The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1891-03-05

his table, and the cork flies out, and after 10
flies fend and clutches the man by his
throat and says; "Ahai have been after
you for ten years. I have got You now.
Down with you, down with your Bittersi
Ali yes: They make mans family bitter
and he home bitter and his disposition bitter
and his death bitter and his hell bitter. Biz
ters vast army all the time increas-
ing.
Il seems to me IL Is about time for the IT,
600, 900 professors Of religion In America TO
take sides. IL is going 70 be an out and out
battle with drunkenness and sobriety. be.
tween heaven and hell. between God and the
devil. Take sides before there Is any further
national decadence, take sides before your
cons are sacrificed and the homo of your
daughter goes down under the alcoholism OF
an tmbruted husband. Take sides while
your voice your pen. your prayer, your
vote may have any influence In arresting tho
despoliation OF this nation. IL the 1900, 900
professors OF religion should take sides on
this subject IL would not be very long before
the destiny OF this nation would DO decided
In the right direction.
In drunkenness a state or national evil,
Does IL belong 30 the North, or does IL belong
to the Southf Does it belong 10 the East or
does 10 belong 10 the Westf All, there is not
an American river into which its tears have
not fallen and into which its suicides have
not plunged. What ruined that Southern
plantationt--every field fortune the pro-
prietor and his family once the most nfiiuent
supporters OF summer watering places. What
threw that New England farm into decay aud
turned the roseate cheeks that bloomcd at
the foot OF the Green Mountains into the
pallor OF despair What has smitten every
street OF every village town and city OF this
continent with moral pestilencer Strong
drink.
To prove that this is a national evil call
t,t. Nt.f.x 80 10.
and Georgia. Let them testify In regard ~
this. State OF Maine says; ut IL 10 great
an evil up here we have mathematical it as
n State" State OF Georgia says; at Is 80
great an evil down here that ninety counties
OF this State have made the sale OF intoxica-
ting drink a criminality.r So the word comes
up from all parts OF the land. Either drunk
enness Will DO destroyed In this country or
she American Government will be destroyed
drunkenness and FREQ institutions arc COM
Ing into death grapple.
Gather up the money that the working
classes have spent for rum during the last
thirty years, and l will build for every work.
lngman house, and lay out for him a gar
den and clothe his sons In broadcloth
and his daughters In silks, and stand at his
front door prancing span Of sorrels or
bays, and secure him policy of life insur-
ance 30 that the present home may be
well maintained after he is dead. Tho most
persistent, most ovorpowering enemy OF tho
working classes IL intoxicating liquor. IL Il
the anarchist of the centuries aud has boy
cotted and is now boycotting the body aud
mind and soul OF American labor 10 nu-
nually swlndles industry out OF large per-
sentage OF It's earnings. IL holds out It's
blasting solicitations to the mechanic or
operative on his way 10 work, and at tho
noon spell and on his way homo at oven
lido. On Saturday. WHOM the wages are
N0TH ~ mn t,haa m IaHsr, ~ ,fN kn
that might come TO the family and sacrifices
II among the saloon keepers. Stand tho
saloons of this country side by side, and 10 Is
carefully estimated that they would reach
from New York TO Chicago.
This evil is pouring its vitriolic and dam
nable liquors down the throats OF hundreds
of thousands OF laborers. and while the
ordinary strikes are ruinous, both TO em-
ployers and employees, proclaim u universal
strike against strong drink, which strike, IL
kept up, will be the relief of tho working
classes and tho salvation OF the nation. /
will undertake. to say that there is not
healthy laborer In the United States who,
within tho next twenty years, II he will re.
fuso all Intoxicating beverages and be saw
Ing, may not become a capitalist on snnll
scale.
oh, how many are waiting 10 500 IL some
ching cannot be done for the stopping Of in
temperancei Thousands of drunkards wait
ton without having the temptation glaring
before their eyes or appealing To their nos
trils, they fighting against IL with enfeebled
will and diseased appetite conquering, then
urrendering, conquering again and sur
rendering again, and crying, 'How
long, o Lord how long before these
Infamous solicitations shall be gonew
And how many mothers are waiting TO SEQ
II this national curse caunot liftf Oh, Is
that the boy who had the honest breath who
comes home with breath vitiated or dis
guisedS What a change How quickly those
habits OF early coming home have been OK
changed for the rattling of the night key In
the door long after the last watchman has
gone by and tried 10 see that everything was
closed up for the night.
OH what change for that young man,
who we had hoped would do something in
merchandise or in artisanship or In a profcs-
sion that would do honor To the family name,
long after mothers wrinkled hands are folded
from the last toll All that exchanged for
startled look when the door bell rings lest
something has happened; and the wish that
the scarlet fever twenty years ago had been
fatal, for then he would have gone directly
TO the bosom of his Saviour. But alasi
poor old soul, she has lived 10 experience
what Solomon said, "a foolish son is a
heaviness to his mother"
OH what "A funeral IL will be when that
boy is brought home dead! And how moth
er will sit there aud say; "ls this my boy
that used TO fondle, and that walked the
floor with in the night when he was sicS' Is
this the boy that / held 70 the baptismal
font for baptismS Is this the boy for whom
| toled until the blood burst from the tips OF
my fingers, that he might have a good start
and good homer Lord, why hast Thou let
me live TO see this' Can IL be that these
swollen hands are the ones that used to wan
der over my face when rocking him to sleepl
Can IL be that this swollen brow is that
once so rapturously ksseif Poor boy! how
tired he does look. l wonder who struck
him that blow across the templei | wonder
II he uttered a dying prayerp Wake up, my
son: don't you hear meS wake up Obi he
can't hear mel Deadl dead deadl 'Oh,
Absalom. my son, my son, would God that
had died for thee, oh, Absalom, my son,
sonpn
am not much OF mathematician and I
cannot estimate IL. but Is thers'any one here
quick enough at figures 70 estimate how
many mothers there are waiting for some
thing 10 be donei Ay, there are many
wives waiting for domestic rescue. He
promised something different from that