The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1891-05-29

up from all PSI . ! + :
enness will /,
Drunkenness and fred =
Ing into a death grap -
Gather uo the mol1
classes have spent for run
thirty years, and win build "a! -
tngman a house, and lay out for HIM 8
den, and clothe his sons in broadcloth
and his daughters in sills, and stand at bis
front door a prancing ipan Of sorrels or
bays and secure him policy of life insur-
ance so that the preseiIt home may be
we'll maintained after he is dead The most
persistent, most overpowl,ring enemy of the
working classes IS Intoxicating liquor. IL Is
the anarchist of the centuries, aud has boy
eotted and is now boycotting the body and
mind aud soul OF American labor. IL an
uually swindlss industry out of large per-
seutage OF It's earnings IL holds out its
blasting solicitations to the mechanic or
operative on his way TO work, and at the
nOOn spell and on his way home at even
tide. On Saturday, when the wages are
paid, it snatches large part Of the money
that might come 20 the family and sacrifices
/ It among the saloon keepers. Stand the
saloons Of this country side by side, and it is
I carefully estimated that they would reach
| from New York to Chicago.
! This evil is pouring its vitriolic and dam
] Lhllc lDn1 Ailt IuAOll1 VI
! Of thousands Of laborers, and while the
ordinary strikes are ruinous. both to EN-
| ployers and employees, / proclaim a universal
strike against strong drink, which strike, il
kept UP, viii be toe Iriscf OF the working
Glasses and the salvation of the nation.
viii undertake 30 say that there is not
healthy laborer in the United States who,
within the next twenty years, If be viii re-
fuse all Intoxicating beverages and be saw
\ ing. may not become a capitalist on a small
scale.
Oh, how MANY are waiting TO see if some
thing cannot be done for the stopping of in
temperance Thousands Of drunkards wait
ing who cannot go ten minutes in any direc-
ticn without having the temptation glariug
before their eyes or appealing 70 their nos
trils, they fighting against it with enfeebled
will and diseased appetite, conquering, then
surrendering, conqueriag again and sur
rendering again, and crying, "How
long, o Lord how long before these
infamous solicitations shall be go1eH
And how many mothers are waiting TO see
II this national curse cannot hft2 Oh, is
that the boy who had the honest breath who
comes home with breath vitiatGd or dis
guiseds What changel How quickly those
habits Of early coming home have bear ex-
changed for the rafting of the night key in
the door long after the last Waterman has
gone BY and tried to see that everything was
closed up for the night.
Oh! whata change for that young man,
who we had hoped would do something in
merchandise or in craftsmanship or in profes-
sion that would do honor 70 the family name,
long after mothers wrinkled hands are folded
from the last toll An that exchanged fol-.
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
70 fhr f.rsznrn of Pvt afu
poor Old soul, she has lived 10 experience
what Solomon said, "a foolish son is
heaTiness to his mother
OH what funeral it viii be when that
boy is brought home deadi And how moth
er will sit there and say: SIS this my boy
that used to fondle, and that l walked the
floor with in the night when he was sick Is
this the boy that l held to the baptismal
font for haptismY Is this the boy for whom
/ toiled until the blood burst from the tips Of
my fingers, that he might have a good start
and a good homef Lord, why hast Thou let
me live to see thiss Can it be that these
swollen hands are the ones that used to wan
der over my face when rocking him to Sleep
Can It be that this swollen brow is that /
o1cs so rapturously kisseds Poor boyi how
tired he does look. l wonder who struck
him that blow across the temple? l wonder
IL ne uttered u dying prayer; Wake up, my
son: don't you hear mes wake upi OH he
can't hear mel Deadl deadi deadi 'Oh,
Absalom. my son, my son, would God that
had died for thes, on, Absalom, my son,
SOM"
am not much of a mathematician and il
caIn5J sS715aTs Il St-rT- TI5F5 any OF. r-rs
quick enough at figures to estimate how
many mothers there are waiting for some
thing to be dones Ay, there are many
wives waiting for domestic rescue. He
promised something different from that
when, after the long acquaintance and the
careful scrutiny CT character, the hand and
the heart were offered and accepted. Wha5
q he'll on earth a woman lives in who has
drunken husbandl o death. how lovely
thou art to her, and how soft and warm
thy skeleton handi The sepucher at mid
night in winter IS q kings drnwing-room
compared with that woman's home. 1t IS not
so much the blow on the head that hurts as
the blow on the heart
TIE rum fiend came TO the door of that
beautiful home. and opened the door and
stood there and said: Il curse this dwelling
with an unrelenting curse. / curse that
father into maniac, / curse that mother
into a pauper. I curse those sons into vaga-
bonds. l curse those daughters into profiig-
acv. Cursed be bread tray and cradle.
Cursed be couch and chair, aad family Bible
with record Of marriages and births and
deaths. Curse upon curse Oh, how many
Make. LueIt hhlAllAE 10 sc II 14lGtA4Alb
cannot be done to shake these frosts Of the
second death of the orange blossomsi Yea,
God is waiting. the God who works through
human instrumentalities, waiting TO see
whether this nation Is going to overthrow
this evil, and il It refuse 10 do so God will
wipe out the nation as He did Pheuicia, as
He did Rome, as He did Thebes, as He did
Babylon
Ay, He is waiting to see what the church
Of God viii do. II the church does not do
its work, then BE viii wire it outas He did
the church Of Ephesus church of Thyattra,
church OF Sarlis The Protestant and Ro-
man Catholic churches to-day stand -ide by
side, with an impotent look, gazing on this
evil which costs this country more than
billion dollars a year to take care of the 800
900 paupers, and the 3ls, 900 criminals. and
the 80, 600 idiots, and to bury the f9,OO9
drunkaris. Protagoras boasted that out OF
the sixty years Of his life forty years he had
spent in running youth; but this EVIL may
make the more infamous boast that all its
life it has been running the bodies, minds and
souls of the human race
Put on your spectacles and take candle
and examine the platforms of the two L Id
ing political parties OF this country, and see
what they are doing for the arrest Of this
evil and for the overthrow Of this abomina-
ton. Resolutions-oh yes resolutions about
1t is safe to ettacS that or
gained nastiness two thousand miles away.
But not one resolution against drunkenness
which would turn this entire nation into one
bestial Salt Lake City. Resolutions against
political corruption, brt-sss-l d about
drunkenness which would rot this nation
from scalp 10 heel. Resolutions about pro
lection against competition with foreign in
dusrries, but not one word about protection
OF family and church and nation against the
scaiding. blasting, all consuming, dsmning
tariff Of strong drink put upon every finan-
eial, individual, spiritual, moral national
interest
1 look in another direction. The Church of
Col is the grandest and most glorious institu-
ton on earth What has 1t in solid phalanx
for the overthrow of drunken
ness? Have its forces ever oeen marshaiedf
No, not in this direction. Not long ago
great ecclesiastical court assembled in New
York, and resolutions arraigning strong
drink were offered, and clergymen with
strong drink on their tables and strong
drink in their cellars defeated the resolu-
tons by threatening speeches. They could
not bear 10 give up their own lusts-
tdl thin audience what many Of you may
never have thought of, that to-day-not in