The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-10-02

who having once promised thing, do
| it. Some have broken the pledge.
Yes; they were liars, but all men are not
liars. l do not say that it is the duty
| of all persons to make such signature,
but do say that it would be the saliva
ton of many of you. The glorious
work of Theobald Mathew can never be
estimated. At his hand 100000 of peo-
pie took the pledge, and multitudes in
Ireland, England, Scotland and Amer
lea have kept it till this day. Tho
| pledge signed to thousands has been
the pr defamation of emancipation.
Again: We expect great things from
inebriate asylums They have already
done glorious work think that we
are coming at last to treat inebriation as
it ought to be treated, namely, as an
awful disease, self-inficted, to be sure,
but, nevertheless, disease. Once fast
ened upon a man, sermons won't cure
him; temperance lectures will not
eradicate it; religious tracts will not re-
move it; the gospel of Christ will not
arrest it. Once under the power of this
awful thirst, the man is bound to go on;
and, if the foaming glass were on the
other side of perdition, he would wade
| through the fires of hell to get it. A
young man in prison had such strong
thirst for intoxicating liquors that he
cut off his hand at the wrist, called for
a bowl of brandy in order to stop the
| bleeding, thrust his wrist into the bowl,
and then drank the contents.
Stand not when the thirst is on him,
between a man and his cups. Clear the
track for him. Away with the children;
he would tread their life out Away
with the wife; he would dash her to
death. Away with the cross; he would
run it down. Away with the Bible; he
would tear it up for the winds. Away
with Heaven; he considers it worthless
as straw. ''Give me the drink! Give
it to me! Though the hands of blood
pass up the bowl, and the soul trembles
oyer the pit-the drink! give it to me!
Though it be pale with tears; though
the froth of everlasting anguish float on
the foam-give it to me! drink to my
wife's woe, to my children's rags; to my
eternal Punishment from God, and hope,
| and Heaven! Give it to me! the drink
Again: We will contend against
these evils by trying to persuade the
respectable classes of society to the
Punishment of alcoholic beverages.
You who move in elegant and refined
associations; you who drink the best
liquors; you who never drink until you
lose your balance, let us look each
other in the face on this subject You
have, under God, in your power the re-
demption of this land from drunken
| ness. Empty your cellars and wine
!, closets of the beverage, and then come
out and give us your hand, your vote,
your prayers, your sympathios. Do
that, and l will promise three thing ::
; III That you will find unspeakable
| happiness in having done your duty
(2) You will probably save somebody
perhaps your own child. 81 You will
+! not, in your last hour, have regret
; that you made the sacrifice, if sacrifice
I it be-
AS long as you make drinking respect
able, drinking customs will prevail, and
the plow-share Of death, drawn by terri
BILE disasters, will go on turning up this
whole continent, from end to end, with
UlIC 1OAlSS OCCps awful 1u4LOH VI VI uAh
ards graves
: Oh! how this rum ffend would like to
q go and hang up skeleton in your beau
tiful house, so that when you opened
the front door to go in, you would see it
+ in the hall; and when you sat at your
/. table you would see it hanging from the
4 wall; and, when you opened your bed
. room, you would find it stretched upon
your pillow; and, waking at night, you
> would feel its cold hand passing over
y your face and pinching at your heart
1 There is no home so beautiful but it
may be devastated by the awful curse. II
t throws its jargon into the sweetest har-
: mony. What was it that silenced Sher-
e idan, the English orator, and shattered
+ the golden scepter with which he
:, swayed parliaments and eourtsI What
!, foul sprite turned the sweet rhythm
S of Robert Burns into tuneless baboie?
Y What brought down the majestic
) form of one who awed the Amer
r lean Senate with his eIoquence, and
4 after while carried him home dead
/ drunk? What was it that swamped the
t noble spirit of one of the heroes of the
last war, until, in drunken fit, he
d reeled from the deck of Western
: steamer. and was drowned? There was
g one whose voice we all loved to hear.
V He was one of the most classical ora
Q tors of the century. People wandered
# why man of so pure heart and SO ex
Q celent life should have such sac
@ countenance always. They knew no;
that his wife was a sot.
y Do address one whose regular worK
Y in life is to administer to this appetite:
g For Gods sake go out of that business
d If a woe be pronounced upon the man
who gives his neighbor drink, how
y many woes must be hanging over the
If man who does this every day and every
l. hour of the day.
g God knows better than you do your
u self the number of drinks you have
D poured out. You keep list; but {
n more accurate list has been kept thar
W yours. You may call it Burgundy
'r Bourbon, Cognac Heidsieck, sour mash