The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-10-26
THE DRINK QUESTION
REV. DIR TALMAGE breaches
ON THE THREE TAvERNS =

He Discusses the Dissipaticns Of the Day
and Euloxizes the Great Reformers OF the
Past and Present-Tribute to Neal Dow
In q unique way DR.. Talmage here
discusses the designations Of the day
and eukogizes h great reformers Of the
past and present. His text Is Acts
xviii 5, They came to meet US as far
Seventeen miles south Of Rome there
was a village Of unfortunate name. A
tavern Is q place Of entertainment, and
in our time part OF the entertainment
Is a provision Of intoxicants.O One such
place you would think would have been
enough for that Italian village. No!
There were three of them, with door
open for entertainment and
ton. The world has never lacked slim
ulating drinks. You remember the con-
dition Of Noah on one occasion, and OF
Abigail's husband, Nabal, and the story
Of Belshazzar's feast, and Benhaded,
and the new wine in old bottles, and
whole paragraphs on prohibition en-
actment thousands Of years before Neal
Dow was born, and no doubt there were
whole shelves Of inflammatory liquid
in those hotels which gave the name to
the village where Pauls friends CAM
to meet him-namely. the Three Tav-
erns. In vain 1 search ancient geogra-
ply for some satisfying account OF that
village. Two roads came from the sea-
coast to that place, the n from Actlum
and the other from Puteoli, the last
road being the one which Travelled.
There were no doubt in that village
houses Of merchandise and
shops and professional offices, but moth
ing is known of them. All we know OF
that village is that it had a profusion
of inns-the three taverns. Paul did
not choose any one of these taverns as
the place to meet his friends. He Ger
tainIy was very abstemious, but they
made the selection. He had enlarged
about keeping the body under. though
once he prescribed for a young theo-
logical student a stimulating cordial for
a stomach disorder, but he told him
to take only a small dose-"a little
wine for thy stomach's sake"
THE THREE TAVERNS.
One of the worst things about these
three taverns was that they a espe-
cial temptations for those who had just
come ashore. People who had just land
ed at Actium or PuteOli were soon
tempted by these three hotels which
were only a little way up from the
beach. Those who are ~sordere OF
the sea (for It Is a physical d1sorgan-
izer), instead Of waiting for the grad
ual return of physical equipoise, are apt
to AXE artificial means to brace up. VI
the 1000, 900 sailors on the sea, how Few
of them coming ashore will escape the
three taverns! After surviving hurr1-
canes, cyclones, icebergs. collisions,
many of them are wrecked in harbor.
I warrant that If a calculation were
made Of the comparative number OF
sailors lost at sea and lost ashore those
drowned by the crimson wave OF dissi-
patton would far outnumber those
drowned by the salt water.
Alas, that the large majority OF those
who go down to the sea in ships should
have twice to pass the three taverns-
namely, before they go out and after
they come in! That fact was what
aroused Father Taylor, the great sail
or's preacher, at h Sailors Bethel.
Boston, and at a public meeting at
Charlestown, he said, All the ma
chinery of the drunkard making, soul
destroying business is in perfect rum
ming order, from the low grog holes on
the docks kept open to ruin my poor
sailor boys to the great establishments
In Still House square, and when we ask
men what is to be done about 1t they
say, You can't help it, and yet there
is Bunker Hill, and you a you can't
stop it, and up there are Lexington
and Concord" We might answer
Father Taylor's remark by saying,
The trouble is not that we can't stop
it, but that we won't stop It," we
must have more generations slain be-
- - ----pA --s1N ,,I1x ~ t0 th1
evil. That which tempted the travel
ers of old who came up from the sea-
ports of Actium and Puteoli Is now the
ruin of %seafaring men as they come up
from the coasts of all the continents
namely, the three taverns. In the au-
tumn, about this time, in the year
1887, the steamship Home went out
from New York for Charleston. There
were about 100 passengers, some OF
them widely known. Some Of them had
been summering at the northern water
ing places, and they were on their way
south, all expectant Of hearty greeting
by their friends on the wharfs of Char
lesion. But little more than w days
out the ship struck the rocks. A life
boat was launched. but sank with all
its passengers. A mother was seen
standing on the deck Of the steamer
with her child in her arms. "A wave
WIouCuSu Tie CAAlo SAS -
arms and rolled in into the sea, and
the mother leaped after 1t.
The sailors rushed to the bar OF the
boat and drank themselves drunk.
Ninety-five human beings went down
never to rise or to be fioated upon the
beach amid the fragments Of the wreck.
What was the cause of the disaster? A
drunken sea captain. But not until the
judgment day, when the sea shall give
up it's dead, and the story of earthly
disasters shall be fully told, will it be
known how many yachts, steamers,
brigantines, men-of-war and ocean grey
hounds have been lost through captain
and crew made incompetent by alco-
holic dethronement. Admiral Farra-
gut had proper appreciation Of what
the fiery stimulus was to a man in the
navy. An officer of the warship said
to him: Admiral, won't you consent
to give Jack a glass Of grog in the