The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1897-02-20

U4HMN3 M"Hm Although David
Eh'' Dr. rAi'MAah' had fully reformed
and written a psalmody in which all
subsequent ages have sobbed out their
penitencc, his enemies preferred to fetch
up his old career. and put into metric
measures sins long before forgiven.
Christ. who committed no sin, was still
more the subject of unholy song, be-
cause thc better one is the more in
iquity hates him. OF Ii best being
whose voice ever moved the air or
whose foo1 ever touched the earth it
might be said:
The byword OF the passing throng.
I'he rulers soon, the drunkard's song.
The earth fitted up for the human
race, in congratulation the morning
stars sang u song. The Israelitish army
safe on the bank of the Red sea and
the Egyptians clear under the returned
water, Moses sang a song. One of the
most important parts of this great old
book is Solomon's song. At the birth
OF our Lord the Virgin Mary and old
Simeon and angelic prima donnas in
lowering clouds sang a song. What
enrichment has been given to the
worlds literature and enjoyment by
the ballads, the canticles, the discants,
| IlG ulIIlES. lle lOlillutldN -. lhC CiACSs
the lyrics, the d~ithyrambs. But my
text calls attention to a style of song
that think has never been ~discoursed
upon. You sometimes hear this style
of music when passing IL saloon, or a
residence in which dissipation is as
cendant, or after you have retired at
night you near it coming out of the
street from those who, having tarried
L III. -, fIa.-
home-the ballad of the inebriate, the
serenaGe of the alcoholized or what my
text calls the song of the drunkards.
For practical and saving and warn
ing and Christian purposes, l will an
nounce to you the characteristics of
that well-known cadence mentioned in
my text. First | remark that the Song
Of Drunkards is an old song. Much of
the music of the world and of the
church is old music. First came the
music of percussion, the clapping Gym
bal. which was suggested by a hammer
on an anvil, and hen the signing OF
the wind across the reeds suggested
the flute, and then the strained sinews
Of the tortoise across its shell suggest
ed the harp. But far back of that, and
nearly back as far as the moral col
lapse of our first parentage is the
ssSonU of D~runkards." That tune was
sung at least 4243 years ago, when, the
duluge past, Noah came ou of the ark,
and ash Disguised with too much prevail
nee of water. he took to strong drink
and staggered forth, for all ages the
first known drunkard. He sounded the
hrst note of the old music of in
ebriacy.
Benhadad and SO allied kings, riot
ing in a pavilion, took up the same
bacchanaL. Nabal was rendering that
drunkard's song when his wife, beauti-
full Abigail, came pack from her expe-
dition to save her husband. Herod
was singing that song when the daugh-
ter of Herodias wheeled in the dance
before him. Relshazzar and 1000
lords renewed hat song the night the
handwriting came out on the plaster
ing of N wall and the tramp of the
besieging host was heard on the pal
ace stairs. Ahasuerus sang that song
when, after seven days of %carousal, he
ordered Vashti to come into the pres
snce of the roaring guests without her
yell on-a January storm trying to
command @ June morning. Oh, yes!
The song of the drunkards is an old
song. King Cyrus boosted that he
could drink more wine than his
brother. Drunkenness was so rife
among the Lacedaemonians that
Lycurgus had all the vines of
the vineyards destroyed, Paul
e~xcoriates the Corinthians for
turning the communion of the Lords
Supper at a church into a carousal.
Isaiah mentions the drunkards of
Ephraim. So much were the Athenians
given to Wassajl that a law was passed
giving a man double punishment for
crime while intoxicated, the first pun
ishment for the crime and the other for
the intoxication. 1t was a staccato
passage in that song when Alexander
the Great rose from Il banquet and
struck Il spear through the heart OF
Clitus while putting up the curtains,
nd, Mortified at what he had done,
withdrew the sword from the dead
body and attempted to take his own
life. In the time of Oliver Cromwell
the evil was so great that Offenders
were compelled to wear what was
called 1.-The d~runkard's cloak" namely,
a barrel with one enc of it knocked
out and a hole in the opposite end, the
the arms thrust through holes at the
sides of the barrel. Samuel Johnson
made merry Of his own inebriacy. Oh,
this old song! All the centuries have
joined in. Among the first songs ever
sung was the Song of the D~runkards.
Again, this song of the drunkards is
an expensive song. The Sontags and
the Parepa Rosas and Wilson's and
the other renderers of elevated and
divine solos received their thousands
of dollars per night in coliseums and
academies of music. Some of the peo-
pie of small means almost pauperized
themselves that they might sit Il few
evenings under the enchantmept of
those angels of sweet sounds, | paid
81 to hear Jenny Lind sing when it WAS
not very easy to afford the 81. Very
expensive is such music, but the costli-
est song on earth is the drunkard's song.
1t costs ruin of body. 1t costs ruin of
mind. 1t costs ruin of soul. Go right
down among the residential streets of
any city and you Gun find once beautiy
full and luxurious homesteads that
were expended in this destructive
music. The lights have gone out in
the drawing room, the pianos have
ceased the p~ulsation of their keys, the
wardrobe has lost its last article of APP
propriate attire, The Belshazzarean
feast has left nothing but the broken
pieces of the crushed chalices. There
it stands, the ghastliest thing on
earth, the n of u drunkard's
home. The costliest thing on earth is
sin. The most expensive of all music
is h song OF the drunkards. 1t is the
highest tariff of nations-pot a protec-
tive tariff, but n tariff of doom, a tariff
of woe, n tariff of death. This evil
whets the knives of the assassins, cuts
the most of the wounds of the hos
pital, makes necessary most of the
~almshouses, causes the most of the "a
ings of the insane asylum, and puts
up most Of the iron bars of the peni-
tentiaries. 1t has its hand to-day on
the throat of the American republic.
1t is the taskmaster of nations, and the
human race crouches under it's anath6-
ma. The song of the drunkards has
for its accompaniment the clank of
chains, the chattering teeth of poverty, !