Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1894-07-24
BREAK THE BOTTLE.
An Eloquent Plea to the Christian Men of
the Nation.

AN EiOQuenG Dlea 10 tne SnfjStlan hen OIL
the Nation.
[From Speech by John G. Woolley.l
Break the church bottle! But they
won't let you. Then what? Leave the
church? No, but stand strong in the
name of Jesus Christ, and in his spirit
too, and protest with all your might and
never touch the cup nor pass it to an
other.
Break the public bottle! You can t?
You've never tried You have tried to
keep it corked ON Sunday and election
day-and failed You have tried to
keep it from drunkards and boys and
Indians, but the drunkard was drunk
yesterday, is drunk today and will be
drunk tomorrow, and for every drunkard
that drops down boy starts in to fill
the gap.
"How do you break the peoples bot
tle?'' You vote to break it. The ballot
is the freeman's little blast set in the
rock of error, honeycombing it by slow
and often imperceptible degrees. The
wise in his own conceit says sneeringly,
"You waste your strength-you will
never do it," but never mind Drill
again, load again, set it off again-God
drills from the other side You'll meet
him by and by. Only let him find you
working toy ard him.
"But what if you are in a hopeless
minority" Gods minorities are major
tiles. But if it seems hopeless, then I
would reduce the problem to its lowest
terms, like this: God on his throne, and
on the earth only three living souls
John Smith, who wants to keep sa-
loon; John Jones, who wants to drink,
and John Wcolley, son of God. What
is John Woolley's duty? Simply to wash
his hands of that saloon. 'But Jones
and Smith are two against one and will
beat him.
What do you mean by 1.-TWO against
one?" Who is the one? Whom will they
beat? Has God abdicated? They'll
have a saloon. " Yes; but they will not
have me. Do you not see how this sim
plifes everything?
-Four words answer all arguments.
eve must be polite" says one. Mot
with my bottle ''They will have
it,. "Not from my bottle" "It will
always be drunk - 'Not from my bot
tie. 3" "Men have a right to drink 3"
"Not from my bottle " "It will be sold
on the sly.' mot from my bottle. F"
Perhaps the saloon is to go on. am
not bound to abolish it, but only my in
terest in it. There are 12, 900, 900 vot-
ers in the United States I'll vote my
fraction right, and every time 1 vote I'll
carry my share of that election, as long
as God is alive.
That may not do the saloon any harm,
but it will be good for me. am not
bound to be successful, but am bound
to be true. A square man is never wrong
side up. 'My vote won't count?" Lis
ten Abraham believed God, and it
was counted.
Yes, the saloons may go on, like the
brook, forever, and men may die in
them like flies, and hell grow fat on
drunkards. Women may still break
their hearts in the vain efforts to WOO
their loved ones from the drink Ladies
may sip their wine, boys still learn to
drink and men burn their hearts to a
crisp in alcohol, priests may still desc
crate Gods altars with it, the national
capital may have saloon in either end,
senators and representatives may be
drunk On the floors of congress, the sol
diers' homes may still sell drink to the
old soldiers, the mistress of the White
House may brew her famous punch
But not from my bottle!