Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1898-02-24
Pledge the Young.

The dangers which threaten our youth
call for vigorous and earnest work to save
them. In our large cities boys between
the ages OF eight and fifteen are especially
habits; arrests for drunkenness among
those OF tender years are becoming fire.
quent. More than one-ffth of the boys OF
the nation are fastening with quick steps
to fill up the ranks Of the perishing drunk
ards. The hundreds of ragged youth in
the cities with the marks of the curse now
upon them appeal for help.
But how shall we reach and prevent
others from following In their path? Our
public school system offers no solution for
this problem. The family relation, effec-
tive though it might be, proves itself
will use liquor for years without the knowl-
edge Of their parents, or with the consent
OF their example.
In the Sunday-school, however. may be
found an efficient and powerful instru-
mentality. Here temperance may be
pressed upon the youngest consciences
with all the sacred force Of religion added.
Indeed, II Gods wcrd is taught, IL sin is
condemned, and righteousness upheld, the
principle OF total abstinence will be in
culcated, for how can teacher with any
conscience be content to point out the
locations Of cities and towns in Palestine,
or tell the depths of the Dead Sea, and not
declare the law OF temperance and point
out the pitfalls which are right about the
young?
Intemperance can be denounced as a sin
against God and man. AS Hamilcar led
young Hannibal to the altar. caused him to
lay his chiln-hnnds upon the holy things
and swear taat as long as he lived he would
be the enemy OF Rome. SO the Sabbath.
school teacher can pledge these youthful
ones to eternal hatred of alcoholic drink.
If the church is to win and keep the chill
| dren for Christ this must be done
The church must get into close grip with
the wolf in the shape of the liquor traffic il
the lambs OF the flock are to be saved from
destruction. The cause of fearful leakage
in church membership and the DEVILS great
engine of the bodies and soul of countless
thousands must itself be destroyed, and the
church must do 1t by temperance teaching
in the Sabbath-school and pledging the
young to total abstinence.
| II the fathers and mothers of the boys
! and girls of tomorrow, who are now in
our Sabbath-schools, are thus pledged, a
race of children will be "well born"
with healthy bodies and clean souls
National Temperance Advocate.
Temperance Physiological Necessity.
! In like manner the influence of all drugs
which affect the nervous system must be in
| the direction of disintegration. The healthy
| mind stands in clear and normal relations
with nature. 1t feels pain as pain. 1t feels
action as pleasure. The drug which con
| ceals pain or gives false pleasure when
pleasure does not exist, forces a lie upon
the nervous system. The drug which dis
poses to reverie rather than to work, which
makes us feel we'll when we are not well,
destroys the sanity of life. All stimulants,
narcotics, tonics, which affect the nervous
| system In whatever way, reduce the truth
fulness of sensation, thought, and action.
Toward insanity all such influences lead;
and their effect, slight though it be, Is OF
the same nature as mania. The man who
| would see clearly, think truthfully, and act
effectively. must avoid them all. Emer-
gency aside, he can not safely force upon
his nervous system even the smallest false.
hood. And here lies the one great unans-
werable argument for total abstinence; not
abstinence from alcohol alone, but from all
nerve poisons and emotional excesses.-
Appleton's Popular Science Monthly.