The Monitor-register., 1897-10-22

and Eulogizes the Great Reformers of
the Past and Present-Tribute to Neal
Dow.
copyright. 1897. by American Press Asso-
ciation.l
WASHINGTON, Oct. I'm a unique
way Dr.. Talmage here discusses the dis
sipations of the day and eulogizes the
great reformers Of the past and present.
His text 10 Acts xviii, Is, "They came
to meet as as far as Appii forum and
the three taverns.
Seventeen miles south of Rome there
wa a village of unfortunate name. A
tavern is a place of entertainment, and
ip u time part of the entertainment
"a q provision of intoxicants. One such
place you would think would have been
enough for that italian village. Mol
There were three Of them, with doors
open for entertainment and obfuscation.
The world has never lacked stimulating
drinks. You remember the condition of
Noah On n occasion, and of Abigails
husband, Nabal, and the story of Bel
shazzar's feast, and Benhaded and the
new wine in old bottles, and whole
paragraphs on prohibition enactment
thousands Of years before Neal Dow
was born, and no doubt there were
whole shelves of in1ammatory liquid
in those hotels which gave the name to
the village where Paul's friends came
to meet him-namely, the Three Tav-
In vain l search ancient geogra-
ply for some satisfying account of that
village. Two roads came from the sea-
coast to that place, the one from Actium
and the other from Puteoli, the last
road being the n which Paul travelled.
There were no doubt in that village
houses of merchandise and mechanics
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
tainly was very abstemious, but they
made the selection. He had enlarged
about keeping the body under, though
once he prescribed for a young ~theologic-
al student a stimulating cordial for a
bbOl1dCulC ulSOlo6l, puO lS tOlu I'LL W
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 had espe-
cial temptation for those who had just
come ashore. People who had just land
ed at Actium or Puteoli were Dol
tempted by these three hotels which
were only a little way up from the beach.
Those who are disordered of the sea (for
1t is a physical disorganizer), instead OF
waiting for the gradual return of phys
ical equipoise, are apt to take artificial
means to brace up. OF the 1000, 900
sailors now IN the sea, how few of them
coming ashore will escape the three tav-
ernst After surviving hurricanes, cy-
clones, icebergs, collisions, many of
them are wrecked in harbor. I warrant
that II a calculation were made of the
comparative number of sailors lost at
sea and lost ashore those drowned by
the crimson wave of dissipation 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 inl That fact was what
aroused Father Taylor, the great sailors
preacher, at the Sailors Bethel, Bos-
ton, and at a public meeting at Charles
town, he said, "An the machinery of
the drunkard making, soul destroying
business is in perfect running 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 it they say,
You can't help it, and yet there is
Bunker Hill, and you say you can't
stop it, and up there are Lexington and
Concord" We might answer Father
Taylor's remark by saying, 1.-THE trou-
BILE is not that we can't stop it, but
that we won't stop it," We must have
more generations slain before the world
will fully wake up to the evil. That
which tempted the travellers of old who
came up from the seaports 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 autumn, about this
time, in the year 1887, the steamship
Home went out from New York for
Charleston. There We're about 100 pas
sengers, some Of them widely known.
Some Of them had been summering at
the northern watering places, and they
were on their way south, all expectant
of hearty greeting by their friends on
the wharfs of Charleston. But a little
more than two days out the ship struck
the rocks. A lifeboat was launched, but
sank with all its passengers. A mother
wa seen standing on the deck of the
steamer with her child in her arms. A
wave wrenched the child from the
mothers arms and relied it into the sea,
and the mother leaped after it.
The sailors rushed to the bar of the
boat and drank themselves drunk.
Ninety-fve human beings went down
never to rise or to be foated upon the
beach amid the fragments of the wreck.
What was the cause of the disaster? A
drunken sea captain. But not until the
Jud6AAOhu Ooys WhOh LILO std SUdll give
up its 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 alcoholic
~dethronement. Admiral Farragut had
proper appreciation of what the fiery
stimulus was to a mar in the navy. An
officer of the warship said to him: "Ad-
miral, won't you consent to give Jack a
glass of grog in the morning? Not
enough to make him drunk, but enough
to make him fight cheerfully." The adj
miral answered: 81 have been to sea
considerably and have seen a battle or
two, but I never found that I needed
rum to enable me to do my duty. I will
order two cups of coffee to each man at
Q O'Clock in the morning, and at 8
o'clock 1 will pipe all hands to break
fast in Mobile Lay"
The three tavernS of my text were
too near the Mediterranean shipping.
An Overdone Business.
But notice the multiplicity. What
could that Italian village, SO small that
history makes but one mention of it,
want with more than one tavern? There
were not enough travellers coming
through that insignificant town to sup
port more than one house of lodgment.
That would have furnished enough pill
lows and enough breakfasts. No; the
worlds appetite is diseased, and the
subsequent drafts must be taken to Stake
the thirst created by the preceding
drafts. Strong drink kindles the fires OF
thirst faster than it puts them out.