The Russellville Democrat., 1890-08-07
THE CURSE OF DRINK.
Sermon by Rev. T. Dewitt Tal-
 mage in Brooklyn.
The Fearful Evils of offntempcranceFo Forci- bly Depioted-The Power of Organ ized Effort to stem the Tide
 of Wreck and Ruin.


 ized Effort to stem the Tide
 of Wreck and Ruin.
 The following discourse was deliv- cred by Rev T. Dewitt Talmage in the Brooklyn Academy of Music, from the text;
 IL Is my son's coat; an evil beast hath deyoured him. -Gen. xxxyi., s.
 Joseph's brethren dipped their hroth- CTS coat in goats blood, and then brought the dabbled garment to their father, cheating him with the idea that a ferocious animal had slain him, and thus hiding their infamous behavior. But there is no deception about that which we hold up to your observation to-day. A monster such as never ranged African thieket or Hindostan jungle hath tracked this land, and with bloody nav hath strewn the continent with the mangled carcasses of whole generations; and there arc tens of thou sands of fathers and mo others who could hold up the garment of their slain boy, truthfully exclaiming Tt is my sons coat; an evil beast hath devoured him" There has, in all ages and climes, been a tendency to the improper use of stim- ulants. Noah, as if disgusted with the prevalence of water in his time, took to strong drink. By this vice Alexander the Conqueror was conquered. The Romans at their feasts fell of their seats with intoxication. Four hundred millions of our race are opium eaters. India, Turkey and China have groaned with the desolation; and by it have been quenched such lights as Haley and Dc Quincey. One hundred millions are the victims of the betel nut which has specially blasted the East Indies Three hundred millions chew hasheesh, and Persia, Brazil and Africa suffer the delirium. Tho Tartars em- ploy murowa; the Mexicans, the agave; tho people at Guarapo an Intoxicating quality taken from surgareane; while a great multitude, that no man can number, are the disciples of alcohol To it they bow. Under it they arc tram pied. In it's trenches they fall On it's ghastly holocaust they burn. Could the muster roll of this great army be called, and they could come up from the dead, what eye could endure the rocking, fostering putrefaction and beastliness? What heart could endure the groan of agony?
 Drunkenness: Does it not jingle the burglars key? Does it not whet the assassin's knife? Does it not cock the highwayman's pistol? Does it not wave the incendiary's torch? Has it not sent the physician reeling into the sick room; and the minister with his tongue thick into the pulpit? Did not an ex- quisite poet from the very top of his fame, fall gibbering sot, into the gut ter, on his way to be married to one of the fairest daughters of New England, and at the very hour the bride was decking herself for tho altar; and did he not die of delirium tremens, almost unattended, in hospital2 Tamerlane asked for ono hundred and sixty thou sand skulls with which to build pyra- mid to his own honor He got the skulls, and built the pyramid. But if the bones of all those who have fallen as prey to dissipation could be piled up, it would make yaster pyramid.
 Who will gird himself for the jour ney, and try with mo to scale this mountain of tho dead-going up miles high on human carcasses to find still other peaks far above, mountain above mountain, white with the bleached bones of drunkards.
 The Sabbath has been sacrificed to the lum traffic To many of our people the best day is the worst Bakers must keep their shops closed on the Sab bath. It is dangerous to have loaves of bread going out on Sunday. The shoe store is closed; severe penalty will at tack tho man who sells boots on the Sabbath. But down with the window shutters of the grog-shopl Our laws shall confer particular honor upon the rum trafiiekers. All other trades must stand aside for these. Let our citizens who have displaced themselves by trad- ing in clothing, and hosiery, and hard ware. and lumber, and coal, take of their hats 10 the rum seller, elected to particular honor. It is unsafe for any other class of men to be allowed license for Sunday work But swing out your signs, oh ye traiiiekers in the peace of families and in the souls of immortal menl Let the corks fly. and the beer foam, and the rum go tearing down the half-consumed throat of the inebriste. God does not seel Does he? Judgment will never come2 Will it
 do not know but that God is deter mined to let drunkenness triumph, and the husbands and sons of thousands of our best families be destroyed by this vice, in order that our people, amazed and indignant, may rise up and demand the extermination of this municipal crime. There is way of driving down the hoops of barrel so tight that they break. We have, in this country at various times, tried to regulate this evil by tax on whisky. You may as well try to regulate the Asiatic cholera or the smallpox by taxation. The men who distil liquors are, for the most part, unscrupulous, and the higher the tax, the more inducement to illicit dis tillaion
 Oh! tho folly of trying to restrain an evil by Government tariff! If every gallon of whisky made-if every flask of wine produced, should be taxed thousand dollars, it would not be enough to pay for the tears it has wrung from the eyes of widows and orphans, nor for the blood it has dashed on tho Christian church nor for the catastrophe of tho millions it has de- stroyed forever.
 l sketch two houses in this street The first is bright as home can be. The father comes at nightfall, and the chil- dren run out to meet him. Luxuriant evening meal Gratulation, and sym pathy, and laughter. Music in the parlor. Fine pictures on the wall Costly books on she stand Heli-ciad household. Plenty of everything to maKe home happy.
 House the second; Piano sold yester- day by the sheriff Wife's furs at the pawn-broker's shop Clock gone. Daurhter's 1eyyalrv gono Ia pat four