The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-02
The Liquor Habit.

We dc not say that the remarks about
the liquor habit which the Rev. Mr.. Good
CHILD made in his sermon Of last Sunday
were contradictory of those contained in
another sermon preached on the same day by
the Rev. DR.. SAVAGE. In our report Of Mr..
GooDCHILD there 10 the following passage:
.Just whisper tina. a man drinks and his reputation
ia gone. No store. no church. wants q man who
drinks. No scnsible woman wants him for q husband.
no man wants him for an executor. II the odor OF
liquor Is upon him, II his cheeks arc flushed and his
eyes glare. the world shies OF. and he 10 blasted.
A young man who tipples might On we'll be at the
bottom OF tho sea, so far as worldly success goes"
From our report of DR.. SAvAGE's sermon
we learn that he preached upon heroism in
common life, and that he illustrated his re-
marks by naming a number Of men who
seemed to him to belong to the heroic type.
One Of the anne was that of the gentle
soul who is perhaps best known as the
author of the Essays of Ella:
CHARLES LANE has not been named as one of the
worlds heroes. They say he drank too much at
times. and in moro than one way stepped aside from
the path Of true righteousness. But he devoted him.
self by the year TO an insane slater and q father imbe.
Gle with age. He spent his days playing simple
games, in which he was not interested. that they
mlBnt q hHiubeu otnef, II Huiupeteu kiuu OK
heroism. seems to me cheap and easy compared with
q case like this
The Rev. Mr.. GoopcHILD's warning to
young people against the liquor habit was
very emphatic, even though some of his
sentences had too much paint on them.
The Rev. DIR. SAVAGE chose as one of the
heroes of his sermon a "man who, they
say, drank too much at times" but who,
nevertheless, possessed the virtues of which
the preacher spoke, and others, too.
LAMBS single frailty," says one of
his biographers, was the eagerness with
which, from a early period Of life, he
would quaf exciting liquors, snatching an
insensate pleasure between the acts of his
distressful drama" Notwithstanding this
frailty, he led a self-sacriicing life; he led a
busy life, both as an accountant and as an
author; he was a lovable character, and he
had a host Of friends among the most in
tellectual London people of his time. DR..
SAVAGE spoke truly of the gentle ELLA"
who had a single %frailty, when he
asserted that this man. who is said
to have drank too much at times, was yet
a man of many merits, and worthy Of our
admiration. The whole of such a mans
life, the quality of his mind, the traits of
his character, are not to be judged from the
brief periods Of his devotion to the wine
cup. Where would lots of the worlds wor.
thies stand II thus they were judgedi DR..
SAVAGE was not afraid to put CHARLES
LAMB among the heroes Of his pulpit.
At the same time it were well for all
men, young and old, to give heed to the
expostulation of the Rev. Mr.. GooDCHILD.
They had better not give way to the liquor
habit, and they ought also to refrain from
the dangerous habit of indulging in intern
perate language, or putting too much paint
on their utterances. Ought they not
Brother Go]oDCHILD3