River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1894-03-01

Hliiu Il6 SuIlll voice eAclaIfn. .
would to God that the Maine law
could have passed fifty years agol"
We turned to find an old lady on
the seat back of US venturing her
wish. in the midst of an earnest dis
cussion between a Maine law Yankee
and a red-nosed member of the
bottle fraternity. "Yes," contin-
ued the old lady, 'fifty years ago!
A husband would not have gone
down to a drunkard's grave, my
daughters married drunkards and
lived lives of sorrow, or my boys
have died in Jail and the madhouse.
Look at me" and with something
of a fire kindling up in her old eyes,
she laid her bony hand upon the
arm of the liquor dealer, "and see
the fruits of your accursed business.
| was young, and had enough of
this worlds goods, and my heart
was full of happiness and hope.
My God! Sir, how they have poured
desolation into my old heart! l am
often bitter, ard do you wonder?
Such as you robbed me of my
children, and at so years of age, l
am alone! Do you hear-alonel
And let me tell.you this hand never
wronged the least of Gods creatures.
But you, sir, have wronged me.
You, sir, talk about the domicile,
and say it is sacred. God forgive
me, but | remember the day when
my home was entered by the con-
stable and skinned of all. | remem-
Der when the Bible my mother gave
me was taken away for drink. /
remember the time when my first
born was laid in my arms from
drunken husbands hands, and its
little hfe-blood ran warm into my
bosom from its wounds. Why, sir, =
said the old woman, half raising in
her seat, ''in Gods holy name, did
you come into my house to rob and
kill? Was that constitutional? l
have one child living in the asylum
a maniac. It's all the work of your
hands. There is blood therel Blood,
sir! Better, sir, have a milestone
around your neck than sell rum.
The curse of the widow be upon
youl 1t will follow you!"
The cause of total abstinence and
prohibition is the cause of God.
We have a Captain who never lost
a battle, and the final triumph and
success of our cause is assured; and
the time is coming in which a man
would no more be allowed to sell
strong drink as a bererage than he
would be allowed to sell clothing in
fected with the smallpox. While it
is still true that "the harvest is plen-
teous, but the laborers are few" yet
in my lifetime, which spans little
more than half of that of Neal Dow,
| can look back and see that great
progress has been made. l bid the
friends of our great cause be of good
cheer. weeping may endure for a
night but joy cometh in the morn
ing" In no place in the country is
the cause of temperance and total
abstinence more marked than In the
capital of the nation. 1t was no I'M
common thing twenty years ago to
see intoxicated members on the floor
of the House and Senate. | have
not seen one such in the five years |
have been here, and | am sure there
is less and less drink being used IN
the hotels and public places. And
the list of total abstainers is yearly
growing larger, showing the progress
of our cause. Again / say to our
brethren and sisters, be of good
cheer.-[ ELIJAH A. MORSE, NJ. G.
from Mass.
One fatal fact will make strongly
for this traffic under high license.
1t has purchased a right to be, and
the community has accepted the
price. The blood money has been
paid, and the blood must therefore
of right and interest be split. The
community has taken the price and
must in honor allow the sacrifice to
proceed. We have sold our fellow
men; we have set apart our thirty
pieces of silver for the potter's field,
for state prisons, asylums and aims
houses, and now the fearful work
must go on. We have all struck
hands in reference to it.