Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-05-25

others have ii SO easy they have it sc
hard. Horatius of olden time was ,olo
that he could have just as much ground
as he could plow around with a yoke Of
oxen in one day. He hooked up the
yoke of oxen to the plow ana he cut a
very large circle and plowed until he
came to the same point he started, and
ell that property was MS. But | have to
tell you today that just 30 much tinan-
cial, just SO much moral, just SO much
spiritual possession you will have as you
compass with your own industries, and
just SO much as from the morning of
your life to the evening of your life you
can pillow around with your own hard
work. go TO the ant, thou sluggard;
consider her ways and be wise" One Of
the most awful caldrons Of death today
is an indolent life. Thank God that you
have to work.
3. Once more l remark: that the dram
shop is q great caldron Of iniqsity In
our time. Anacharsis said that the vine
bore three grapes: the first was Pleasure,
the next was Drunkenness, and the next
Misery. Every saloon above ground or
under ground is a fountain of iniquity.
1t may have a license and it may 60
along quite respectfully for a while, but
after a while the cover will fall of and
the color of iniquity will be displayed.
"Oh," says some one, you ought to
be easier on such a traffic when it pays
such a large revenue 10 the government,
and helps support your schools and your
great institutions of mercy" And then
| think of what William K. Gladstone
said-I think ii was the first time he was
chancellor OF the eXchequer-when men
engaged in the ruinous traffic came to
him and said their business ought TO have
more consideration from the fact that II
paid such a large revenue to the English
government. Mr.. Gladstone said: Gen
tlemen, don't worry yourselves about the
revenue; give me thirty millions OF sober
people, and well have revenue enough
and a surplus"
We might in this country-thls 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 penitentisry,
and there would be tens of thousands of
men who are o on the road to hell
who would start on the road TO heaven.
But the financial ruin is u very small
part Of it. The iniquity Of which | speak
takes everything that is sacred out of the
family, everythingt that is holy in religion,
everything that is infinite in the soul and
trsmples it under foot. The marriage
day has come. The twain are at the
altar. Lights fash. Music sounds. Gay
feet 60 up and down the drawing room.
Did ever q vessel launch upon such Q
bright and beautiful scar The scene
changes. Dingy garnet. No fire. On q
broken chair a ssrrowful wife. Last
hope gone. Poor, f~orssken, trodden
under foot, she knows all the sorrow Of
being q ~drunkard's wife. "Oh," she
says, 'he was the kindest man that ever
lived, he was SO noble, he was so good
God never made a grander man than
he was, but the drink did it, the
drink did itI' Some day she will press
her hands against her temples and cry:
ooh, my brain, my braipI' or she will
go out on the abutment Of the bridge
some moonlight night and look down en-
the CLASSY surface and wonder If under
that CLASSY surface there is not some rest
for a broken heart.
A young man, through the intercession
Of metropolitan friends, gets a place in q
bank or store. lie is going to leave his
country home. That morning they are
up early in the old homestead. The
trunk is on the wagon. Mother says:
My son, | put a Bible in the trunk; |
hope you will read il often" She wipes
the tears away with her apron. On"
he says, come, don't you be worried; /
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 hills goes the wagon. Five
years have passed on and a dissipated
life has done its work for that young
man. There is a hearse coming up In
front Of the old homestead. The young
men of the neignborhOod who have
stayed on the farm come in and say; is
il possible? Why, be doesn't look natu-
raj, does he? is that the fair brow we
used TO know2 Is that the healthy cheek
we used to know. 1t can't be possible
that is him" The parents 1tand looking
at the cash in the forehead from which
the life ooZed ont, and they lift their
hands and say; 20 nay son Absalom, my
son, my son Ahsalom; would God | had
died for thee, o Absalom, my son, my
son.
Lorenzo de Medici was very sick, and
some Of his superstitious friends thought
if they could dissolve a certain number
OF pearls in a cup and then he would
drink them it would cure him of the dis
ease. So they went around and they
gathered up all the beautiful pearls they
could find, and they dissolved them in 4
cup. and the sick man drank them. Oh,
it was an expensive draught. But | tell
you of a more expensive draught than
that. Drunkenness puts into its cup the
pearl of physical health, the pearl of do
nestle happiness, the pearl of respecta
bility, the pearl of Christian hope, the
pearl of an everlasting heaven, and
presses it to the hot lips.
| tell you the dram shop is the gate Of
hell. The trouble is they do not put up
the right kind of a sign. They have a
great many different kinds Of signs DOW
on places where strong drink is sold.
One is called the restaurant" and an
other is called the Saloon and another
is called the 'hotel," and another is
called the wine cellar" and another is
called the Sample room" What a name
to give one of those placesl A Sample
room!' l cav q man on the steps Of one
of those sample rooms" the other day,
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