The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-08-28

twenty ShilllngS and SIX pence; IeSuiI,
misery. But. Copperfeld, my boy, one pound
income, expenses nineteen shllllngs ana slh
pence; result. happiness" But, working
man of America. take your morning dram,
and your noon dram. and your evening dram,
and spend everything you have over Tor to-
bacco and excursions. and you insure pov,
| ertv for yourself and your children forever!
Ii by some generous fiat OF the capitalists
| of this country. or by new law OF the Gov
ernment of the United States. twenty-five
per cent, or fifty per cent, or one hundred
per cent. we're added to the wages Of the
working classes Of America. il would be no
advantage to hundreds Of thousands OF them
unless thew stopped strong drink. Aye. un-
til they quit that evil habit the more money,
| the more ruin, the more wages, the more
holes in the bag.
NV plea this morning is to those working
people who are in discipleship to whisky
| bottle. the beer-nug, and the wlne-hask.
| And what say to them will not be more ap-
propriate to the working classes than to the
| business classes. and the literary classes, ana
the professional classes. and all classes, and
not with the people of one ago more than
| Of all ages. Take one good square look at
the suffering of the man whom strong drink
! has enthralled, and remember that toward
! that goal multitudes are running. The dis
ciple OF alcoholism suffers the loss OF SELF
respect.
Just as soon as a man wakes up and finds
that he is the captive OF strong drink, ne reefs
demeaned. I do not care how reckless ne
acts. He may say, II don't care" he does
care. H. cannot look pure man in the eye
| unless il is with positive force OF resolution.
| Three-fourths of his nature Is destroyed;
his self-respect Is gone; he says things ne
would not otherwise say; he does things
he would not otherwise do. When
man is nine-tenths gone with strong
! drink. the first thing he wants to 40 lsto
persuade you that he can stop any time ne
wants to. He cannot. The Philistines have
bound him hand and foot, and shorn his
lccks, and put out his eyes. and are making
him grind in the mill of a great horror. Hc
cannot stop. will prove it. HeknoWsthal
his course is bringing ruin upon hlmsel1.
He loves himself. If he could stop he would
He knows his course is bringing ruin upon
his family. He loves them. He would stoE
if he could He cannot Perhaps he could
three months or a year ago. not now. just
ask him to stop for month. He cannot; he
knows he cannot. so he does not try.
I had friend who was for fifteen years
going down under this evil habit. He had
large means. He had given thousands OF
dollars to Bible societies and reformatory
institutions of oil sorts. he was very
genial, very generous. and very lovable. and
whenever he talked about this evil habit ne
would say. ~ can stop any time" But ne
kept going on, going On. down, down,
down. His family would say. ~ wish you I
would stop" "Why." he would reply, II
can stop any time il I want to-" After
while he had delirium tremens; he had it
twies; and yet, after that. he said. 81 could
stop at any time if wanted to-" He Is dead
now. What killed him? Rum. Rum! And
vet among his last utterances was, u can
stop at any time" He did not stop 1t, be-;
cause he could not stop it. Oh. there ls
point in inebriation beyond which If man
goes he cannot stop.
One of these victims said to Christian
man, "Sir. if l were told that couldn't get
drink until tomorrow night unless had
all nv fingers cut off. would say, Bring
the hatchet and cut them off now" IhaVe
dear friend in Philadelphia whose nephew;
came to him one day, and, when he was ex-
horted about his evil habit, said, ''Unce,
can't give it up. If there stood cannon
and it was loaded. and glass OF wine were
set on the mouth Of that cannon, and knew
that you would fire it off as I came up ana
took the glass, I would start, for1 must
have it.
Oh. it is sad thing for a man to wake up
in this life and feel that he is a captive! He
says, II could have got rid OF this at once,
but can't now. might have lived an hon
orable life and died Christian death; but
there Is no hope for me now; there is no
escape for me. Dead. but not buried. am
walking CORPSE, I am an apparlt1on OF wnat
once was. am Gagged i'm mortal beating
against the wires OF my cage in this direc-
ton; beating against the cage until there is
blood on the wires and blood upon my soul.
yet not able to get out. Destroyed without
remedy
I 60 on. and say that the disciple Of rum
suffers from the loss of health.
The older men in the congregation may re.
member that some years ago DR.. Sewell went
through this country and electrified the peo-
pie by his lectures, in which he showed the
effects OF alcoholism on the human stomach.
He had seven or eight diagrams by which he
showed the devastation OF strong drink upon
the physical system. There were thousands
of people that turned back from that ulcer
Gus sketch, swearing eternal abstinence from
everything that could into1icate.
God only knows what the drunkart SUI
fers. Pain files on every nerve, and travels
every muscle, and gnaws every bone, and
burns with every fame, and stings with
every poison, and pulls at him with every
| torture. What reptiles crawl over bis creep
| ing limbs What flends stand by his mid
| night pillow! What groans tear his ear!
What horrors shiver through his soul! Talk
OF the rack, talk OF the Inquisition, talk OF
! the funeral pyre. talk OF the crushing Jug
, gernaut-he feels them all at once. Have you
| ever been in the ward Of the hospital where
| these inebriates are dying, the stencil OF their
wounds driving back the attendants, their
voices sounding through the night2 The
| keeper comes up and saws, "Hush, now, be
still! Stop making all this noise" But 1t
| is effectual only for a moment, for as soon
as the keeper is gone they begin again,
"Oh, God! Oh, God! Help! Help! Rum!
Give me rum Help! Take them off me!
Take them of me! Oh, God!' And then they
shrek, and they rave, and they pluck out
their hair by handfuls. and bite their nails
into the quick, and then they groan, and
they shrek. and they blaspheme, and they
ask the keeper to kill them-"stab me!
Smother mel Strangle me! Take the devils
thing is going on now all up and down the
land, and tell you further that this Is go.
ing to be the death that some Of you will
die. I know it. see 1t coming.
Again, the inebriate suffers through tho
loss Of home.
do not care how much he loves his wife
and children, il his passion for strong drink
has mastered him, he will do the most out
rageous things; and If he could not get
family into eternal bondage. How many
homes have been broken up in that way no
one but God knows. Oh, is there anything
that will so destroy man for this life and
damn him for the life that is to come? Ihate
that strong drink. With all the concentrated
energies Of my soul I hate it. Do not
tell me that a man can be happy when he
knows that he is breaking his wife's heart and
clothing his children with rags. Why, there
are on the roads and streets OF this land to-
day little children, barefooted, unwashed.
and unkempt-want on every patch Of their
faded dress and on every wrinkle OF their
prematurely old countenances. who would