The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-06-20
Evils Wrought by Alcohol.

Alcoholic beverages are insidious and dam
gerous potions, to be handled by their
Votaries on peril Of body and soul, with ex-
treme caution. As a matter of fact, the
caution often fails, and alcohol damns to
horrid misery innumerable victims. The
draught must be-, indeed, moderate and In
frequent that will not cloud the mind, url-
steady the limb and stir up passion Alcohol,
demon-like in cunning and malicious intent,
courts admission into the mouth amid smiles
and promises 1t fatters and caresses to dis
tract the prey from its perhdy, and, mean
while, it sinks its fangs into palate and
stomach, to create an irritation which. Its
own fluid alone can temper; It shoots its
venom through every nerve, which In cease
for renewal Of its fatal touch. The
craving for alcohol, begotten OF al.
cohol, ever wakes stronger; the moment
comes when it is wild passion, fierce
madness. It commends and obtains the most
fearful sacrifices. In slavery to it woman
forgets honor; the father in hellish laughter
casts to the vendor Of liquor that solitary
dime that would stay the starvation OF the
child; the husband pawns the coat OF the
dying wife. The power Of alcohol is myste-
rious The muscular giant crouches in terror
before its shrine, youth yields up freshness
Of mien and hopes of fortune, and mocks Tor
its sake mothers tears and brides love.
Old age at its bidding puts on the garment
Of idiocy, and closes its earthly journey in
disgrace and sin. Intelligence will not ward
off its arrows: poet. orator and statesman go
forward chained to its chariot into Manner
tine gloom. Piety does not Withstand the
fury Of its breath. The very cedars OF LIE.
banon have been laid low, the royal oaks OF
the forest have been uncrowned and flung
into the deep valleys Of ignominy and
death.
The evils wrought by alcohol are dreadful.
There is no other element in the material
poisons more potent, but they kill quickly,
while alcohol gnaws away life slowly, so as
meanwhile to pile upon its victim the full
weight Of sorrow and sin. Observe its ac-
cursed work-tearing up by the roots all
virtues bringing into action. the latent
passions, breathing particular vigor into the
vilest and most beastly, closing out heavens
darkness, and heavens grace from the soul,
which loses all semblance with its creator.
1t reaches out over the body its clammy
hand, wrestling from it strength and firm
ness, planting deeply in the blooi channels
TIE seeds of disease and death. 0 spirit OF
wine, be thy name demon, for demon thou
| artl
This the first instalment Of alcohols havoc
| The drunkard becomes for it an entrenche1
| camp. from which in concentric circles it
| hurls ruin upon men and women, who re-
| fusing its domination in their own hearts
are vet, despite themselves, brought under
| its vengeance. The home is made desolate
| How sacred the home! 1t is Gods appointed
| treasury of pure and sweet love. There hap
| piness bubbles forth from everything springs:
virtue terminates and blooms in native soil,
watered by propitious dews from the skies:
| The homes of the land are the social units or
which the aggregate is the n alton. The
nation in its wider sphere Of action is the re.
Election of its homes. The poisonous breath
Of alcohol passes over the home: 1t 1s the
passage Of death. The drunkard's soul e1-
and mother break in anguish; the cease
less tear-drop of sorrow. gllstens on
and despair darkens their faces. Infancy is
ioyless: the atmosphere Of shame and crime
Heavens the whole nature of sons and daugh-
ters, and the putrid miasma thlckens the ar,
which other families and the nation at large
must breathe. Alcohol's hellish work goes
beyond the drunkard's home There Is phys
ical and moral contaeion; other homes are
smitten, and alcohol lifts up its sceptre with
in their enclosure The drunkenness Of an
employe endangers an entire industry; that
| of q trusted guardian Of public interests
ruins fortunes and destroys precious lives
Poverty is begotten, the sober and indus
| GrlOuS are CaA6u W NO P'oNuSoiS =
| diminish, the drones increase, the course OF
general prosperity is retarded. Crime stalks
forth, suggested and emboldened by drink;
and robbsries and assaults, and murders and
wreckages Of holy purity make up the rec
ord Of its riotings.
Alcohol's evil fruits are not limited to
earth. Drunkenness is heinous sin which,
unrepanted Of, forbids the doors of Paradise
to open. It is a sin-making sin, and nearly
all the doings Of the soul which it has sub
dued are so many SINS The Christian VINO
loves the Savior and for His sake loves souls
redeemed by Him, stands appalled, before the
dread ravages of alcohol In the spiritual
world. -,
Citizens of America, know and realize the
dangerl Evil-bearing alcohol floods your
land; its murky and noxious pillows are
dashing against your homes, and their angry
crests riss to the very SUBMITS OF the pillars
| upon which are set your free republican in
stitutions. ns.-Bishop ireland.