River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1890-11-27
Temperance.
Extravaganza of Rum.

MANI us way uoWH 10 YOU. anu Wills
per in your ear that a thief was in
your house, you would lose all interest
in this sermon and hurry to your
home. The thief does not always en-
ter to steal money, but sometimes to
steal persons, individuals. Charley
Ross, beautiful boy, was stolen
many years ago; although every effort
was made for his recovery he was
| never found, and the matter to this
day remains a deep mystery. The
thief who steals a child is not always
human thief. Sometimes the wolf,
the lion, or the tiger steals into the
home and carries the little one away
to the jungles, never to be seen again.
Birds have been known TO commit
such thefts. and l well remember the
story told me in my native country,
Scotland. by my father. A fond
mother had dressed her little boy in
his prettiest, brightest cloths. and left
him playing about the cottage door.
An eagle, whose nest was OH the sum-
NIT of betting crag in a neighbOr-
ing mountain, swept down upon thai
home and carried away the boy. The
mother heard the rush of wings, saw
the dark shadow cross the threshold,
heard the childish scream, and saw
the bird bear her loved one away to
the nest on the mountain top. No
human aid could reach him, and for
months his bright mantle, with its
brass buttons glistening in the sun,
could be seen iiuttering in the wind.
Il co not mean to speak of human
thieves. The greatest of ali thieves is
habit, and first of these is rum. For
| authority that rum is thief l will
quote you Shakespeare, who said: is
it not strange that man shall put an
enemy in his mouth to steal his braiDg
Next to the soul in Importance is the
! brain. In this day the young man
| who comes into the city from a coun-
| try town stands about as much chance
| for escape, as pigeon flying from
| trap before a circle of marksmen.
| Rum, like all thieves, has many false
names, beer, gin, brandy, ETC., but its
real name is rum. If man steals my
brain, he has brought on me double
death; it were better for myself, bet
ter for my family, that | were dead.
Rum steals one mans brains and
leaves him maniac; another it leaves
maudlin, disgrace to his children
and curse to his patient wife.
cleopatra powdered priceless pearls
| into cup of wine and drank the cost
| ly draught, but the man drinks cost
lier cup who puts his brain in his
glass and drinks it. A costlier cup is
the one which throws away the minds
Of his children, and the home for the
| feeble minded shows that three
| quarters of the children there are
| from parents who drink rum. / have
been taught to hate rum as Hannibal
was taught to hate Rome. No drop
of liquor, except the communion wine,
has ever crossed my lips. l say to
you that / abhor the man who sells
liquor to the poor laboring man more
than l do the leper, and would SOON
er touch the crusted lips of the latter
than shake hands with the former.
Statistics show that throughout the
| United States the average paid for
every man, woman and child for Ii
quor is So. There is saloon across
the street from factory in this city
which has monthly account of $1,000
which is settled out of the payroll,
1t is the gigantic curse of the nation
and the one blot on its history. If
had the money that is spent for drink
L would set "a school house in every
plain and church on every hilltop,
and i'll less than four years would have
Bible in the hands of every person
on the globe. Last of all, rum steals
mans good name and he loses self
respect, he is out of employment, his
children uneducated, his family poor
ly provided for, and he dies in middle
life.
s'0nce the devil vets his hand in
whisky to get grip on man, he sell
dom lets loose until he lands him in
hell. The whip is now charged, and
| the preacher and editor who trembled
before its strength, now WELD the
lash. The lowest man is the preacher
who stands Sunday after Sunday in
his pulpit and never says one word
about the liquor traffic.
Thieves work together. Rum and
extravance 60 hand in hand, and many
good man has been driven to drink
or to crime by the extravaganza of
his wife or himself. The extrava-
gance in the city is overwhelming.
People patronIze the theatre who re-
fuse to pay their rent. Cash goes,
but landlords may whistle. / believe
in adornment and think that man
should look his best and woman her
loveliest, but do not go beyond the
means. You do wrong when you
wear to church anything but plain
dress, something that will not make
the poorest woman IN the congrega-
ton ashamed in comparison. DO
not believe in excessive simplicity.
Debt is a twin brother of Satan. Prac-
tice economy in the home, and ii you
want to lead fashion, let it be in ele-
waiting and assisting the needy, and
your reward will be waiting your ar
rival in heaven
n-ls.L c-a,,;n II ;n;paopf ramavae