Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1897-10-26


One such place you
would think would
have been enough for that Italian vii
lage. No. there were three of them,
with doors open for entertainment and
obfuscation. The world has never
lacked stimulating drinks. You re-
member the condition of Noah on one
occasion, and of Abigail's husband, Ma
bal, and the story Of Belshazzar's feast,
and Benhadad, and the new wine in old
bottles, and whole paragraphs on pro-
hibition enactment thousands OF years
before Neal Dow Fas born: and no
doubt there were whole shelves Of in
hammatory liquid in those hotels which
gave the name to the village where
Paul's friends came to meet him, name
ly, the Three Taverns. In vain search
ancient geography for some satisfying
account of that village. Two roads
cani0 from the sea coast to that place;
the one from Actium, and the other
from Puteoli, the last road being the
one which Paul travelled. There were,
no doubt, in that village houses OF mer-
chandise and mechanics shops, and
professional offices. but nothing is
known of them. All that we know OF
that village is that it had profusion OF
inns-the Three Taverns. Paul did not
choose any one of these taverns as the
place to meet his friends. He certain
ly was very abstemious. but they made
the selection. He had enlarged about
keeping the body under, though once
he prescribed for young theological
student stimulating cordial for a
stomachic disorder; but he told him to
take only small dose-"a little wine
for thy stomach's sake"
One of the worst things about these
Three Taverns was that they had es-
pecial temptation for those who had
just come ashore. People who had just
landed at Actium or Puteoli were soon
tempted by these three hotels which
were only a little way up from the
beach. Those who are disordered Of
the sea (for it is a physical disorganiz-
err, instead Of waiting for the gradual
return of physical equipose, are apt to
take artificial means to brace up. OF
the one million sailors now on the sea,
how few of them coming ashore will
escape the Three Tayerns! After sur
viving hurricanes, cyclones, icebergs,
collisions, many of them are wrecked
in harbor. I warrant that if a calcu-
lation were made of the comparative
number of sailors lost at sea. and lost
ashore, those drowned by the crimson
wave of dissipation would far outnum-
Der 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
sailors preacher, at the Sailors Bethel,
Boston, and at public meeting at
Charlestown. he said. "All the machn-
cry of the drunkard making, soul de-
stroying 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
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, "the
trouble 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 sea-
faring men as they come up from the
roasts of all the continents, namely, the
Three Taverns. In the autumn, about
this time. in the year 1887, the steam
ship Home went out from New York for
Charleston. There were about one hun
dred passengers, some OF them widely
known. Some OF them had been sum-
mering at the northern watering places
and they were on their way south, all
expectant of hearty greeting by their
friends on the wharves of Charleston.
But little more than two days out the
ship struck the rocks. A life boat was
launched, but sank with all its passen-
gers. mother was seen standing on
the deck Of the steamer with her child
in her arms. A wave wrenched the
child from the mothers arms and
rolled it into the sea, and the mother
ieaped after it. The sailors rushed to
the bar of the boat and drank them
selves drunk. Ninety-five human be-
ings went down never to rise. or to be
foated upon the beach amid the frag-
ments 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 its dead
and the story OF earthly disasters shall
be fully told. will it be known how
many yachts, steamers, brigatines, men
of-war and ocean greyhounds have
been lost through captain and crew
made incompetent by alcoholic de-
thronement. Admiral Farragut had
proper appreciation Of what the fiery
stimulus was to 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 morning?
Not enough to make him drunk out
enough to make him fight cheerfully."
The admiral answered. II have been