The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1899-05-05

| is impossible to exaggerate the evils
OF strong drink A plague! A plague
In the first place the inebriate suf-
fers from the loss Of good name.
God has so arranged 1t that no man
loses his reputation except by his own
act. The world may assault a man,
and all the powers Of darkness may
assault him-they cannot capture him
so long as his heart is pure and his life
is pure. All the powers OF earth ana
hell cannot take that Gibraltar II
man is right all the bombardment OF
the world for five, ten, twenty, forty
years will only strengthen him In MS
position. So that all you have to do is
to keep yourself right. Never MIND
the world. Let it say what 1t Will. II
can do you no damage. But as soon as
1t is whispered, "he drinks" and IL
can be proved, he begins to go down.
What clerk can get position Win
such a reputation? What store wants
him? What Church of God wants him
for a member? What dying man
wants him for an executor! he
drinks" / stand before hundreds OF
young men-and l say it not in Hat
tery-splendid young men who have
their reputation as their only capital.
Your father gave you good educa-
ton, or as good an education as he
could afford to give you. He started
you in city life. He could furnish you
no means, but he has surrounded you
with Christian influences and good
memory of the past. Now, young man,
under God you are with your own right
arm to achieve your fortune, and as
your reputation is your only capital, do
not bring upon 1t suspicion by going in
and out of liquor establishments or by
an odor of your breath, or by any glare
of your eye or by any unnatural hush
on your cheeks. You lose your reputa-
ton and you lose your capital.
The inebriate suffers also in the fact
that he loses his self-respect, and when
you destroy a mans self-respect there
is not much left of him. Then man
will do things he would not do other
wise; he will say things he would not
say otherwise. The fact is that man
cannot stop, or he would stop now.
He is bound hand and foot by the
Philistines, and they have shorn his
locks and put his eyes out, and made
him grind in the mill of a great horror.
After he Is three-fourths gone in this
slavery, the first thing he will be anx-
ious to impress you with is that he
can stop at any time he wants to.
His family become alarmed in regard
to him, and they say: Now do stop
this; after a while it will get the mas
terry of you" ooh! no." he says, Il
can stop at any time; 1 can stop now,
can stop tomorrow" His most con-
fidential friends say: ''Why, I'm
afraid you are losing your balance with
that habit; you are going little fur
Their than you can afford to go; you
had better stop" "Oh! no." he says,
II can stop at any time; 1 can stop
now" He goes on further and fur
Their. He cannot stop. l will prove it.
He loves himself, and he knows never
theless that strong drink is depicting
him in body, mind and soul. He
knows he is going down, that he has
less self-control, less equipoise of tenn
per than he used to. Why does he not
stop? Because he cannot stop. l will
prove it by going still further. He
loves his wife and children. He sees
that his habits are bringing disgrace
upon his home. The proba abilities are
| they will ruin his wife and disgrace
his children. He sees all this, and he
loves them. Why does he not stop?
He cannot stop.
II fiend from lost world should
come up on mission to a grog shop,
and, having finished the mission in the
grog shop, should come back, taking
on the tip of his wing one drop of al
coholic beverage, what excitement it
would make all through the world of
the lost; and if that one drop of alco-
holic beverage should drop from the
wing of the fiend upon the tongue of
the lueDIldl6, uOW ue WOulu spring up
and cry: That's it! that's it! Rum!
Rum! That's it," And all the caverns
of the lost would echo with the cry,
"Give it to me! Rum! RUM" All!
my friends, the inebriate's sorrow in
the next world will not be the absence
of God, or holiness, or light; it will
be the absence of rum. Look not upon
the wine when it is red, when it NOV
eth itself Alright in the cup; for at the
last it biteth like a serpent, and it
stingeth like an adder
When l see this plague in the land,
and when l see this destroying angel
sweeping across our great Cities am
sometimes indignant, and sometimes
Inundated. When a man asks me:
what are you in favor of for the
subjugation of this evil?" 1 answer:
II am ready for anything that is rea-
sonable." You ask me, Are you in
favor of Sons of Temperament" Yes.
"Are you in favor of Good Samari-
tans?" Yes. Are you in favor of
Good Templars?" Yes. Are you in
favor of prohibitory law" Yes. Are
you in favor of the pledge?" Yes.