Blue-grass blade. [volume] (Lexington, Ky.) 188?-19??, 1891-11-21

letters In which 1 hnd this Oh,
from my son 1 find one from ,
gentleman which, near the enc
contains these words. at is quit,
incomprebensible that 80 many
people can complacently look OF
this great evil until the chicken
come home to roost.' But wher
their own domestic hearth is in
vaded by the arch enemy, ther
comes the wall of distress"
That is so, and you would thinl
that it would make them try to
save somebody else's boy; but il
does not have that effect.
In that same package of letters
there is a short one from q gentle
man who sent me $500 for my
paper, and says he enjoys much
in it, and then he makes that same
patronizing apology for my re
ligion that so many of them do
Now let me tell you about that
man. I regard him and his fam.
lily as one of the lovliest families
of people l ever saw. When
was a young man they used ia
hear me preach and were my de-
voted friends and are all such to
this day.
They are all the most sincerely
religious people. When l was a
young preacher that gentleman
was a grocer, and 1 noticed him
one day selling whisky. As soon
as L could conveniently do so l
asked him if he did not think it
was wrong to sell whisky.
He laughed and said o no, that
was a part of the grocery trade,
and my customers called tor it.
L know you will hardly believe
me when I tell you 80, but 1 had
been reared eight miles away from
any town, and knew 80 little
about practical life in the world
that when he told me that, /
thought may be the law compelled
every grocer to keep whisky; and
l never said anything more to
him about it, though I thought q
great deal about it and it seemed
to me a strange arrangement that q
Christian man would have to sell
whisky.
He had two little boys, 80 email
that l could hold both Of them at
once on my knees.
Soon after that we were sepa-
rated and l have only seen one of
the sons to this day. They both
grew up to be drunkards. One
and 1 saw the other one
last summer. He was q model
man, and was a worker and voter
for Prohibition, and was glad to
see me, and said much to encour-
sge me in ny wwoskl. His father
still votes for whisky by voting
with the Democrats.
He does not vote with the
Democrats because he wants free
trade. His business is not affected
by that. He votes with the
Democrats and for whisky be-
cause he hates the Yankees for
what they did in the war more
than a quarter of q century ago.
I hate the Yankees too, but l
turned "infdel," and voted for
Fisk a Yankee General who
was a Christian and philan-
thropist, tor President of the
United States, at the same time
my Christian friend voted for old
Grover Cleveland, whose friends
did not deny that he was a liber-
tine, and who had stuffed him
self with eatables and drinkables,
and is so swollen up about the
jowls and neck that he looks like
the proprietor of a Dutch beer
saloon and Bob Ingersoll says of
him that he does not have to un-
button his collar when he pulls
off his shirt.
In the last day or two l have
received a postal card from a
Christian gentleman who had
been my friend for years. The
card was severe.
Whisky had invaded a lovely
family and wrought fearful ruin.
The family are friends of the gen.
tleman who wrote the card and
of myself.
l said in the Blade that every
friend of that ruined man, who
had voted against Prohibition last
August was responsible for the
ruin of our friend. l gave no
names, but this indignant card
comes from one of the Christian
friends of this unhappy man.
Only one day since man met
me on the streets of Lexington.
l did not know him, but he told
me his name.
He said to me that few days
before that he had had a very hot
conversation with some gentle
men about me, in which he was
defending me. He gave the
names of the gentlemen with
whom he had been talking, and l
knew them to be influential
church men, and Democrats.
My friend said to me, "1 read
every word in the Blade, except
the advertisements, and then send
it to my son and tell him to read
it the same way.
Those men said to me 'How
can you defend Charley Moore
x~1xo xI.1a 1.sn l. a