Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1895-03-25
w. G. T. u. COLUMN.
MOTTO: God and Home and Native Land"
EXTRACTS FROM DR.. TALMAGES
WRITINGS.

|
traps there are set for young people.
That is what makes parents so anx-
| iOus. Here are temptations for every
| form OF dissipation, and every stage
OF it, Inc young man when he hrst
goes into dissipation is very part1cu-
lar where he goes. 1t must be fash
ionable hotel, he could not be tempt
ed into one Of those corner nuisances,
with mug of beer painted on sign
board. Ask the young man to go into
such place, and he would say, do
you mean to insult me?" No, it must
be a marble hoored bar room. There
must be no drunkard hlccOughlng
while he takes a glass. It must be where
elegant gentlemen come in and click
their cut glass and drink to aattering
sentiment. but the young man can
not always find that kind Of place,
yet he has a thirst, and it must be
gratified. The down grade is getting
sleeper now, and he is almost at the
bottom. Here they sit around card
table, wheeling, bloated, and blood
shot, with cards so greasy you can
hardly tell who has the best hand.
But never mind; they are only
playing for drink. Shuttle away! shut
de away! The landlord stands in his
shirtsleeves, watching the game and
waiting for an order to fill up the
glasses. 1t is the hot breath of eter-
nal woe that fushes that mans cheek.
In the gaslight [ see the shooting Of
the fiery tongue of the worm that
never dies. The clock strikes twelve;
it is the tolling of the bell of eternity
at the burial of a soul. Two hours
pass on and they are all asleep in
their chairs. Landlord says" come,
it's time to shut up!" Push them into
the open air. They are going home.
What is the history of that young
man? He began dissipation in fash
ionable hotel and completed his dam
nation in the lowest grogshop in the
city.
But sin does not stop here. 1t comes
to the drawing room. There are men
of leprous hearts who go into the
very best classes of society. They
are so fascinating. They have such
bewitching way of offering their arms;
yet the poison of asps is under their
tongue and their heart is hell. At
first their sinful devices are hid
den, but after while they begin to
put forth their talons of death. They
begin to show what they really are.
Suddenly = although you could not
have expected it they are so fascin-
ating in address, SO charming in their
manner, suddenly cloud, blacker
than was ever woven at midnight or
by hurricane, drops upon some do
nestle circle. There is agony in the
parental bosom that none but the
Lord God Almighty can measure-an
agony that wishes that the children of
the household had been swallowed by
the grave, when it would be loss of
body, instead of loss of soul. What
is the matter with that household?
The mothers hair has suddenly turn
ed white; the father, hollow checked
and bent over prematurely, goes
down street. There has been no death
in the family, no loss Of property.
Has madness seized upon them? No!
A villain, kid gloved, with gold chain
and graceful manner, took that cup of
domestic bliss, elevated it high in the
air until the sunlight struck it and all
the rainboWs danced about the brim,
and then dashed it down in desolation
and woe until all the demons of dark
ness clapped their hands with glee,
and all the voices of ruin uttered a
loud ha! ha!
Oh, there are scores and hundreds
of homes that have been blasted, and
if the awful statistics could be fully
set before you, your blood would
freeze in a solid cake of ice at the
the heart! Do you wonder that fathers
and mothers are anxious about their
children, and ask day and night,
"What is to become of them? What
will be their destiny?