The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1895-01-08
A
Is Temperate Drinking Safe 2-Th
Sad Story ola WretChed Woman.

40 oaI
Sad Story ola wretched Woman.
AT q certain town meeting in Penn
sylvania, the question came up
whether any|person should be licensed
to sell ram. The Clergyman, the
deacon and the physician, strange as
it may appear, all favored it. Only
one man spoke against 1t, because OF
the mischief 1t did. The question was
about to be put, when, all at once,
there arose from one corner of the
room, o miserable She was
thinly clad, and her appearance in
dictated the utmost wretchedness, and
that her mortal career was almost
closed.
After a moments silence, and all
eyes being fixed upon her, see stretch
ed her attenuated body to it's utmost
height, and then her long arms their
length, and raising her voice to a
shrill pitch, she called to all to look
upon me, and then hear me. All that
the last speaker has said, relative to
temperate drinking as q beverage, as
the father of drunkenness, Is true. All
practice, all experience, declares its
truth. All drinking OF ALCOHOLIC
poison, as a beverage In health, is
excess. Look upon me. You all know
NE, or once did. You all know that |
was once the mistress of the best farm
in the town ; you all know, too, 1 had
one of the best, the most devoted,
of husbands. You all know l had
five, noble-hearted, industrious boys.
Where are they now? Doctor, where
are they now? You all know. You
all know they lie in a row side, by
side, in yonder.church-yard /; all, every
n Of them, filing the drunkard's
grave.
"They were all taught that temp,
crate drinking was safe-that excess
alone ought to be avoided, aud they
never acknowledged excess. They
quoted you, and you, and you (pointins
with u shred OF a finger to the minister,
deacon and doctors), as authority.
They thought themselves safe under
such teachers. But saw the gradual
change coming ove my family and it,
prospects, with dismay and horror.
felt that we were all to be overwhelmed
in n common ruin. l tried to ware
off the blow.
81 tried to break the spell, the de-
lusive spell in which the idea of the
benefits of temperate drinking haC
involved my husband and sons
begged, l prayed, but the odds were
| against mo. The minister said the
poison that was destroying my husband
and boys was q good creature of God
the deacon, who sits under the pulpit
there, and took one farm to pay hi,
rum bills, sold them the poison the
doctor said q little was good, and the
excess only ought to be avoided. My
| poor husband ind dear boys fell intt
the snare, and they could not escape
and n after another was conveyed
to the ~,sorrowful grave OF the drunk
ard.
Now, look at me again you prob
ably see me for the. last time. My
sands have almost run | havedraggcC
my exhausted frame from my prcsen'
home, the poorhouse, TO warn you all
to warn you, deacon; TO warn you, falls,
teacher Of Gods word"
And with her arms flung high, ant
her tall frame stretched TO it's utmost
and her voice raised to an uncarthl,
| pitch, she eXclai,ncd: Il shall sUoI
stand before tho Judgment seal of God
! shall meet you there, you false guides
and be a witness against you all" Tht
miserable woman vanished. A deat
silence pervaded tho assembly; TIL,
minister, the deacon and the physician
hung their heads; and, when the Pre-
s'dent put the question, shall an,
license be granted for the sale of spirit
u3us liquOrs?" the unanimous respons,
vas "NoI"