Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-05-28

$3.50 to get his wife a sealskin coat
The sister Of the bride heard Of thii
achievement, and was not to be eclipsed.
She was very poor, and she sat up work
ing nearly all the night for a great whilG
until she bought sealskin coat. l have
not heard of the result on that street.
The street was full Of those who are on
small incomes, but l suppose the con-
tagion spread and that everybody had a
sealskin coat and that the people came
out and cried, practically, not literally,
Though the heavens fall, we must have
a sealskin coat.
The Recklessly Improvident.
l was out west, and a minister of
the gospel told me in Iowa that bis
church and the neighborhood had been
impoverished by the fact that they put
mortgages on their farms in order to
send their families to the Philadelphia
centennial. 1t was not respectable not
to go to the centennial Between such
evils and paupeTism there is a very
short STEP The vast majority Of chill
dren in your almshouses are there be-
cause their parents are drunken, lazy or
recklessly improyident.
l have no sympathy for skinhint saw
ing, but l plead for Christian pru-
dence. You say it is impossible now to
lay up anything for rainy day. I
know it, but we are at the daybreak Of
national prosperity. Some people think
it is mean to turl the gas low when
they 90 out of the parlor. They feel en-
barrassed if the doorbell rings before
they have the hall lighted. They apollo
gize for the plain meal, if you surprise
them at the table. Well, it is mean if
it is only to pile up misery hoard.
But if it be to educate your children, if
it be to give more help to your wife
when she does not feel strong, if it be
to keep your funeral day from being
horrible beyond all endurance, because
it is to be the disruption and annihila-
tion of the domestic circle-if it be for
that, then it is magnificent.
There are those who are kept in pow
erty because Of their own fault. They
might have been well off, but they
smoked or chewed up their earnings,
or they lived beyond their means, while
others on the same wages and on the
same salaries went On to competency. l
know a man who is all the time COM
planning Of his poverty and crying out
against rich men while he himself
keeps two dogs and chews and smokes
and is full to the chin with whisky and
beer Wilkins Micawber said to David
"Copperfeld, my boy, el
income, expenses 20s. 3D.; result, mis-
cry. But, Copperfeld, my boy, g. in
come; expenses, l9s. Cd. result, hap
piness." But, O workingman, take
7our morning dram, and your noon
IRAN, and your evening dram, and
pend everything you have over for to-
oacco and excursions, and you insure
loyerty for yourself and your children
oreverl
More Holes In the Bag.
If by some generous fiat Of the capi-
alists Of this country or by a new law
f the government Of the United States
% per cent or 90 per cent or 100 per
ent were added to the wages Of the
classes Of America, it would
,e no advantage to hundreds Of thou
ands of them unless they stopped strong
rink. Aye, until they quit that evil
labit the more money the more ruin,
he more wages the more holes in the
ag.
My plea is to those working people
Who are in a discipleship TO the whisky
ottle, the beer jug and the wine flask.
md what I say to them will not be
more appropriate TO the working classes
han to the business classes and the lit
rary classes and the professional classes
nd all classes, and not with the people
# one age more than of all ages Take
ne good square look at the suffering of
he man whom strong drink has en-
hralled and remember that toward that
oal multitudes are running. The dis
iple of alcoholism suffers the loss of
elf respect. just as soon as man
wakes up and finds that be is the cap
i've of strong drink, he feels demeaned.
do not care how recklessly he acts. He
nay say, Il don't care" he does care
Ie cannot look a pure nan in the eye
nless it is with positive fClCc Of reso
ution. Three-fourths Of his nature Il
destroyed; his self respect is gone; ht
ays things he would not otherwise say;
70 does things he would not otECrwis,
o. When a man is nine-tenths gont
With strong drink, the first thing b,
wants to do is to persuade you that be
an stop any time he wants to. He can
ot. The Philistines have bound him
and and foot and shorn his locks, and
ut out his eyes, and are making him
rind in the mill of a great horror. He
annot stop. will prove it. He knows
hat his course is bringing ruin upon
imself. He loves himself. If he could |
top, be would. He knows his course is
ringing ruin upon his family. He loves
nem. He would stop if he could. He
annot Perhaps he could three months
r a year ago; not now. Just ask him
, stop for month. He cannot-he
nows he cannot. so he does not try.
Killed by Drink.
| had a friend who was for 10 years
Ding down under this evil habit. He /
ad large means He had given thou
lnds of dollars to Bible societies and
,formatory institutions Of all sorts. He |
as very genial, very generous and very
,vable, and whenever he talked about
lis evil habit he would say, =" l can
op any time" But he kept going on, /
ping on, down, down, down. His family
ould say, IL wish you would stop"
Why" he would reply, 81 can stop
ly time, if l want to" After awhile
q had delirium tremens-he had IL
vice. and vet after that he said, u
,uld stop at any time, if | wanted to-"
10 is dead now. What killed him? /
rinkl Drink And yet among his last
tteranres was, II can stop at any
me-" He did not stop it because he
,uld not stop it. Oh, there is point
l inebriation beyond which if man
oes he cannot stopl One of these vic
ms said IN a Christian man, "Sir, If /