The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1889-02-28
Egillli.

ESuIkAs
Rum is the vileSt demon that ever en-
tered a community. Wretchedness and
penury follow in his wake. He has been
the means OF breaking up many a happy
family. and sent many young and useful
life in sorrow to the grave. How many of
of us can look back with remOrse on our
past lives spent in debauchery and sin, and
think of the many golden opportunities we
had of becoming ornaments of society; out
having grasped at the glittering shrine OF
Bacchus we are now paying the penalty. of
our indscretion--caged up as Runs zoologi-
cal specimens. and wearing the garments of
disgrace through his inStrumentaity. Can
ada to-day is the haven of rest for fugitiveS
from justice, the majority of whom, have
been wrecked and ruined by the fiery de-
mon.
When will this dreadful curse be forever
crushed to the earth? Go into any of the
leading cities of this country to-day and
you will see Rum rampant and tlourshing.
The saloons, or in other words the gate
ways to utter ruin and degradation, are
thrown open. dazzling with resplendant i'll
ternal fittings; the sound of music greetS the
ear OF the unwary traveller and he is ELL
shared by the many sources OF pleasure
cast before him by the DEVILS agents and
gradually. step by step. sinks down into
the gaping chasm OF despair. One false
turn of the wheel and the fail barque of
humanity is sailing for time on voyage
OF ineXplicaDle grandeur and pleasure. I'M
til its cargo OF gold has been mOrtgaged to
the crafty helmsman who secures his ilI-gOt-
ten gains and daSheS the worthless hull Oh
the rocks of everlasting misery and Woe.
1t must be IA source of unmitigated regret
to many to know that most of the munich
palities of our rising towns in the north
west are controlled by whisky rings and
gamblers under whose patronage, it is well
known, nothing but corruption and bare
faced impOstnre can exist.
1t is lamentable that the rising genera
tiOns are being raised under the banner of
What will be the result?
Echo answers: Moral. physical and social
ruin. How is this to be remedied? Let
those who have the welfare of their fel-
bowman at heart, unite in a body and en-
deavOr to eXtirpate those demons of vice
and immortality; purge the municipalities of
such degraded wrecks of humanity; exclude
them from all good and pure society, and
let them earn their bread by the sweat of
their brow. Men who are daily enticing
the unwary into their hOtbeds of sin, are
unfit to live in any we'll regulated cOmmu-
nity Society shudders when the weeping
and waling of starving women and children
can be heard in the highways and bywavs
of our great cities while the poor. deluded
providers are spending their last nickle for
a decOctiOn of the vilest poison the rumsel-
ler can produce. 1t is to be hoped that the
day will soon come when by the united eff
forts of our various temperance OrganiZa-
tiOns jury will be found composed of the
nations at large to find Rum and his satel-
lites guilty of murder in the first degree.
sentence them to die in all the horrors. ag
onies and wretchedneSs of delirium tremens:
after which. commit their vile bodies to
grave in everlasting chaos; and may the
only notice of their death and burial be
Temperance blowing the trumpets of re-
joicing throughout the length and breadth
of the land. The decease of mans worst
enemy and the devils most efficient ennis
sary will dessimate throughout society
feeling of greater safety. There will be no
need of extending pOOr-house or prison ac
cOmmOdatiOn, and the reformation of the
human race will come in due course.
AMERICUS.