them
in der.so1 Of those who belong to the sams
sex as your sister and mother. Pitch your
Bible overheard as old fashioned and fit only
for women and children. Read all the maya
zine articles that put Christianity at disad-
vantage, and 60 to hear all the lectures that
malign Christ, who, they say, instead of be-
ing the Mighty One he pretended to be, was
an imposter and the imp!anter Of great de.
lusion. Go, at first out Of curiosity, to see
all the houses Of dissipation, and then go be-
cause you have felt the thrall of their fasci-
nation. Getting along splendidly now!
Let me see what further can I suggest in
that direction Become more defiant Of all
decency, more loud-mouthed in your atheism,
more thoroughly alcoholized, and instead OF
the small stakes that will do we'll enough for
games Of chance in ladies' parlor, put up
something worthy, put up more, put up all
you have. Well done! You have sue
ceeded. You have made a chain-the
tobacco habit one link, the rum habit one
link, the impure club another link infldelity
another link, Sabbath desecration another
link. uncleanness another link and altogether
they make chain. And so there is a chain
on your hand and chain on your foot AMI
chain on your tongue and chain on your
eye and chain on your brain and chain
on your property and chain on your
soul. Some day you wake up and
you say: ~ am tired of this and
1 am going to get loose from this shackle. =
You pound away with the hammer OF good
resolution, but cannot break the thralL
Your friends join you in conspiracy OF
help, but fall exhausted in the unavailing at
tempt Now you begin, and with the with,
ing of LAGOON, to try to break away, and
the muscles are distended, and the great
beads Of perspiration dot your foreneao,
and the eyes stand out from the sockets,
and with all the concentered energies
of BODY, mind and soul you attempt to get
loose but have only made the chain sink
deeper All the devils that encamp In the
wine flask and the rum jug and the decanter
for each one has devil Of its own-come
out and sit around you and chatter. In some
midnight you spring from your couch
and cry: Il am fast; y God; le'
SSe 90 no oGss ss oEnsr and SI oaer as5s
and brothers and sisters, help me to- get
loose!" And you turn your prayer to bias
phemy and then your blasphemy into prayer;
and to all the din and uproar there IS play cd
an accompaniment, not an accompaniment
by key and pedal, but the accompaniment Is
rattle, and the rattle is that Of chain. For
five years. for ten years, for twenty years,
yon have been making chain.
But here take step higher and tell you
there is a power that can break any chain.
chain of body, chain Of mind, chain Of SOUL
The fetters that the hammer Of the Gospel
hova hroGan nfp if riled tooathar would