Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-05-22

started, and all that property was his. Blu
l have to tell you to-day that just as mue
, financial, just as much moral, just so mucl
spiritual possession you will have as yo
compass with your own industries ard jus
| so much as frcm the morning of your iif
J to the evening of yonr life you can plougl
around with your own hard work. "Go t.
the ant, thou sluggard; consider her way
, and be WISE" One of the most awful cal
Thank God that you have to work.
II III. Once more remark: that the dram
shop is great caldron of iniquity in ou
time. Anacharsis said that the vine bor'
three grapes; the first was Pleasure, th,
next was Drunkenness, and the next Mise
ry, Every saloon above ground or unde
ground is fountain of miquity. 1t ma.
have a license and it may go along quit'
respectfully for awhile, but after while
the cover will fall off and the color of tht
iniquity will be displayed.
! ''Oh," says some one, 'syou ought to bt
easier on such traffic when it pays such q
large revenue to the Government, and helps
support yonr schools and your great institu
tions of mercy" And then I think oi
| what William e. Gladstone said-I think
| it was the first time he was Chancellor Of
the Exchoquer-when men engaged in the
ruinous traffic came to him and said their
business ought to have more consideration
from the fact that it paid such large rev
enue to the English Government, Mr..
Gladstone said: "Gentlemen, don't worry
yourselves about the revenue; give me thirty
millions of sober people and we'll have rev.
enne enough and surplus"
| We might in this country-this traffic
perished-have less revenue, but we would
have more happy homes, and we would
have more peace, and we would have fewer
people in the penitentiary, and there would
be tens of thousands of men who are now
on the road to hell who would start On the
road to heaven.
| But the financial ruin is very small part
of it. This iniquity of which speak takes
everything that is sacred out of the family,
everything that is holy in religion, every
thing that is infinite in the soul aud tram
pies it under foot. The marriage day has
come. The twain are at the altar. Lights
flash. Music sounds. Gay feet go up and
down the drawing-room. Did ever vessel
launch on such bright and beautiful sea?
The scene changes. Dlngy garret. No
fire. On broken chair sorrowful wife.
Last hope gone. Poor, forsaken, trodden
nnder foot she knows all the sorrow of be-
ing drunAard's wife. "Ob," she says,
che was the kindest man that ever lived,
he was SO noble, he was so good! God
never made grander man than he was.
but the drink did it, the drink Gid itv'
Some day she will press her hands against
her temples and cry: sob, my brain, my
brainr' or she will go out on the abutment
of the bridge some moonlight night and
look down on the CLASSY surface and wonder
if under that CLASSY surface there is not
some rest for broken heart,
| A young man, through the intercession
of metropolitan friends, gets place in a
bank or store. He is going to leave his
country home. That morning they are Hp
early in the old homestead. The trunk is
on the wagon. Mother says: ''My son, I
put Bible in the trunk, hope you will
read it often" She wipes the tears away
with her apron. sOh." he says, "come,
don't yeu be worried, l know how to take
care of myself. Don't be worried about
me.' The father says: "My son, be a
good boy and write home often, your
mother will be anxious to hear from you"
Crack! goes the whip, and over the hille
goes the wagon. Five years have passed
on, and disspated life has done its work
for that young man. There is hearse
coming up in front Of the old homestead
The young men of the neighborhood who
sis it possible? Why, he doesn't look
natural, does he? Is that the fair brow we
used to know? Is that the healthy cheek
we used to know? 1t can't be possible
that is him." The parents stand looking
at the cash in the forehead from which the
life oozed out, and they lift their hands and
say; so my son AbsalOm, my son, my son
! Absalom; would God had died for thee,
10 Absalom, my son, my Son!'
Lorenzo de Medici was very sick, and
some of his superstitious friends thought il
they could dissolve a certain number OF
pearls in a cup and then he would drink
them it would cure him of the disease. So
they went around and they gathered uI
all the beautiful pearls they could And, and
they dissolved them in d cup, and the sick
man drank them. Oh, it was an expensive
draught. But tell you of a more expen-
sive draught than that. Drunkenness puts
into it's cup the pearl of physical health, the
pearl Of domestic happiness, the pearl Of
respsctability, the pearl of Christian hope
presses it to the hot lips.
I tell you the dram shop is the gate o.
hell. The trouble is they do not put VI
the right kind of a sign. They have {
great many different kinds of signs now OF
places where strong drink is sold. One il
called the Restaurant" and another i;
called the sssaloon,'' another is called the
thotel," and another is called the Swine
cellar" and another is called the 'fsanaplt
room" A s'sample room!" saw q mar
on the steps of one Of those "samplt
, rooms' the other day, dead drunk. l sai(
to myself: "I suppose that is samplep'
tell you it is the gate of hell.
"Oh,' says some man, II am kind, an
indulgent to my family, 1 am right in man.
respects, | am very generous, and l havt
too grand and generous a moral nature Il
be overthrown in that way" Let me sa.
that the persons who are in the most peri
? have the largest hearts, the best education
the brightest prospects. This sin choose
, the fattest lambs for it's sacrifice. Th
, brightest garlands arc by this carbunole,
hand of drunkenness torn off the brow o
, the poet and the orator. Charles Lamb
, answer! Thomas Hood, answer! Sheridan
, the English orator, answer! Edgar A
Poe, answer! Junius Brutus Booth
+ answerl
> Oh, come and look over into it while
,, draw off the cover-hang over it and lool
down into it, and see the seething, boiling
loathsome, smoking, agonizing, blasphem
. ing hell of the drunkard. Young man, b
master of your appetites and passions
There are hundreds-might not say thou
sands?-of young men in this house thi
morning-young men of fair prospects
+ Put your trust in the Lord God, and all i
we'll. But you will be tempted. Perhap
, you may this moment be addressed on tn
, | first Sabbath of your coming to the grea
city, and give you this brotherly counsel
, speak not in perfunctory way. speal
a las an older brother talks to a younge
= brother. l put my hand on your shoulde
this day and commend you to Jesus Christ
who, himself, was young man, and die
while yet a young man, and has sympath,
for all young men. Oh, be master, by tn
, grace of God, Of your appetites and pas
sions!
close with peroration. Ministers ant
! speakers are very apt to close with pero
ration, and they generally roll up som
i grand imagery to express what they hav
! to say. close with peroration mightie
IAlx hx1r hny