The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-07-03
A Fearful Warning.

At a certain town meeting in Penn
sylvania, the question came up wheti-
er any person should be licensed to sell
rum. The clergymen, the deacon and
the physician, strange as it may ap-
pear, all favored it. Only one man
spoke against it, because of the'mischief
it did.
The question was about to be put,
when all at once there arose from one
corner of the room, miserable wom-
an. She was thinly clad, and her ap-
pearance indicated the utmost wretch
edness, and that her mortal career was
almost closed.
After moments silence, and all
eyes being fixed upon her, she stretch
ed her attenuated body to its utmost
height, and then her long arms their
length, and raising her voice to a
shrill pitch, she called to all to look
upon her.
"Yes," said she, "look upon me.
aud then hear me. All that the last
speaker has said relative to temperate
drinking as beverage, as the father
of drunkenness, is true. All practice,
all drinking of alcoholic poison, as q
beverage in health, is excess.
Look upon me! You all know
that I was once the mistress of the
best farm in the town you all know,
too, had one of the best, the most de-
voted of husbands. You all know
had five noble hearted, industrious
boys. Where are they now?
doctor, where are they now? You
all know Tou all know thew lie in 8
row, side by side, in yonder church.
yard all. everyone of them, filling a
drunkard's grave.
"They were all taught that temper
ate drinking was safe-that excess
alone ought to be avoided, and they
never acknowledged excess. They
quoted you, and you, and you, (poin-
ing with a shred of q finger to the
minister, deacon and doctor), as au.
thority. They thought themselves
safe under such teachers. But I saw
the gradual change coming over my
family and its prospects, with dismay
and horror. / felt that we were all to
be overwhelmed in one common ruin,
| tried to ward off the blow.
tried to break the spell, the delu-
sive spell in which the idea of the bene-
fits of temperate drinking had involv-
ed nv husband and sons. l begged,
prayed, but the odds were against me.
The minister said the poison that
was destroying my husband and boys
was q good creature of God the dea'
con, who sits under the pulpit there,
and took one farm to pay his rum bill,
sold them the poison the doctor said
a little was good, and the excess only
ought to be avoided. My poor husband
and dear boys fell into the snare, and
they could not escape, and one after
another was conveyed to the sorrow.
full grave of the drunkard.
Now, look at me again you pro-
bably see me for the last time. My
sands have almost run. have drag
ged my exhausted frame from my
present home, the poor-house, to warn
YOU all to warn you. deacon to warn
YOU, false teacher of God's word." ;"
And with her arms flung high, and
her tall frame stretched TO its utmost,
and her voice raised 10 all unearthly
pitch, she exclaimed
II shall soon stand before the judg-
ment seat of God. / shall meet you
there, you false guides, and be wit
ness against you all"
The miserable woman vanished. A
dead silence pervaded the assembly,
the minister, the deacon and the physi-
clan hung their heads and, when the
President put the question. "Shall any
license he granted for the sale OF
spirituous liquors ? the unanimous
response was: "No"