St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-10-22

phemy. A man travelling In Russia
was supposed to be clergymn. why
do you take me to be elergyn.n7-
said the man. ''Oh," said the Rus
sian, AL other Americans swear" The
crime is multiplying in intensity. God
very often shows what He thinks of 1t,
but for the most part the fatality In
hushed up. Among the Adirondacks
met the funeral procession of = man
who two days before had fallen under
q fash Of lightning, while Boosting, At
ter Sunday OF work in tho fields, that
he had cheated God out Of one day
anyhow, and the man who worked
with him on the same Sabbath il still
living, but helpless invalid, under
the same fash.
Years ago, in . Pittsburgh prison.
two men were talking about the Bible
and Christianity, and one of them,
Thompson by name, applied to Jesus
Christ q very low and villainous epi-
thet, and, as he was uttering it, he fell.
A physician was called. but no help
could be given. After = days lying
with distended pupils and palsietl
tongue, he passed out OF this world.
Ih~a cemetery in Sullivan county, In
New York state, are eight headstones
in line and all alike, and these are
the facts: In 1861 diphtheris ragged in
the village, and physician was re-
markably successful in curing his
patients. So confident did he become
that he boasted that no case Of diph
liberia could stand before him, and
finally defied Almighty God to produce
a case Of diphtheria that he could not
cure. His youngest son soon after
took the disease and died, and one
child after another, until all the eight
had died Of diphtheria. The blasphem-
er challenged Almighty God. and God
accepted the challenge. Do not think
that because God has been silent in
your case, o profane swearer! that He
is dead. Is there nothing now In the
peculiar feeling of your tongue. or
nothing in the numbness of your brain
that indicates that God may come to
avenge your blasphemies, or il already
avenging them? But these cases l
have noticed, believe, are only few
cases where there are hundreds. Fam
lilies keep them quiet to avoid the hor-
rible conspicuity. Physicians suppress
them through professional confidence.
It is n very, very, very long roll that
contains the names Of those who died
with blasphemies ON their lips
Still the crime rolls on. up through
parlors, up through chandeliers with
lights MI ablaze, and through the pic
tured corridors Of club rooms, out
through busy exchanges were oath
meets oath, and down through all
the haunts Of sin, mingling with the
rafting dice and crakling billiard
balls, and the laughter of her who
hath forgotten the covenant Of her
God; and round the city and round the
continent, and round the earth .
seething, boiling surge fiings its hot
spray into the face of a long suffering
God. And the ship captain curses his
crew, and the master builder his men,
and the hack driver his horse, and the
traveller the stone that bruises his foot,
or the mud that soils his shoes, or the
defective timepiece that gets him too
late to the rail train. / arraign pro-
fame swearing and blasphemy, two
names for the same thing, rs being
one of the gigantic crimes of this land,
and for its extirpation it does seem as
il it were about time for God to rise.
Then look for moment Ut the evil
OF drunkenness. Whether you live in
Washington, or New York, or Chicago.
or Cincinnati, of Savannah, or Boston,
or in any of the cities of this land,
count up the saloons on that street rs
compared with the saloons five years
ago, and see they are growing far out
of proportion of the increase of popu-
lation. You people who are so precise
and particular lest there should be
some imprudence and rashness in at
tacking the rum traffic will have your
son some night pitched into your front
door dead drunk, or your daughter
will come with her children because
her husband has, by strong drink.
been turned into demoniac. The
drink fiend has despoiled whole streets
OF good homes in our cities. Fathers,
brothers, sons on the funeral pyre Of
strong drink! Fasten tighter the VIC
Tins! Stir up the flames! Pile on the
corpses! More men, women and chill
dren for the sacrifice! Let us have
whole generations ON fire Of evil habit;
and ut the sound of the cornet, flute,
harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer
let al the people fall down and wor-
ship King Alcohol. or you shall be cast
into the fiery furnace under some po-
litical platform!
/ indict this evil as the regicide, the
fratricide, the patricide, the matricide
the uxorcide of the century. Yet un-
der what innocent and lelusive and
mirthful names alcoholism deceives
the people. 1t is . cordial" 1t in
..bitters." It is an "eyeopener." 1t
il m appetizer" 1t is a '.digester." !"
It IL an ''invigorator." II is "set-
tier" 1t is ''night-cap." Why don't
they put ON the right Labels Essence
of Perdition," Conscience Stupefier," /"
Five Drachms of Heart-ache," !" Tears
OF Orphanage." ''Elood Of Souls, !"
.Scabs of an Eternal Leprosy." Venom
of the Worm that Never Dies?" Only
once in awhile is there anything in the
title OF liquors toeven hint their atroci-
ty, as in the case of ''sour mash. :"
That zee advertised all over. It is an
honest name, and anyone can under
stand 1t. ..Sour mash!" That II. It
makes . mans disposition sour, and
his associations sour, and his pros
poets sour; and then it il good to mash
his body, and mash his soul, and mash
his business, and mash his family.
''Sour mashi" One honest name Mt last
for m intoxicant! But through lying
labels OF many Of the apothecaries'
shops, good people, who arr only lit
tie under tone in health, and wanting
some vigoration, have unwittingly got
on their tongue the fangs OF this CO
bra, that stings to death - large ra-
tic of the human race.
Others are ruined by the common
and all-destructive habit of treating
customers. And il is = treat on their
coming to town, and = treat while the
bargaining progresses, and . treat
when the purchase il made. and .