Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1897-10-23
THE DRINK QUESTION
REV. DR.. TALMAeE breaches ON
THE THREE TAvERNS.

no Discusses the Designations of tho Day
and Eulogixcs tho Great Reformers OF
the Past snd Prcsent-Tribute to Neal
Dow.
copyright. 1897. by American Press Asso-
citation.
WASHINGTON. Oct FIN n unique
way Dr. Talmago here discusses the dis
sipations of the day and eulogizes the
great reformers Of the past and present
His text is Acts xviii, 10, "They came
to meet us as far as Appii forum and
the three taverns.
Seventeen miles south of Rome there
was village of unfortunate name. A
tavern is place of entertainment, and
Ill our time part of the entertainment
is 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 one occasion. and of Abigall's
husband, Nabal, and the story Of Bel
shazznr feast, and Bcnhaded and the
new wine i'll old bottles, and whole
paragraphs on prohibition enactment
thousands of years before Neal Dow
was born, and no doubt there wero
whole shelves of intlammatory liquid
in those hotels which gave the name to
the village where Pnul's friends came
to meet him-namely, the Three Tav-
ems In vain 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 beng the one which Paul travelled
There wero no doubt i'll 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 q profusion
OF inns-tho three taverns. Paul did
not choose any one Of these taverns as
the place to meet his friends. He GER
talnly was very abstemious, but they
made the selection He had enlarged
about keeping the body under, though
once he prescribed for II young theologic-
al student stimulating cordial for
stomachic disorder, but he told him to
take only 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 Actirm or Puteoli were soon
tempted by these three hotels which
were only Il little way up from the beach
Those who are disordered of the sea (for
1t is physical disorganizer), instead OF
waiting for the gradual return of phys
ical eouipoise, are apt to take artificial
means to brace up. Of the 1000, 600
sailors now OH the sea, how few OF them
coming ashore will escape the three tav-
erns After surviving hurricanes, cy
clones, lcebergs, collisions, many of
them are wrecked III harbor warrant
that if 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 20 down to the sea III ships should
have twice to pass tho 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, Bos-
ton, and at a public meeting at Charles
town. he said, All 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 i'll 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
Taylors remark by saying, 1.-The trou-
BILE is not that we can't stop it, but
that we won stop it. y 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 Actlum
and Puteoli is now the ruin of seafaring
men as they come up from the coasts OF
all the continents-nanlely, the three
taverns. In the autumn, about this
time. in the year 1887, the steamship
Home went cut from New York for
Charleston There were about 100 pas
sengers, some of them widely known
Some of them had been summerlng 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 little
more than two days out the ship struck
the rocks a hfeboat was launched, but
sank with all its passengers. A mother
was seen standing Oh the deck OF the
steamer with her child i'll her arms. A
WAVE ll1O Slll4b A1OAA oAAS
mothers arms aud rolled 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 floated upon the
beach amid the fragments 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,
brigantines, men of-war and ocean grey
hounds have been lost through captain
and crew made incompetent by alcoholic
dethrouement Admiral Farragut had
proper appreciation of what the fiery
stimulus was to man in the navy. An
officer of the warship said to him: "Ad-
miral. won t you consent to give Jack
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