The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1895-12-20

childhood you were shone on by th
| face of father, mother, brothers, sic
tors, some of them, alas! no more +
meet you with a Happy New Year,
or "Merry Christmas" But again
and again have we seen on New Year
day the sons of some of the best fam
lilies drunk, and young men have ex
cused themselves by the fact tina
the wine-cup has been offered by
the ladies'; and again and AGAR
it has been found out that a lady.
hand has kindled the young mans
thirst for strong drink, and long after
all the attractions of the holiday have
passed that same woman crouches in
her rags, and her desolation, and her
woe under the uplifted hand Of the
drunken monster to whom she had
passed the fascinating cup on New
Years day. If we want to go to ruin
| let us go alone and not take others
with us. Can we not sacrifice our
feelings if need be?
When the good ship London went
down the captain was told that he
might escape in one of the lifeboats
mo" he replied, "I'll go down with
the passenger" All the world applaud
ed his heroism. And can we not sacri-
flee our tastes and Our appetites for
the rescue of others? Surely it is not
very great sacrifice. Oh, mix not with
the innocent beverage of the holiday
the poison of adders! Mix not with the
white sugar of the cup the snow of
this awful leprosy! Mar not the
clatter of the cutlery of the fes-
tai occasion with the clank of
a madman's chain. Pass down the
street and look into the pawnbroker's
window. Elegant watch, elegant furs.
elegant flute, elegant shoes, elegant
scarf, elegant books, elegant memen-
toes. You sometimes see people with
pleased countenance looking into such a
window. When l look into pawn
brokers' window, it seems to me as if 1
mad looked into the window of hell!
To whom did that watch belong? To
a drunkard. To whom did those
furs belong? To drunkard's |
wife. To whom did those shoes
belong? To drunkard's child.
take the three brazen balls |
at the doorway of pawnbroker's
shop, and clank them together, sound
ing the knell of the drunkard's soul. A
shop is only one of the
sddies in the great torrent of munich
pal drunkenness. "Oh," says some one,
Il don't patronize such things. have
no young man by such int1u-
,nces. only take ale, and it will take
! great amount of ale to intoxicate."
Yes; but 1 tell you there is not a
lrunkard in America that did not
'egin with ale. Three X's-I do
lot know what they mean. Three
KS on the brewers dray, three
KS on the door of the gin
hop, three KS on the side of the bot
lie. Three KS. 1 asked man. He
ould not tell. I asked another what
3 the meaning of the three KS. He
ould not tell me. Then / made up my
nind that the three KS were an ale
DRY, and that they meant thirty heart
reaks, thirty agonies, thirty broken-up
ouseholds, thirty prospects of a
grave, thirty ways to per-
ition. Three KS. If 1 were going to
rite story, the first chapter would
all Three KS, and the last chapter
vould call the pawnbroker's shop.
h, beware of your influence.
The winter season is especially full
temptation, because Of the long
allowing such full swing for {
vii indulgences. You can scarcely ex- |
ect young man to go into his room !
nd sit there from seven o'clock in the {
vening, reading Motley's Clutch Re-
ublic," or John Fosters essays. 1t '
ould be very beautiful thing for S
Inn to do, but he will not do it. The J
Iost of our young men are busy in Of I
ces, in factories, in banking houses, in i
ores, in shops, and when evening I
'mes they want the fresh air, and they +
ant sightseeing, and they must have r
they will have it, and they ought to i
ave it. Most of the men here assem- 9
led will have three or four evenings b
leisure on the winter nights. After n
"a. the man puts on his hat and coat, t
I'D he goes out. One form of allure t
ent says: 'Come in here" Satan t
Iys: sit is best for you to go in; you S
ight not to be SO green; by this time f
'u ought to have seen everything S
I'D the temptations shall be mighty in
Ill times such as we have had, but r
hich, believe are gone; for 1 hear +
over the land the prophecy of great Il
'osperity, and the railroad men, and b
e merchants, they all tell me of the l,
Iys of prosperity they think are COM v
g, and in many departments they c
I've already come, and they are going o
come in all departments; but those '
Ill times through which we have y
seed hava destrayad a rxra,t ,,,o,- | u