The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-09-09
TEMPERANCE NOTES.
AS OTHERS SEE US.
The Duty OF Those Who Can Influence
the Young.

! The Duty OF Those Who Can Influence
the Young.
There is no power more potent than
that of example in molding human
character. The little child looks up to
its parents with absolute confidence in
their perfection, and his earliest aspira-
tions are to "be big man." and do
like papa does" If the parental line
of daily conduct and conversation is
what it should be, the child grows up
with his ideal unsullied; but if precept
and practice disagree the Influence of
the parent is weakened or lost, and the
model is too often the practice instead
of the precept. The child is far more
apt to copy what his father does rather
than to follow what he SAYS. All the
warnings of the latter to abstain abso-
lutely from all intoxicants will be I'M
| needed after the child once sees his
father indulge, or smells the fumes of
the alcoholic poison upon his breath.
The principle of unconscious yet po-
tent teaching by example extends much
further than over the period of child
hood and youth. Very many young
men begin the habit of drinking through
the habit of an employer, or of fellow
workman or fellow clerk. Tens of
thousands have eventually wrecked
their lives by assuming that there was
no harm in a practice in which they
found their employers or their fellows
habitually INDUCED. Another instance
of the force of example, in slightly
different way, in the use of liquors is
seen in the use of wines upon private
stables. comparatively few OF the
ultra-fashionables set the example, and
the others copy them blindly. in the de-
sire to also be considered fashionable
This is striking example of the imi-
tative instinct in our social life. In
some respects we, like flock of sheep,
follow blindly a leader, even though
the leap be over precipice, and we go
to our deaths upon the rocks below.
In view of these facts, and the fur
Their one of the terribly insidious ma
ture of the drink habit, it becomes the
plain duty of every parent who wishes
his sons saved from the vice of intern
pera1ce; of every employer of young
men; of every one, in short, who has
any influence land who has not?) over
his fellows, to abstain entirely from all
indulgence in strong drink. Leave it
alone; let it go to it's own place. That
erratic evangelist Sam Jones, once
said that "liquor is good thing in its
place--but its place is hell" Its place
is hell, because it is part of hell itself,
and wherever it goes it takes hell with
it. If it controls your life. it makes
your existence hell; if it enters your
family circle, it makes hell for some
of your loved ones, and brings grief to
the others. The example of a father
may bring hell into the lives of his
children, and of his children's children,
even to the third and fourth genera
tions.
In point of fact, in the unconscious
teaching of example lies one of the
greatest dangers. The drinking habits
of an employee or foreman or of an
older workman, may drag a dozen
younger men about the establishment
down into the mire. The genteel tip
ping of the merchant or banker is a
menace to his clerks. The sparkling
wine upon fashionable table NAV
eventually work ruin to hundreds. 1t
will not do for us to answer with the
question of Cain: IAN my brothers
keeper" 1t will not do to say that
you can control your appetite, and may
indulge, if you wish. in an occasional
glass. The Apostle Paul reminds us of
our duty to each other when he saws:
But take heed lest by any means this
liberty of yours becomes a stumbling
block TO those that are weak" That
must be the line of our conduct toward
our fellow man.
The pulpit too often neglects its duty
in this, that it does not bring this mat
ter more frequently and more power
fully before the people. There are
thousands of protesting Christians who
think it no harm to take an occasional
glass of some stimulant: there are
church organizations which do not re-
quire total abstinence as condition OF
membership. There seems to be a
waking up in this regard The vice of
drunkenness destroys both body and
soul and the church, whose mission it
is to save souls, cannot afford to ignore
this fearful evil. Religion must be ar
rayed against the use, sale and manu-
facture of all intoxicants. The evils
that result from the traffic must be inn
pressed upon the popular mind. Let
us bring them to the attention of the
masses, that they may begin to inquire:
what shall we do to deliver ourselves
and our children from this overshadow-
ing curse?' Then there will be a rapid
progress of the movement TO overthrow
the saloon, crush out the rum traffic
and pulverize the rum power.-Toledo
Blade.
A HUMAN WRECK.