The Monitor-register., 1897-01-15
Potash

quaintanco and said, II suppose you
nro SO pious now and have got to be so
proud that you will not drink glass of
soda water with an old shipmate.
"Oh, yes," said Mr.. Cough, II will
drink glass of soda water with any
body. / will drink glass with you. :"
They went down Chambers street to
Chatham street and into place where
BEST Soda" was announced at the
door. After some delay there was hand
ed to him glass Of soda water said to
was rum. that flew to his brain and
sent him through the street an insane
man, and weeks passed before he came
to himself and implored the pardon Of
the Christian church that he had join
ed and resumed his wondrous career for
God and Righteousness. But all the
grogshops and places of dissipation rang
with merriment at the temporary down.
fall All the grogshops and wine cellars
of America took up with new voice and
new gusto and new enthusiasm and
now diabolism the song Of the drunk
ards.
There looms up in my memory one
Of the best and noblest friends ever
had. He had been for 80 years con-
sistent member Of the church. I knew
not that at about 81 years of age he
had followed the sea and habits of ine-
briacy had been fixed upon him. But,
converted to God, he began new life.
Yet it was 80 years war against the
old appetite. But about this struggle I
knew nothing until he was dead. While
absent during my summer vacation I
received a telegram announcing his
| death and asking me to come and Off.
ciate at his obsequies.
I arrived at the moment the service
was to begin and had not much time to
make inquiries about his last hours. In
my remarks, without any limitations, I
extolled his virtues while living and
| spoke Of the heavenly raptures into
| which he had entered. Afterward !
| found that he had died of delirium tre-
mems in the hospital, because he was SO
violent he could not be sufficiently re-
strained in his beautiful home. He had
been seized in the street with violent
pains of body and went into an apothe-
cary store to get medical relief Some-
| thing there given him set on fire his old
appetite for strong drink, and. utterly ir-
responsible, he went from liquor store
to liquor store, until. raving maniac,
the officers of the law bound him and
took him to the hospital. where he died.
Some time after said to the doctor in
the hospital, "Of what did he die?'
and the answer was Congestion Of the
BRAIN" l said: doctor. / want to
know the bottom facts, for ! was his
pastor, and he was one of the best friends
/ ever had. Was it delirium tremens?"
| And the doctor responded, "Yes." Did
regret that at his obsequies had extol-
led his virtues and spoken of the heaven
| ~ joys upon which he had entered? No.
I do not think that my friend was any
more responsible for the mode of his
taking off than typhoid fever patient
in -delirium is responsible for leaping
out of the fourth story window. But
while we were heartbroken about his
going away think that in the saloons.
to those who heard of his membership
of the church and the tragedy Of his de-
| parture, he became, as did the David
and the Christ OF my text, the song Of
| the drunkards. s-
A Song Easily Learned.
| Again, the song of the drunkards is
easily learned: Through what long and
difficult drill one must 90 to succeed as
an elevated and inspiring singer En-.
ma Abbott, among the most eminent
cantatrices that ever enchanted acad-
emies of music, told me on ocean ships
deck in answer to my question,
"Whither are you bound?" IT am going
to Berlin and Paris to study music :"
"Whatl' said. "After all your world
| renowned successes in music, going to
study?" Then she told me through what
hardships, through what self denials,
through what almost killing fatigues
she had gone in order to be singer,
and that when, in her earlier days, a
great teacher of music had told her
there were certain notes she could nev.
er reach she said, II will reach them, +"
and through doing nothing else but
practice for five years she did reach
them. Oh. how many heroes and hero
ines of musical achievement There are
songs which are easy to hear, but most
difficult to render, When Handel, with
new oratorio, entered room where a
group of musicians had assembled and
said, "Gentlemen, you all read musicp'
they said, "Yes, we play in church. +"
Every WE'LL" said the great composer.
'Play this. p" But the performance was
SO poorly done Handel stopped his ears
and said: "You play in church! Very
well, for we read the Lord is long suf-
fering, of great kindness and forgiving
of iniquity, transgression and sin. But
you shall not play for me-" Pure mu-
sic. whether fingered on an instrument
or trilled from human lips, ia most diff
ficult But one Of the easiest songs to
learn is the song of the drunkards
Anybody can learn it. In little while
you can touch the highest note Of con-
viviality or the lowest note of besotted-
ness. Begin moderately, q sip here and
a sip there. Begin with claret, 60 on
with ale, and wind up with cognao.
First take the stimulant at wedding,
then take it at meals, then take it be-
tween meals, then all the time keep
| your pulse under its stealthy touch.
| In six months the dullest scholar in
this Apollyonic music may become an
expert. First it will be sounded in q
hiccough. After awhile it will be heard
in silly ha, hal Farther on it will be-
come wild whoop. Then it will en-
able you to run up and down the five
lines of the musical scale internal
Then you will have mastered 1.-THE
song of the drunkard.
None Too. Old to Learn.
The most skillful way is to adopt
the modern theory and give the intoxi-
cant to your children, saying to your.
self, "They will in after life meet the
intoxicants everywhere, and they must
get used to seeing them and tasting
them and controlling their appetites. ="
That is the best way of teaching them
the song of the drunkards. Keep up that
mode of education. and If you have four
boys at least three of them will learn
the drunkards' song and lie down in a
| drunkard's grave. and if l ever laid a
wager, would lay wager that the
four will lie down with the other three.
Or if the education of the children in
this music should be neglectedsit is not
too late to begin at 81 years of age. The
young man will find plenty of young
men who drink. They are in every cir
Gle to be found. Surely, my boy, you
are not o coward and afraid of its Sure-
ly you are not going to be hindered by
sumptuary laws or the Rrejudices Of
yonr old father and motherf They are
| behind the times, Take something