The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1890-08-14

shall we shoot him? l answer first, by get
ting our children right on this subject Let
them grow up with an utter aversion to
strong drink. Take care how you admins
ter it, even as medicine. IT you find that
they have natural love fortt, as some have,
put in a glass of it some hug.rid stuff, and
make it utterly nauseouS. Teach them as
faithfully as you do the Bible that rum is q
fend. Take them to the almShouss and show
them the wreck aud ruin it works. Walk
with them into the homes that have been
scourged by it. If drunkard had fallen in
TO a ditch take them right up where they can
see his face bruised, savage and swollen, ana
say: Look my son. Rum did thatT Look
ing out of your window ut some one VINO,
intoxicated to madness, goes through the
street brandishing his fist, b'asphemIng GOD,
bowling, defyiug, shouting, reollng raw.
ing and foaming maniac, say TO your sou;
"Look, that man was once n chllu llkc you.
As you 60 by the grog shop leT them Know
that that is the place where men are siam, am
their wives made paupcrS, and taoir chlluren
slaves Hold out to your children all warn
incs. all rewards, all counscls, lest III ntter
days they break your heart and curse your
gray hairs. A man laughed ut my father
for his scrupulous temperance principles
anil said: II am more liberal than you.
ALWAYS give my children the sugar in tho
glass after wo have been taking drink.
three of the sons have died drunkards ana
the fourth is imbecile through lntemparaoe
habits.
AGAIN we will battle this evil by voting
only for sober men. How many men are
there who can rise above the feelings OF par.
tisansnip and demand that our officials Shall
be sober men?
maintain that the question of sobriety is
higher than the question of availability, and
that however eminent a mans services may
h, if he have habits of intoxcation he is un-
tit for any Office in the gift of Christian
Eeoplc Our laws will be no better than the
men who make them. Spend few days at
Harrisburg or Albany or Washington and
you will find out why upon these subjects 1t
is impossible to get righteous enactmentS.
Again, we will war upon this evil by or
ganiZei societies. The friends of the rum
traffic have bandel together; annually issue
their circulars; raise fabulous sums OF money
TO advance their interests and by grips, pass
words, signs and stratagems set at defiance
public morals. Let us confront them with
organizations Just rs secret and, it nrel be,
with grips and pass words and signs man-
tain our position. There is no need that our
philauthropic societies tell all their plauS. l
am in favor of all lawful Strate ~ in the car
rying on of this conflict. wish to God we
coul lay under the wine casks n train which,
ono, ienited, would shake the earth with the
explosion of this monstrous iniquity!
Again. we will try tho power of the
plc,lgc. There are thousands Of men who
have been savcl by putting their names to
such document. know it is laughed at,>
but there are some men who, having once
promised thing, do it. "Somc 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
salvation of many of you. The glorious work
of Theobald Mathew can never be estimated.
At his hand four millions of people took the
pledge. and multitudes in Ireland, England,
Scotland and America have kept it till this
day. The pledge signed to thousands has
been the proclamation of emancipation.
Again, we expect great things from inc
briate asylums They have already done
glorious work. I think that wc are coming
at last to treat inebriation as it ought to be
treated, namely, as an awful disease, self in
nicted to be sure, but nevertheless disease.
Once fastened upon man sermons won't
cure him; temperance lectures will not eradi-
cate it; religious tracts will not remove 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 tho 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 intox cating liquors that he cut Off his
hand at the wrist, called or a bowl OF brandy
in order to stop the l.eodiug, thrust his
wrist into the bowl, and then drank the con-
tents.
Stand not when the thirst is on him be-
tween u IN IN 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 tn :,
cross; he would run it dowl. Away with the
Bible; he would tear it W for the winl'.
Away with heaven; he considers it WORTH
less as straw. "Give me the drink! Giyo
; it to me! Though the hands of blool pass up
the bowl AMI the soul trembles ovor tho pit
the drink! give it to me! Though it bs
pale with to hrs; though the froth of cyerlast-
Ing al ,uish float on the foam-Sivc it to mo!
drink to my wife woe, to my chlldren'S
rags to my eternal banlshm?nt from Gpi Iol
anl hope and heaven! Give it to me- the
drink"
Again we will contend against these evils
by trying to persuade tho respectable clas sss
OF society to the banish:nont ct alcoholic
beverages. You wio move in elegant and
refine associations; you who drink tho best
liquors: YOU vino never drink until you loss
your balance, let us look each other in the
face on this subject. You have under God
in your power the redemption of this land
from drunkenness. Empty your CELLARS and
wine closets of the beverage and then come Out
and give Us your hand, your vote, your pray
crS, your sympathieS. Do that and will prom
iso three things: First, That you will find un'
spsakablo happiness in having done your
duty; second you will probably save some
Iol lu- third
will not in your last hour regret that you
made the sacrifice, if sacrifceitb be.
AS long as you make drinking respectable
drinking customs will prevail, AMI the plow-
shar, of death, drawn by terrible disasters,
will O on, turning up this whole continent
! from Ell to end with the long, deep, awful
| furfow of druukaris graves.
Oh, how this run iienl would like to go
an hang up q skeleton in your beautiful
: houS,, 50 that when yoI opened the front
door to GO in you would seq it i'll tho hall;
| aui when you sat at your table you would
! see it hanging from the wall; AMI when you
opensi your bedroom you would find it
stretched upon your pillow; and, waking at
! night, YOU woul.l feel its cold tand pass
| Ing over your face and pinching at your
1nere Is no nomc so beautiful out It may
be devastated by the awful curse. 1t throws
its jargon into the sweetest harmony. What
, was it that silenced Sheridan, the English
! orator, and shattered the golden scepter with
! which he swayed parliaments and courts?
! What foul sprite turned the sweet rhythrun
! of Robert Burns into tuneless babble?
. What brought down the majestic form Of one
! who awed the American Senate with his clo-
quence and after while carried him home
dead drunk? What was it that swamped tho
noble spirit of one Of the heroes Of the last
war. until, in a drunken fit, he reeed from
the deck Of western steamer and was
drowned? There was one whose voice we all
: loved to hear. He was one of the most clas SIC
orators of the century. People wondered