The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-01-03
TEMPERANCE NOTES.
RCM'S AWFU- WORK.

Graphic Description of the Mighty Pro-
cessioD of the Victims of the Demon
Drinii
There are in the United States 14O,-
600 licensed liquor saloons If formed
into street, with saloons on each side,
allowing twenty feet to each saloon,
they would make street 2j5 miles
long. Let us imagine them brought
together into such street, and let us
suppose that the moderate drinkers and
their families are marching into it at
the upper end, and letus see what that
street turns out in one year.
What army is that which comes
marching down the street in solid col
umns five abreast, extending $40 miles?
1t IS the army of 100000 men and
women who daily and constantly go to
saloons for intoxicating drinks as a
beverage. Marching twenty miles a
day. 1t will take them more than TWEEN
ty-eight days to go by.
Now they are gone, and close in their
rear comes another army, marching
live abreast, and sixty miles in length.
In 1t there are $50, 900 confirmed drunk
ards. They are men anu women who
have lost control of their appetites,
who are in the regular habit of getting
drunk and making beasts of them
selves. Marching two abreast, the
army is $50 miles in length. Scan them
closely. There are gray-haired men
and fair-haired boys. There are, alas!
many women in that army, sunk to
deeper depths than the men, because
of the greater heights from which they
fell. 1t will take them some days to
go by. 1t is sad and sickening sight;
but do not turn away yet, for here
comes another army-1O0,0 900 criminals.
From jails and prisons and peniten-
tiaries they come. At the head of the
army comes long line of persons
whose hands are besmeared with hui
man blood. With ropes around their
neclIs, they are on their way to the
gallows. Others are going to prison
for life. Every crime known to our
laws has teen committed by these per-
sons while under the influence of
drink
But bark! whence came those yells,
and who are those bound with strong
chains, and guarded by strong men,
that go raging by? They are raving
maniacs, made such by drink. Their
eyes are tormented with awful sights,
and their ears ring with awful sounds.
Shiny reptiles climb over their bodies,
and fiends from hell torment them be-
fore their time. They are gone now,
and we breathe more freely.
But what gloom is this that per-
vades the air, and what is that long
line of black coming slowly down the
street? 1t is the line of funeral pro-
acessions One hundred thousand who
have died the drunkards death are be-
ing carried to their graves. Drunk
ards do not have many frieds to mourn
their loss, and we can put thirty of
their funeral professions into a mile.
We have thus procession 1888 miles
in length. 1t will take a good share
of the year for them to go by, for
funeral professions move slowly.
Look into the collins as they go by;
see the dead drunkards. Some died of
dilirium tremens, and the lines of ter
ror are still plainly marked on their
faces; some froze to death by the road
side, too drunk to reach their homes;
some stumbled from the wharf and were
drowned; some wandered into the
woods and died; some blew their own