The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1889-03-15
z MANS RIGHT.

stop men from drinking liquor when they
want it. 1t is my right. and it is every
mans right, to drink or let it alone
The lady to whom these assertions were
made looked at the speaker for a moment,
and then said, quietly:
"All the same, sir. Warner, I shall con-
tinue to work for temperance as long as |
live. 1t is my right"
THAT may be, replied the gentleman,
who SO stoutiy maintained his own right.
Il don't dispute your right to do as you
please, but you are playing a losing game.
| drink a glass of liquor when / want it,
and | expect l always shall. I have four
boys who take a glass when they want it,
and expect they will keep on, too"
Then there are five not 10 be Influenced
by anything which may be said or written, :
lyon may count sure on the five. ]
hope you won't take offence at what | say,
but can't imagine why you want to talk
and write SO much about temperance, when
YOU might spend your time to a great deal
better advantage. / want you to do as
well as you can for yourself, and | know
you are too sensible to be willing to work
for nothing
81 am not working for nothing, MI.
Warner; | am doing what I beliyeye to be
my duty, and, having done that, / leave
the result to God
sit will be left to the common sense of
people who think differently from what
you do, and the majority is sure to be
against you. | talk plainly, but you talk
so plainly yourself, you can hardly find
fault with me. You see, | remember you
when you We're a little girl, and, of course,
| have seen more OF one side of the world
than you have. Your theory sounds all
right, but facts are against you | have
thought a good deal about drinking liquor,
and have made up my mind that every
man has a right to drink OF let it alone,
just as he p~leases. 1t is a matter that con-
Germs himself alone"
"Do you mean to say, Mr.. Warner, that
his habits in this respect concern no one
but himself?n
Il mean to say just that" replied the
gentleman, and as his attention was then
called elsewhere, the conversation ended.
Mr.. Warner was a moderate drinker,
protesting to deplore drunkenness, and yet
defending what hecalled personal liberty
on all occasions. His temperament and his
habits of rigid economy made it reasonably
certain that he would never drink to excess,
but his influence was always and ever on
the side of intemperance.
He was then building a hotel, of whieh
one of his sons was expected to take
charge, and where, as a matter of course,
liquors wonld be sold.
The son was an enterprising younp man
"a merchandising a good business, and
respected by the community in which be
lived. If he INDUCED in the use of intox-
icatipg liquors, as his father had said, few
were aware of the fact.
When the hotel was completed and open
ed to the public, he was its popular land
lord, while still attending to his store. As
biibt NEitt Vh, bO0tfNt, llitlC az q CtidisSC-
His manner was often excited and some
times positively offensive. Both hotel and
store lost their best patrons, and it required
no prophet to ~foresee failure and rain.
1t was known that the father had remon-
strated with his son, who retorted by claim
ing the right TO do as he pleased, since it
was a matter which concerned only himself.
Debts accumulated and his stock of goods
was sold at the auction to meet the demands
Of his creditors. This, although what
might have been expected, FASTENED the
impending disaster.
Then, too, to add to his already threat
ened rrin, the wife of Young Mr.. Warner
became an habitnal drunkard, dragging
him lower and lower in the social scale; re-
fusing to listen to appeal or remonstrance,
and claiming her right to do as she pleased.
Her husband mortified and Indignant at her
conduct, reproaehed her in language
she declare insulting. A quarrel ensued
and a divorce was obtained, leaving them
freed from all mutual obligations. Fortu-
nately, there were no children to be con-
sidered, so that the separation concerned
only themselves.
The hotel became notorious as a resort
of the most dissolute, and, after finding
it impossible to effect a change in this
respect, Mr.. Warner, ST., advertised it for
sale. He parted with it at a heavy loss,
yet with a feeling of intense relief.
His son, thus thrown out of business, at
tempted to find employment as a clerk or
agent, but no one would trust him. He
was allowed a home in his fathers house,
where mother and sister tried in vain TO
reform him.
Necessity compelled him to earn money
in some way, and after a period of enforced
idleness, he engaged in manual labor
wherever he could find the opportunity.
He ditched, sawed wood, mixed and car
ried mortar, aad. in short, did anything
and everything the poorest man would do.
On enc occasion, when new sidewalks
were laid through the village, he was seen
at work in front OF his old store. his cloth
ing soiled and ragged, his face flushed, and
his eyes bloodshotten.
sDan Warner has been on a spree for a
week remarked a bystander. "He run