The Opelousas courier., 1892-04-23
Temperance Column.
UNDER THE AUSPICES OF W. c. T. U.

UNDER THE AUSPICES OF w. c. t. U.
Mrs. Hadspeth, sapt. Press Dept.
On March 21st Miss Belle Kearney
one of the national organizers of th'
IWomen's Christian Teperance Union
organized a Union in Opelousas. Ii
spite of the political excitement, We
lanrolled 40 names. The officers elect
ed to serve one year are /: President
Mrs. r. r. Settoon; Vice President
Mrs. R. Mayer, Episcopalian Vice.
President, Miss FL. Andrus, Presbyte-
rian Vice. President, Misses. Tru.
man; Vice. President, 49, -
-- Catholic Recording Secretary
Mrs. Ell. Crawford Corresponding Sec
rotary, Miss Leola B. White Treas
urer, Mrs. E. A Hudspeth. Superin-
tendents appointed are Press Work,
Mrs. E. A. Hudspeth, Loyal Temper
ance Legion, Mrs. II. Crawford So
cial Purity, Mrs. L. j. Thompson
Parlor Meetings, Miss Lilly Swayze
Literature, Mrs. Adams Scientific
t1uSNtQ OtIOD3 y u1AyCtt
Miss Kearney or some other lectu-
rer will address the public in a few
weeks.
The date of our next public meeting
has not yet been determined upon
When the political excitement has
somewhat subsidized, we will take de-
finite and decided action upon the sub
ject.
Ii is claimed that high license aUill
lessen the number Of saloons. "The
men who pay $1,000 for the privilege
of opening and running a rink shop
will prosecute the men who pay moth
ing" Not by any Saloon
keepers will not turn prohibitionists.
Saloon keepers will not throw stones at
their own kith and kin. They may
protest. but they will not prosecute.
They live in glass houses.
Another claim of high license is that
1T makes the business more respectable
and decent. Outwardly, yes. It gives
the saloon thus licensed a certain i'm
portance, a broader seal of legitimacy.
But it is gilded corruption, after all
"a goodly apple, rotten at heart.a Al
most without exception these high Ii
cence saloons sell to minors, sell to
drunkards, sell on Sunday, and are
linked with gambling-often with har-
lotry. 1t is these gilded haunts of
vice, not the low doggeries, that the
mothers chiefly dread as the frsttempt-
ers of their boys. The responsibility
is only in glitter and tinsel and sham
show of decency, while within are
s'dead mems bones and uncleanliness.
Sign the pledge; it Keeps it from be-
the badge ofG reclaimed drunk
ard.-If the pledge were only signed
by men who had been drunkards, but
who were trying to live a new life. it
become the badge of reclaimed
and it would o cease to
be signed by this class of men, who
need it most. This would be a great
calamity.
81 dare not sign the PLEDGE said a
ing to get him to do SO, as a 9 Of
him from ruin. "Why not ~
was his friends reply. "Because if
heard that / had done so, they
would say that there must have been a
screw loose in my character, and that |
vas a reclaimed drunkard.. NO. said
lis friend, sthey never can say that,
or it has been signed by thousands Of
on whose character there
las never been a stain.n The answer
eassursd him he took the pledge,
md is now an earnest Christian work
in y Of our large towns.
You may not need to sign the pledge
or yourself, bnt sign it that you may {
i've it the benefit, the weight, the
landing, the standing of your own !
loral character. If every ore of !
.putable and stainless character were /,
} stand alOoof, the pledge would be I
hopeless failure. Every respectable
hristian person who signs it is like 3
ne of the corks floating on the sur
ice of the sea, helping to sustain the Q
saVy nets laden with fish.
It aUH saue you from temptation
have no intention of becoming a
runkard ; you scorn the thought. But
lere is a risk of your becoming one,
long as you tamper with the drink.
take il now for the sake of so
ETY., but you will come TO take it for
own sake. You cannot be sure
at daily dram drinking may not do
/ you what ii has done for myriads,
exciting q thirst, now perhaps dor
ant, but which, when once aroused,
i'll be Unsuitable Wise men, good
en-, strong men have been mastered !
that awful thirst who no more ex- 1
,cted such a thing than you do. Is 1t !.
it folly, then, for you to run the risk !;
creating it9 Why not stop at once, j