Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1898-03-15
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$W. c. 7. u. COLUMN. :
WANTED!

w. W - W OVAOIVjIV1
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WANTED!
10000 boys to replace the $4,000
drunkards in the U. S., who will die
this year. Have you boy to spare?
Saloons can't be run without boys.
If you vote for license you should not
object to your boy patronizing the sa-
loon.
Not long since, in an address de-
Ilvered by State Supt. Pendergast,
he gave some figures that reveal
startling cundt on OF wasieiul habits
and depraved appetite amoug tue peo-
pie Of Minnesota. This state spends
annually for connections, six million
dollars; for tobacco, six millions: for
liquors, twenty millions; and for edu-
cation, four millions.
1t has come at last to this: That
unless good men, good citizens, the
servants Of God, can come together
and with one united voice and vote
throttle and down the saloon, it will
throttle and down us.
II II
SERMON BY Il TRAMP
Probably no more eloquent or dra-
matte sermon on the sin of drunkenness
was ever delivered than that to which
small gathering of drinking men
listened, in New Orleans bar-room
recently. The drinkers, group of
we'll dressed young men with plenty of
money were standing at the bar, when
poor, miserable specimen of a
tramp pushed open the swinging
doors and, with bleared eyes, looked
at them appealingly. They ordered
drink for him, paid for it, and then
boisterous]y demanded that he make
a speech. After swallowing the Ii
quor, the tramp gazed at them for an
instant, and then with dignity and
eloquence that showed how far he had
fallen in the social scale, he began to
speak: Gentlemen, be said, 81 look
tonight at you and at myself, and
it seems to me that | look upon the
| picture Of my lost manhood. This
bloated face was once as young and
, handsome as yours. This shambling
figure once walked as proudly as
yours. man in the world of men,
| too once had a home, and friends
and position. had wife as beautiful
as an artists dream, and | dropped
the priceless pearl of her honor and
respect into the wine cup and Cleopa-
ira like, saw it dissolve, and quaffed
it down in the trimming draught.
I had children as sweet, as lovely as
the flowers of spring, and saw them
fade and die under the blighting curse
of a drunkard father. I had home
where love lit the flame upon the altar
and ministered before it, and Iput out
the holy fire, and darkness and des.
olation reigned in it's stead. I had as.
pirations and ambitions that scared
as high as the morning star, and !
broke and bruised their beautiful
wings. and, at last strangled them
that I might be tortured by their cries
no more. Today, am husband
without a wife, a father without a
his own, a man in whom every good
impulse is dead. All, all swallowed up
in the malcstrom Of drink!'' The
tramp ceased speaking. The glass
fell from his nervous fingers and shi-
vered into IL thousand fragments on
the floor. The swinging doors pushed
open and swung to again, and
when the little group around the bar
looked up, the tramp was gone. He
had gone out into the dark December
night, to wander, no doubt, till dawn,
but he, outcast though he was, had
made an impression. They felt that
they had received lesson which they
would remember while they lived, anG
when they left the bar room, the words
of the poor wanderer still sounded i1
their ears like note of Warming
New Orleans Picayune.
* II
1t is a good thing for the voter tt
mako his. protest against the liquor
traffic in the prayer meeting, or b!
his mannar of life: but if he would
really tell the government as we'll a:
the Lord and the people that he want:
the saloon closed, there is but jus
one method by which he can be recog
nized; but just one law under which
his opinion can declare itself, an(
his convictions make itself felt, ant
/ that law and method are fulfilled
when he drops into the box Il ballo
that calls for prohibition as a law
We should not need]essly offend. Blu
above all things let us not be guilty O
silence WI en- we ought to cry out
| Whi1n 'Chri 9 r. IN mon u,,ihblo cvor ic