Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-03-20


has not been prov ed in the courts That viii
put in writing would read something like
this: sin the name OF disease and appetite
and death, amen. bequeath TO my children
my evil habits, my tankards shall De tneifs,
nv wine cup shall be theirs, my destroyed
reputation shall be theirs Share and share
alike shall they in the infamy. Hereto l al.
tx my hand and seal in the presence OF al
the applauding harpies Of he'll"
From the multitude Of those who have
the evil habit born with them this army is be
ing augmented. And am sorry to say that's
great many of the drug stores are abettlEz
this svil and alcohol Is sold under the name
of bitters. 1t is bitters for this and bitteri
for that and bitters for some other thing
and good men deceived, not knowing there
is any thralldom of alcoholism coming from
that source are going down, and some day
a man sits with the bottle of black bitters on
his table, and the cork flies out, and after 1t
flies a fiend and clutches the man by his
throat and says: AHA! l have been after
you for ten years. l have got you now.
Down with you, down with you" Bitters!
Ah!yes. They make mans family bitter
and his home bitter and his disposition bitter
and his death bitter and his hell bitter. Bit
tiers. A vast army all the time Increas-
ing.
600 600 professors of religion in America tc
take sides. It is going 10 be an out and out
battle with drunkenness and sobrlety. De-
tween heaven and hell, between God and the
devil. Take sides before there S any furtIer
national decadence, take sides before your
sons are sacrificed and the home OF your
daughter goes down under the alcoholism OF
an imbruted husband Take sides while
your voice, your pen, your prayer, your
vote may have any influence in arrestlng the
despoIiation of this nation. Ii the 17,OOO, UOO
professors of religion should take SIDES on
this subject it would not be very long before
the destiny of this nation would be decided
in the right direction.
Ts drunkenness a state or national evil?
Does it belong to the North, or does it belong
to the South? Does it belong to the East, OF
does it belong to the West? All, there Is not
an American river into which Its tears nave
not fallen and into which its suicides have
not plunged. What ruined that Southern
plantation?-ever field a fortune, the pro-
prietor and his family once the most amuent
supporters Of summer watering places. What
threw that New England farm into decay and
turned the roseate cheeks that bloomed 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 pestilence? Strong
drink.
To prove that this is national evil I call
up two States in opposite observation-disclosures
and Georgia. Let them testify in regard to
this. State of Maine says: at is so great
an evil up here we have mathematical 1T as
a State" State of Georgia says: 'It is SO
great an evil down here that ninety counties
Of this State have made the sale Of intoxica
ting drink criminality" So the word comes
up from all parts of the land. Either drunk
enness will be destroyed in this country or
the American Government will be destroyed
Drunkenness and free institutions are COM
ing into death grapple.
Gather up the money that the working
classes have spent for rum during the last
thirty years, and will build for every work
ingman house, and lay out for him gar
1en and clothe his in brOadclOth
and his daughters in silks, and stand at his
front door a prancing span Of sorrels or
bays and secure him a policy OF life lnsur-
ance so that the present home may be
we'll maintained after he is dead The most
persistent, most OverpOwering enemy OF the
working classes is intoxicating liquor. 1t is
the anarchist of the centuries, and has boy
cotted and is now bOycOtting the body and
mind and soul of American labor. 1t an
nualiy swindles industry out of large per-
centage Of its earnings. 1t 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 a large part OF the money
that might come to the family and sacrifices
it among the saloon keepers. Stand the
saloons OF this country side by side, and it is
carefully estimated that they would reach
from New York to Chicago.
This evil is pouring its vitriolic and dam
nable liquors down the threats of hundreds
of thousands of laborers, and while the
ordinary strikes are ruinOuS, both to en-
ployers and employees, proclaim universal
strike against strong drink, which strike, Il
kept up, will be the relief of the working
classes and the salvation Of the nation. l
will undertake to say that there is not
healthy labOrer in the United States who,
, within the next twenty years, if he will re-
fuse all Intoxicating beverages and be saw
ing, may not become capitalist on 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-
ton without having the temptation glaring
before their eyes or appealing to their nos
trils, they fighting against it with enfeebled
will and diseased appetite, conquering, then
surrendering, conquering again and sur
rendering again, and crying chow
long, o Lord! how long before these
infamous solicitations shall be goner
And how many mothers are waiting to see
if this national curse cannot lift? Oh, is
that the boy who had the honest breath who
comes home with breath vitiated dis
gused2 What change! How quickly those
habits of early coming home have been 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! what change for that young man,
! who we had hoped would do something in
merchandise or in craftsmanship or in profess
! 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
fato for he W