Connecticut western news., 1891-03-04
1NrEMPRkANcR IS NOW INCREASING


 this nssapn, and it takes no logical process 6 prove to this audience that drunken nation cannot long be a free nation. call your attention to the fact that drunkenness is not subsiding, certainlythat 1t is not at standstill, but thatEit is on an onward march, and it is double quick. There is more rum swallowed in this country, and of g worse kind. than was ever swallowed since tht first distillery began its work of death Where there was one drunk en home there are ten drunken homes Where thers was one drunkard's grave there are twenty drunkards' graves. It Is on the increase Talk about crooked whisky which men mean the whis ky that does not pay the tax to govern ment-1 tell you all strong drink is crooked Crooked Otard. crooked Cognac crooked schnapps. crooked heer. eruSked wine, crooked Ayhiskys- because it makes mans path crooked, and his life crooked, and his death crooked, and his eternity crooked.
 If could gather all the armies of the dead drunkards and have them come to resurrection, and then add to that host all the armies of living drunkards, five and ten abreast, and then if could have you mount a horse and ride along that line for re- view. you would ride that horse until he dropped from exhaustion, and you would mount another horse and ride until he fell from exhaustion, and you would take another and another, and you would ride along hour after hour and day after day. Great host, in regi- ments, in brigades. Great armies of them And then if you had voice stentorian enough to make them all hear, and you could give the command, Forward, march!'' their first tramp would make the earth treInble. do not care which way you look in the community today, the evil is increas ing
 call attention to the fact that there are thousands of people born with thirst for strong drink-a fact too often ignored Along some ancestral lines there runs the river of temptation There are children whose swaddling clothes are torn off the shroud of death Many father has made will of this sort ''ln the name of God, amen. l bequeath to my children my houses and lands and estates; share and share shall they alike. Hereto affix my hand and seal in the presence of wit nesses" And yet perhaps that very man has made another will that the people have never read. and that has not been proved in the courts That will put in writing would read some thing like this ''1n the name of dis ease and appetite and death, amen. bequeath to my children my evil habits, my tankards shall be theirs. my wine cup shall be theirs, my destroyed repu- tation shall be theirs; share and share alike shall they in the infamy. Hereto l afax my hand and seal in the pres 9nce Of all the apprauding harpies' of he'll"
 THE DEMON OF THE DRUG STORE.
 From the multitude of those who have the evil habit born with them this army is being augmented And am sorry to say that great many of the drug stores are abetting this evil, and alcohol is sold under the name of bitters. It is bitters for this, and bit ters for that, and bitters for some other thing. and good men deceived, not knowing there is any thralldom of alec holisln coming from that source, are going down, and some day man sits with the bottle of black bitters on his table. and the cork flies out, and after it flies a fend and clutches the man by his throat and says. Aha! have been after you for ten years. l have got you now. Down with you down with you" Bittersl An, yes. They make a mans family bitter, and his home bitter. and his disposition bitter, and his death bitter, and his hell bitter Bittersl A vast army. all the time in creasing.
 It seems to lne it is about time for the 17.O00, GOO professors of religion in America to take sides. It is going to be an out-and- out battle with drunken ness and sobriety, between heaven and he'll, between God and the devil Take sides before there is any further nation, al decadence, take sides before youl sons are sacrificed and the new home ot your daughter goes down under the al coholism of an inebriated husband. Take sides while your voice, your pen. your prayer. your vote may have any influence in arresting the despoliation of this nation. If the 17, GOO. 900 pro fessors 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.
 Is drunkeli::ess a state or national evil? Does it belong to the north, or does it belong to the south4 Does it belong to the east. or does it belong to the west9 All. there is not all Aneri- can river into which it's tears have not fallen, ali ii.to which it's suicides have not plung'd. What ruined that south ern plantation-every field a fortune. the proprietor nd his family once the most affluent supporters of summer waterin,. l.larcs! What threw that New E:gi.,ri farl.l into decay and turned t.lc roseate checks that bloolned 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 a moral pestiHnce. Strong drink.
 To prove t....t this i, {. ,j.~..,I evil l call up two states in opposite directions -Iaine and Georgia. Let them testify ill regard to this State of Maine says: Ut is so great an evil up here we have