Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1891-03-13

you for ten years. / have got you now
Down with you, down with yousn Bitters
All yes. They make mans family bitter
and his home bitter and his disposition bitter
and his death bitter and his heA bitter. Bit
ters. A vast army all the time increas-
ing.
II seems to me it is about time for the H..
0O0. 900 professors Of religion in America 10
take sides. IL is going TO be an out and out
battle with drunkenness and sobriety. be-
tween heaven and hell. between God and tho
devll. Take sides before there is anv further
national decadence, take sides before your
sons are sacrificed and the home OF your
daughter goes down under the alcoholism OF
an ifnbruted husband. Take sides while
your voice, your pen. your prayer, your
vote may have any influence In arresting the
despoliation OF this nation. IL the IL, 900 900
professors OF religion should take sides on
this subject it would not be very long befors
the destiny OF this nation would be decided
in the right direction.
Is drunkenness state or national evil,
Does il belong To the North, or does it belong
to the South, Does it belong 10 the East, or
does it bslouS TO the Westt All, there Is not
an American river into which It's tears have
not fallen and into which its suicides have
not plungei. What ruined that Southern
plantation field fortune, the pro-
prietor and hi' family once the most afiiuent
supporters OF summer watering places What
threw that New England farm into decay aud
turned the roscate cheeks that bloomei at
the foot ot the Green Mountains into tbs
pallor Of despair What has smitten every
street OF every village. town and city OF this
continent with a moral pestilence' Strong
drink.
To prove that this is a national evil call
up two States in opposite directions-Maine
and Georgia. Let them testify in regard TO
this. State of Maine says: at is SO great
an evil mp here We have mathematical It as
n State" State OF Georgia SAYS: at Is so
great an evil down here that ninety counties
OF this State have made the sale OF intoxca-
ting drink a criminality." SO the worl 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 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
nsman house, and lay out for him h gar
den and clotde his sons III broa icloth
ami his daughters in silks, and stand at his
front door prancing span OF sorrels or
bays and secure him policy OF life insur-
ance so that the present home may be
persistent, most overpowerin2 enemy Of the
working classes is intoxicating liquor. 1t Is
the anarchist of the centuries AMI has boy
cotted and is now boycotting the body and
mind and soul OF American labor. II All
nually swindleS inius'"y out OF a large per-
centaCs OF its earnings. It holds out its
blasting solicitations to the mechanic or
operative on his way to WORK, and at the
noon spell and on his way homo at even
H. h., -.
pald, II snatches q large part Of the money
TINT might come - the family and sacrifices
it among the saloon keepers. Stand the
saloons OF this country ade by side, and it is
carefully estimated that they would reach
from New York to Chicago.
This evil is pouring its vitricllc and dam
nable liquors down the throa;s Of hundreds
OF thousands OF laborers, and while the
ordinary strikes are ruinouS both TO enl-
ployers and employees proclaim universal
strike against strong drink whica strike /.
kept up, will be the relief OF the working
classes and tho salvation OF the nation.
will undertake TO say that there is not a
healthy laborer in the United States who,
within the next twenty years, IL he will re-
fuse all intoxicating beverages and be saw
ing may not become capitalist on a small
scale.
Oh how many are waiting TO see II some
thing cannot be done for the stopping Of in
temperance Thousands o: drum cards wait
ing who cannot 60 ten minutes in any direc
ton without having the temptation glaring
before their eyes or appealing 10 their nos
trils, they fighting against it with enfeeblei
will and diseased appetite, conquering, then
surrendering, conquerinG again and sur
rendering again, and crying, "How
long Lordl how long before these
infamous solicitations snail DO gone"
And how many mothers are waiting to sec
il this national curse cannot lifti Oh, Is
that the boy who had the honest breath who
comes home with breath vitiated or dis
guiseds What change! How quickly those
habits of early coming home have bsen ex-
changed for the rattling OF the night key in
the door long after the last watchman has
gone by and tried TO see that everything was
closed up for the night.
Oh! what a change for that young man.
who we had hoped would do something in
merchandise or in artisanShip or In profess
sion that would do honor To the family name,
long after mothers wrnkled hands are folded
from the last toill All that exchanged for
startled look when the door bell rings, lest
something has happened; and tbs wish that
the scarlet fever twenty years ago had been
fatal, for then he would have gone directly
TO the bosom of his Saviour. But alas
poor 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
boy is brought home dead And how moth
er will sit there and say: us this my boy
that used 70 fondle, and that walked the
floor with in the night when he was sick Is
this the boy that held 70 the baptismal
font for baptismY Is this the boy for whom
toiled until the blood burst from the tins of
my fingers, that he might have good start
and good homer Lord, why hast Thou let
me live to see this! Can it be that thssu
swollen hands are the ones that used to wan.
der over my face when rocking him to sleep,
Can it be that this swollen brow is that
once so rapturously kissed' Poor boy how
tired no does look. l wonder who struc',
him that blow across the templef | wonder
IL he uttered dying prayer? Wake up, my
sou: don't you hear mei wake up OH he
can't hear mel Dead! dead! deadl 'Oh,
Absalom, my son, my son, would God that
had died for thee, oh, Absalom, my son,
sonF"
am not much OF mathematician and
cannot estimate it, but is there any one here
quick enough at figures to estimate hog
many mothers there are waiting for some
thing to be done? Ay there ara many
wives waiting for domestic rescue. He
promised something different from that
WutH, dlOSl Iuo ioug oht Ouu
careful scrutiny of character, the hand anc
the heart were offered and sccert"... What
hell on earth a woman lives In who has a
drunken husband! D death. how lovely
thou art to her. and how soft and warm
thy skeleton hand The sepulcher at mid.
night In winter is a kings drawing-roon
compared with that woman's home II is moi
30 much the blow on the head that hurts a
the blow on the heart.
TIE rum fiend came TO the door OF tina
beautiful home, and opened the door ant
stood there and said: II curse this dwelling
with an unrelenting curse l curse tina
father into a maniac, l curse that mothe
into pauper. curse those sons into vaga
J bonds. curse those daughters into prodig
acy Cursed be bread tray and cradle
Cursed be couch and chair, and family Bibl
with record Of marriages and births an
deaths Curse upon CURSE Oh, how man
wives are there waiting TO see II somethin
cannot be done TO shake these frosts oil th
/ A At - ny