The Opelousas courier., 1888-11-03
WHO'S to Blame.

walls TO an e4tcnb very uani"OAnS,
our character and prosperity, but dls-
agree as to the cause of this disreputa-
bic state of things. To saddle the
blame upon the administration of eth
er McEnery or Nichols would be q
mistake, for evidently the troubles
that food the country, arise in the ad-
m%inistration of i" John Barley Corn"
and he is the one who ought to be hung.
A respectable old gentleman, q for
mer Teuton, now living in Opelousas,
saws that once the devil held a council
down in hell to devise the best ways
and means to ~colonize the internal re-
gions (but that must have been a long
time ago, as the population
down there must be crowd
ed now). And one lank-jawed and
iaundiced-e eyed imp arose. and address
ing his Satanic Majesty said, he would
volunteer to come up to the earth,
hourishipg then in innocence, plenty
and happiness, and soy famine and
pestilence broadcast and, decimate
those unsuspecting people. But anoth-
er imp, with Redeemed eyes and dis.
heveled hair, ose up, and volunteered
TO visit the then quiet and peaceful
earth and stir up the nations, and ex-
cite them to go to war, and cut OF the
heads of the people with the sword by
the wholesale. But the third imp
arose, with a look that hell ought to
have been ashamed of, and said he
could beat all such children's play as
that would be, and the devil, wrought
up onto tip-toe of eager expectation,
inquired of this arch fiend what he had
to propose? And he, with a malignant
cliuckle, that made all hell shudder,
volunteered to come up to this green
and prosperous earth basking then in
the peaceful sunshine of plenty and
happiness, and decompose their bread,
corn, and fruits, and distill from them
a "ire-water' which is a subtle poison
that would madden their brains. aud
irresistibIy urge them headlong into
every and all kinds of devllment and
that would not only sap the founda-
tions of all their prosperity and happi-
ness, but would utterly destroy them,
body and soul, and hurry them down
to hell SO fast, that there would be
more trouble to find room than sub
iects and with a yell of acclaim, that
is still kept up, 10 was unanimously
II agreed that alcohol be forever crowned
liking of all Evils!
IT'S unpleasant to have to use such
shocking language IS seems to be ne
cessary to set forth in clear light the
horrible ideas contained in that allie
CORY. which is full oftruthful meaning;
for it is a fact that the alcohol contain
ed in the various Intoxicating liquors
has destroyed, and is still destroying
more human beings, than famine, pes
thence, and war, all put together.
Those scourges operate only here and
Iere, now and then, in a limited space
for a short while; whereas that insidi-
GUS poison (alcohol) is busy working
death and destruction, everywhere, all
the time-day and night. 1t causes
more trouble and sorrow, poverty and
Ignorance, degradation and crime, suf.
fering and deatt3 and sends more peo-
pie to hell, than all other causes put to.
gether, for it is really and actually the
fons ct oriqo-the source and origin oil
nearly all other evils that afhict the
human family.
Now reader (Whoever you may BEL
please stop, and let us reason together
calmly, friendly and honestly for few
moments. What is the use, or what
sense can there be in drinking these in
toxicating liquors at all Why form
the dangerous habit of throwing away
money for poison that does no body
any good, but does every body harm
Now please take time to count up how
aiauy YOU have known to be BADLY In
iured, how many utterly ruined, and
how many Seneftted by the useless
and wasteful habiIof drinking thedt
alluring but demorLlizing poisons ; fol
they are poisons, as their effects, sc
bad in every respect, plainly show,
How many fathers and mothers have
been bitterly disappointed in their fone
Expectations of their children ! They
have seen their son, full of promise tt
become a useful and honorable mem
Der of society, fall a victim to this ia
J tai habit, that hurried him on to ruiz
, and a drunkard's grave! They have
seen their daughter, the ideal Of theil
hearts, become the wife of a biped ami
j NAL miscalled husband, who either be
comes d worthless and helpless imbe
| Gle, that was q nuisance and a burden
/ orechanged into a demon, that neglect
ed her, abused her, crushed her, ant
hurried her to a premature grave which
g she welcomed as arefuge from such
: dwelling, loathsome brute. And th,
miserably i'll -fated offspring being nov
If doubly orphaned hoated as waits up0l
a the treacherous sea of life to be wreck
d ed and stranded upon the desolat
shore of ruin
Q Howe many young men have 20
known to start out ID life with ampl
means and fair prospects of useful an
honorable success, fall into the seduc
d tive habit. Of drinking, waste thei
8 property, blast their prospects, fail j
business, and go down in ruin and dis
6 honor? How many crimes can 20
trace directly or indirectly back to th
Z d~emoralizing and ruinous influences {
Intoxicating liquors ? The world is fn
of instances of their evil effects streW
along the road millions travel; but nc
q single instance of their good effect
following the habit of drinking thel
lr as beverages can be found. Then j
the name of common sense, cognmo
II safety. and common welfare, why M
havesthis unreasonable and dangerou
habit broken up, and stopped at one
d and ~forever9
Ell Now will you not help to Danish th
is worst of all evils entirely from OF
Ie country, and thus save from ruin thos