Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-03-06

To prove that this is national evil call
up two States in opposite directions Main,
and Georgia. Let them testify in regard to
this. State of Maine says: ut is 50 great
an evil no here we have mathematical It as
State" State of Georgia says: sit is SO
great an evil down here that ninety counties
Of this State have made the sale of intoxica-
ting drink criminaity" 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 an | free institutions are COM
ing into a death grapple
Gather ~ the money that the WORKING
classes have spent for rum during the last
thirty years and will build for every WORK
ingmen a house, and lay out for him a gar
den, and clothe his sons in broa fcioth
and his daughters in silks, and stan at his
front door a prancing span of sorrels or
bays, AMI secure him a policy Of life instr
ance so that ths present homo may be
well maintained after he is dead. The most
persistent. most oveypo weriug neny 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 o. American labor. 10 an
nually swindleS in iustry out of a large per-
,entage OF its earnings. 1t holds out its
blasting solicitations TO the mechanic or
operative on his way to work, aud at the
noon spell and on his way home at eysn-
tide On Saturday, when the wages are
paid. it SWITCHES large part of the money
that might come to the family aId sacrihces
L 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 vltriolic and dam
nable liquors down the threats OF hundreds
! Of thousands of laborers, and while the
ordinary strikes are ruinOuS, both TO en-
blowers and employees, proclaim universal
strike against strong drink, which strike, II
kept up will be the relief of the working
classes and the salvation of the nation.
will undertake to say that there Is not
healthy laborer in the Unite States VINO,
within the next twenty years, il he will re-
fuse all intoxicating beverages and be saw
ing. may not become capltallSu on small
scale.
Oh, how many are waiting TO see II some.
thing cannot be done for the stoppin. Of in
temperance Thousands Of drum yards wait
ing who cannot 90 ten minutes iii any dlrec-
ton without having the temptation glarng
before their eyes or appealing 10 their nos
trils they fighting against it with eafeebie
will and diseased appetite, conaueriny, tlen
surrendering conquering ega.n AMI sur
/ feDleilDL again. anu " Aa-f NV
long. O Lori! bow long before these
infamous solicitations shall be gone"
And how many mothers are waiting to see
il this national curse cannot lift; On, Is
that the boy who had the honest breath wn)
comes home with breath vitiaCe1 or dts
guisedg What change How qIicSly those
habits of early coming no ne have been ex-
changed for the rafting OF the nlght 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 youn, man.
who we had hoped would do sometang IN
/ merchandise or in artiSanship or IN prOIe'-
+ sion that would do honor to tae family name.
/ long after mothers wrinklei 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
/ fatal. for then he would have gone directly
/ 10 the bosom OF his Saviour. But alas
/ Door old soul, she has lived to experience
( what Solomon said, a foolish son is a
heaviness to his mother.
Oh, what funeral it will be when that
; bov is brought home dead And how moth
! er will sit there and say: us TINS my boy
( that used to fondle, and that walked the
1 floor with in the night when he was sick? IS
! font for BAPTISM Is this the hoy fof wnom
/ | toiled until the blood burst from the tips OF
nv fingers. that he might have a good start
and a good home? Lord. why hast Thou LET
/ me live to see this? Can IL be that these
swollen hands are the ones that used to wan
der over my face when rocking him to sleep:
( Can il be that this swollen brow Is that l
once so rapturously l;issety Poo boy! now
tired he does look. wonder WAC struck
him that blow across the temple. l wonder
if he uttered a dying prayer! Wake up, my
son: don't you hear me: wake up. "a. he
can't hear me- Dead dead dead, oh,
+ Absalom. my son. my son, would God that
| had died for thee, Oh, Absoiom, my son,
SON."
=, am not much of 4 mathematician AMI
cannot estimate it, but Is there any one here
,uick enough at figures 70 estimlte how
many mothers there are waiting for SOM
thin to be done: Ay. tlere az may
wives waiting for do nestle re5cIe IL
promised something diff srent from that
when. after the long &C Iulntalce AMI TIE
careful scrutiny OF character the hant an
the heart were offered and accepted. WHAT
a hell on earth woman lives IN .wno has a
drunken husband O death. now lovely
thou art tn her. AMI how soft AMI warm
thy skeleton handl The sspuchar at md
night in winter is kings dra"Elg-rooh
compared with that woman's home. II Is nO'
so much the blow on the head that hurts a.
the blow on the heart.
Tae rum fien1 came to the door OF thai
beautiful home. and opened the door an
stood there and said: Il curse this dwellln-
with an unrelenting curse. curse 'tna'
father into a maniac, | curse that mother
into pauper | curse those sons into vaga
bonds curse those daughters into PRONG
acy. Cursed be bread tray an era lie
Cursed be couch and chair, an family Bible
with record of marriages and births an
deaths. Curse upon curse On, how NAM
wives are there waiting TO see II something
cannot be done to shake these lrosts Of ta'
second death off the orange blossoms! ca
God is waiting. the God who works thrOug'
human instrumentaliteS, waiting to SCI
whether this nation is going 10 overthrow
this evil. and if it refuse TO do so Col vii
vine out the nation as He did Pb9nicia, O
He did Rome as He did Thebes, as lie di
Babylon
Az, He is waiting TO see what the churc
of God will do. II the churcn does not d
its work. then he will wipe it out as He d
the church of Ephesus, church Of Thyatira
church Of Sardis. The Protestant and Ro
man Catholic church as to-day stand side by
side. with an impoteno look, gazing on thu
evil. which costs this country more than
billion dollars year to take care of the 300,
COO Dauoers. and the 3l5, 600 criminals. anC
the 81. 600 idiots, and to bury the 800
drunkards. Protagoras boosted that out o
the sixty years of his life forty years he ha'
spent IN running youth; but this evil ma,
make the more infamous boast that all 1t
life it has been running the bodies minds anC
souls of the human race.
Put on your spectaces and stake candle
AMI examine the platforms OF the two lead
ing political parties of tais country, and see
what they are doing for the of this
evil and for the overthrow OF this abomina
ton Resolutions yes, resolutions about
Mormonism 1t Is safe to attack that or
ganized nastiness two thousand miles away
But not one resolution against drunkenness
which would turn this entire nation into one
bestal Salt Lake City. Resolutions against
political corruption, but not one word about
drunkenness. which would rot this nation
from scalp TO heel. Resolutions about pro
lection against competition with foreign in
dustries. but not one word about protection
OF family and caurch AMI nation against the
scalding, blasting all consuming, damnine
tariff of strong drink put upon every finan
cia individual, spiritual, moral, national
interest
look in another direction The Church Of
Col is the grandest an most glorious inStitu
ton on earth What has in solid phalanS
| oooo.,,,lisla1 fo-. +ha ovarAhro,v of drunken