The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1891-03-19
TEMPERANCE NOTES.
HUNTING THE WOLF.

STRIKING illustration OF tho Temperance
Situation To-Day.
The following is an extract from
Miss Wizards speech at the Congrega-
tional church, Washington, D. c.,
February Is, 1891:
"Some men went out hunting in an
eastern state in the earlier days. 1t was
their first experience; they had hound
with them and soon a wolf was started.
The men had not bargained for this
and were considerably alarmed; not so
the dog; he sighted the game and
bounded in pursuit. He was a valuable
hound and the men feared they might
lose him, but he followed fast and fol-
lowed faster after the wolf. Pretty
soon he was deep in the woods and the
men came along as best they could, far
in the rear. They tried to call off their
dog, but he pursued the trail. They
said it would have been better to come
up on the other side, to have surrounded
the wolf in some way, to have waited
until they had a stronger force. They
yelled to the dog (wasting good deal
of time and strength that way), but on
and ON he went. Then they cursed
him with curses loud and deep, but he
was too far ahead of them to hear or
heed. He knew nothing except the
trail, and he cared for nothing save to
kill the wolf. The yelp of that dog dis
tnrbed the men as he ran on crying out
the louder, and finally, when they
caught up with him, he was in the
desperate grip, tooth to tooth, blood for
blood, life for life. He was desperately
wounded, but the throat of the wolf
was severed, and the dog a victor; that
wolf would haunt the chicken coops no
more.
Thinking upon this story, am re-
minded of wolf that prowls around
the homesteads of this land. The great
hunt is going forward. There are lond
halloos and vast confusion; and be-
hold! there is hound that has broken
from the leash of centuries and taken
to the trail; it's yelp is in clear soprano
key; it follows fast and follows faster;
men are afraid that harm may come to
it; they think another way might be
better than this; they wonder if some
how the territory of the wolf cannot
be hedged in; they fear that harm will
come to com binations with which their
ambitions are bound up; they are for
calling off the dog; but it has scented
! the game; it's nose is on the trail down
close; its steps are swifter than the
wind; it knows only one thing-to fol-
low the wolf. No mortal man can stop
it. You cannot persuade-you cannot
coax-you canpot frighten; the dog has
gone beyond your reach, beyond your
voice. Voters of this audience, you
well know what I mean:-the liquor
raffic is that wolf; the w. C. T. U. has
started in pursuit; wherever the wolf
goes, there we shall follow. He is en-
trenched in social custom, away we fol-
low after him with the total abstinence
pledge. He is barricaded in the peo-
pies ignorance; away we 60 after him
into the public schools with Thus
saith nature, thus saith reason against
the drink habit. He is fortified by law;
| away we go after him into the legis-
! latures. His favorite thicket and hid
ing place is politics; away we go tc
| national and state conventions, and no
| matter how much of contradiction we
! have to endure, no matter how much
CALLING fire of harsh criticism, not easy
for gentle hearts to bear, be it remem.
bered that there is now on track of the
| liquor wolf a hound that does not know
| how to be afraid, that has not sense
enough to retreat, that makes of this
great chase a thing of life and death,
and will follow the wolf until his death
wound has been given, and his last drop
of blood sprinkles the SHOWS of a whittier
! civilization. "-Union Signal.