The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-01-18

neck when she used to say. Papa. do
stay home tonight-do stay home to-
night" You viii never be able to wipe
away from your lips the dying kiss of
your little girl.
The fascination of a dissipating hub
house is go great that sometimes a man
has turned his back on his home when
his child was dying OF scarlet fever.
He went away. Before he got back at
midnight the eyes had been closed, the
undertaken had done his work. and the
wife. worn out with three weeks
watching. lay unconscious in the next
room. Then there IL a rafting Of the
night key in the door, and the return
ed father m up stairs and sees the
empty cradle and the window up. He
| says What Is the matter" In Gods
judgment day he will find out what
was the matter. Oh, man ast-ay, God
help you!
The influence which some Of the club
houses are exerting is the more to be
deplored because it takes down the
| very best men. The admission fee sits
| out the penurious and leaves only the
best fellows. They are frank. they are
| generous, they are whole souled. they
are talented. Oh. I begrudge the devil
| such a prize! After awhile the frank
| look will go out OF the face and the
features will be haggard, and when
talking to you instead of looking you
in the eye, they will look down, and
| every morning the mother will kindly
ask. MY son, what kept o out so
late last night?" and he will make no
answer or he will say, That's my bus
iness." Then some time he Will come
to the store or to the bank cross and
~befogged, n he will neglect some
duty. and after awhile he will lose his
place, and then with nothing to do he
I will come down at 10 O'Clock in the
morning to curse the servant because
the breakfast is cold. The lad who was
a clerk in the cellar has got to be chief
clerk in the great commercial establish
ment; the young man who ran errands
for the bank has got to he cashier;
thousands of the young men who were
at the foot of the ladder have got to
the top of the ladder, but here goes
the victim of the d~issipating clubhouse,
with staggering step and bloOdShot eye
and mud despatched hat set sidewise
on a shock of greasy hair, his "a
dashed with cigar ashes. Look at him.!
Pure hearted young look at him.!
The clubhouse did that. / know n
such who went the whole round and
turned out of the higher ~clubhouses
went into the lower c~lubhouses, and on
down, until n night he leaped out of
a third story window to end his wretch
ednesS.
A TERRIBLE STRUGGLE.
coming d~issipated, your sons will follow
you. You think your son does not
know. He knows all about it. / lave
heard men who say, Il am profane,
but never in the presence of my chill
dren." Your children know you swear.
/ have heard men say Il drink, but
never in the presence of my children"
Your children know you drink. 1 des-
cribe now what occurs in hundreds Of
households in. this country. The tea
hour has arrived. The family are
seated at the table. Before the rest
of the family arise from the table the
father shoves back his chair, says he
has an engagement, lights a cigar, goes
out, comes back after midnight, and
that is the history Of 365 nights Of the
year. Does any man want to s~tultify
himself by saying that that is healthy,
that that is right, that that is honor
able? Would your wife have married
you with such prospects?
Time will pass on. and the son will
he Is or II years of age, and you will be
at the tea table, and he will shove back
and have an engagement, and he will
light his cigar, and he Will go out to
the clubhouse, and you will hear moth
ing Of him until you hear the night key
in the door after midnight. But his
physical constitution is not quite so
strong as yours, and the liquor he
drinks is more terrifically drugged
than that which you drink, n so he
will catch up with you on the road to
death, though you got such q long
start of him, and 50 you will both go
to hell together.
The revolving Drummond light in
front Of a hotel, in front of a locomo-
tive, may flash this way and flash that
upon the mountains, upon the ravines,
upon the city, but I take the lamp of
Gods eternal truth, and I flash it up
on all the c~lubhouses of these cities,
so that no young man shall be deceiv-
ed. By these tests try them, try them!
Oh, leave the d~issipating influences of
the clubroom, if the influences Of your
clubroOm are d~issipating! Paid your
>! money, have you? Better sacrifice that
than your soul. Good fellows, are they?
Under that process they will not re-
main such. Mollusca nay be found
200 athoms down beneath the Nor
weigan seas; Siberian stag get fat on
the Stinted growth of Altaian peaks;
hedysarium grow amid the desolation
Of Sahara: tufts of osier and birch
grow on the hot lips of volcanic Snee-
haitian, but a pure heart and an hon
est life thrive in a dSsipating club
hOuse-never
II way 10 COLQuSI d III bCdoI -
to keep your eye on him, but the way
for you to conquer your temptations,
my friend, is to turn your back on
them and fly for your life.
Oh, my heart ache I see men strug-
Cling against evil habits, and they
want help. I have knelt beside them,
and I nave heard them cry for help,
nd then we have risen, n he has
put one hand on my right shoulder
and the other hand on my left shoulder
and looked into my face with an in
finity of earnestness which the judg-
ment day will have no power tc make
me forget, as he has cried out with
his lips scorched in ruin, God
help me-" For such there is no help
except in the Lord God Almighty. /
am going to make a very stout rope.
You know that sometimes a ropemaker
will take very small threads and wind
them together until after awhile they
become ship cable. And I m going to