Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1894-05-30
TEMPERANCE COLUMN.
EDITED BY JoNEsBoRo w. G. T. U.
ANOTHER OBJECT LESSON.

Va -
neighbor who has died of alcoholism,
our national disease. He returned but
few weeks ago from the Kelley cure,
strong in faith hal he would never
yield to the appetite again. He is the
second man in this community to die
of a debauch after this treatment, and
another of our citizens is ION a spree''
now who has received this socalled cure.
The father of this last one is heart
broken, "for, says he, II thought my
boy was redeemed, but now there is no
hope"
AS l see the man carried to his grave
"a nan who has occupied seats high
in the councils of the n%ation-I can but
exclaim, what a costly revenue we
derive from the poison traffic!'" and
ask, 20 Lord, how long, how long
will we continue to collect it?" A
friend sitting by me says: He deserves
no sympathy. He had every help to
make life a success, and he would not
do it,"
All, stop! The Word says, mo
drunkard can inherit the kingdom of
heaven" Do you say, mo sympathy
is duep" Remember, he was poisoned
in early manhood by the social glass,
as have heard him say. The chains
of appetite have bound him tighter and
tighter, and in the days of his ripest
usefulness he is the victim of a traffic
sustained by the vote of Christian men.
The victim deserves the deepest SYM
pathy. Let US condemn the system
that creates him thus helpless in the
clutches of disease.
He will be laid today by the side of
his Christian mother, whose great sor-
row was that this most brilliant of all
my sons" was a drunkard. She went
to her grave uttering a prayer for his
salvation. And this is the way this
Government helps answer the prayers
OF Christian mothers. God hasten the
day when mothers can vote as we'll as
pray
By-his side stand Christian brothers
who have been devoted to his reforma
ton, but when asked to vote a ticket
that would send men to the Indiana
Legislature who would prohibit the poi
con dens that beset this weaker brothers
pathway, will idly answer: sob, there g
no use. Liquor will be sold any way
and l think it best to vote nv party
ticket once more" Ministers speak by
his coffin today who read the sad his
tory in fate of the dead, men who know
the vast number falling around them,
but who refuse to open their churches
to voices that would sound the alarm
in the presence of 1903 saloons in this
city of $4,000 souls. No gospel temper
ance meetings are held in the twenty
seven churches that sit on our thor
oughfares, locked six days out of seven,
given over to dust, must and cobwebs.
Oh, no; somebody might tell the mem
bers of these churches, who are at ease
in Zion, that they ought to carry their
religion with their ballot on election
day, and thus wound the Christian in
his pew, who is the greatest sinner at
the ballot box. So as this one falls into
a drunkard's grave, others fall into the
procession on the other end, to fill I'D
the ceaseless gap and give these preach
ers something to do.
By the side OF this coffin today bust
ness men march who think they "can
drink or let it alone" who call me "a
regular John Brown born before my
time" when ask them kindly, won't
you read this subject if l give you the
books and papers?" In the strength
OF their present will they smile and
go on a steady march to fill a drunk
ar i'sgrave, believing as they say: "Oh.
l know when l have enough. l am
not such a weakling as to o~verdrink. "
Beside this coffin today are the edi-
tors of our papers, who write patheti.
cally of this ruined life," but who
will not let a line of prohibition senti.
ment find its way into the columns lest
it offend the liquor sellers who patron
ize their sheets. One of these editors, a
brother in the church, writes tenderly
of this mans death and publishes in
one issue of his paper 81 notices of APP
plication to sell liquor. So the work
goes on, upheld by press, pulpit and
people.
The wife sits clothed in the habili-
ments of mourning by the side of his
coffin. In her youth and beauty she
gave her life and happiness into the
keeping of this brilliant young man.
They were just out of college, thor
oughly equipped to build a Christian
home. She saw the tempter at work.
All that love, gentleness, and devotion
could do she had done. Her patience,
persistence, and endurance were re-
marked by all, but when all hope had
fled she was obliged to let him drift
and die, away from her ministrations
of tenderness and love. 1t was an I'M.
equal contest. The whole legal power
of Satan and nation was pitied against
her, for this government of males stays
the hand of the outraged wife, takes no
pity on her, but upholds the saloon
keeper in his deadly work. She is a
widow today; the husband and home
-