The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1889-11-27
TEMPERANCE NOTES.
TELL IT SEveRxlvAeRE.s

c.. Il
t"'Tis.an old tale and Omen told. < 4
Because it is true" N@ "
i Asfey months ago l was invited to
address a Temperance meeting at
Chautauqua Point While seated in the
auditorium iwsitinaF the speaker who
WAS to precede me- !. heard an old
gentleman of my acquaintance whom
knew to be good man and sincere
Christian remark to one who sat by his
side: 1.-THE Temperance, question is an
old story. 1t is worn threadbare; moth
ing new can be said about it, and the
people. nd longer take much interest
In IT, > - EsE -s-.Ff| FT1
This remark Of my venerable friend
set me, to thinking. 1t seemed to me
that any Story that had for Its aim the
amelioration of the sorrows of man.
kind and the advancement Of the moral
condition of out tace, never could, and
never ought to, igrow old. ! remem-
bered that the story of the awful trag-
edy which was enacted on Mount CAL
vary had not grown old, and although
it had been related by a pious ministry
all over the world, and in every tongue,
for nearly two thousand years, yet
to-day to the humble, penitent sinner
at the foot Of the altar, shat story" Is
as new and as full of interest as it was
to the people of Nazareth in the morn
ing Of Christianity. y. - Mfkf NJ
In vain may indifference tolerate and
sordid interest sustain the traffic in rum,
yet, as the records of our courts prove
beyond refutation, it is the proximate
cause Of three-fourths of the crime COM
mitted in the world, and the primordial
cause of the unnumbered incidents re-
corded in the countless volumes Of hui
man suffering and woe. 1t - not alone
the unfortunate Victims Of the deadly
appetite it creates who suffer through
its influence, but thousands who never
taste it, who hate it utterly and never
set foot in the licensed saloon, are made
to feel the shame it brings to the home
and Preside, or suffer the inherited dis
ease and pain which it transmits from
father to children for many generations.
ut won't hurt you If you let 1t alone, "
and mo one need drink unless he wants
TO-" remarked licensed vendor, man
Of "good moral character and temperate
habits" to me in a sneering tone the
other day; and he continued: s"Every
body has right to drink what he
pleases and no law can stop him!" The
good mans" face glowed with beer
and indignation as he uttered this con-
densed bill Of human rights in my ear,
and he seemed to think that he was
stating an indisputable axiom. Yet
millions suffer incidentally from its Of
fects because Of their relationship to its
immediate victims. 1t hurts thousands
of poor women who suffer the terrible
fate Of being the wives Of drunkards and
the mothers Of their children.
Yonder assembly Of men convoked By
law are listening TO the old story o
some deed Of crime as it is related b,
the witnesses. In the fury of drunken
madness drunken husband has muir
dered his wife, or drunken father ha
killed his child, and jury are investi
eating the crime. Yet mother and chill
"let it alone" The tenement houses il
the rum-polluted districts of our cite
are filled with women and children VIII
are suffering from cold and hunger be
cause of the influence Of rum, yet the,
'let it alone" Our brothels and resort
7 of infamy are filled with painted in
. mates who were driven there as plac
Of refuge from the horrors Of drunk
ards home, yet they "let it alone" unit
the licensed demon rum came to thei
once happy home and brought ruin to
! husband and father, and shame to hi
. wife and daughters.
In prison is dissipated. criminal son
and weeping over him heart-brokel
mother who ''let it Alone" yet VIII
a could not protect her child from the In
r fluence Of the licensed rum-shops on tn
highways and byways of business life
Yonder gray-haired father who wall
Q the streets with his head bowed il
8 grief too deep for human utterance
I ashamed to look his fellows in the fac
l because his honored name has bee
= stained with the crime of drunken sol
"let it alone" and he tried to teach hi
a wrecked and ruined boy to shun the ev
t of the licensed cup, and would have su,
i decided but that the law sold to its emil
saries the right to destroy him. Yonde
institution erected at public expense
o filed with poor little homeless
o children of drunken parents, VIII
It have been picked up from tn
8 filthy streets and purlieus of vice an
l. clothed and fed by the hand Of Christia
IS charity. Yet they '1et it alone" an
d will continue to do so If they are NJ
!. tempted to drink by the owners Of
k criminal franchise as they become me
,. and women. Yonder hospital is file
b with suffering victims who have inhe
tied disease frcma parents poisont
n body, yet they ''let 1t alone" The
crippled limbs and plsgue-spotted bodi'
70 are not because Of their own wrong
I ing, but drunken father has left the
h q drunkard's legacy Of disease and pal
Is Over sixty thousand drunkards d
l. annually and leave two hundred tho
% sand children who ''let it alone" and y
who suffer poverty, disease and sham
10 because ''what father eats shall set Il
children's teeth ON edge" The ia
Is payers Of the country who "let it alon,
IS must pay for the support Of the paupe
% made by rum, and bear the expense
y the courts convened to punish crimina
70 begotten by law. All over the Christi;
y world the greatest number who snff
q from the curse Of strong drink are tho
IS who .'let it alone" yet who mustpay Il