Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1899-05-06


him so long lis his heart is pure and his
life is pure All the powers of earth
ind hell cannot take that Gibraltar. If
man is right all the homlardment of
tile world for 5, 10, 20, 40, years will
only strengthen him in his position. So
that all yon have to 90 il to keep your
self right. Never mind the world. Let
it say what it will. 1t can do you no
damage. But as soon as it is whispered,
"EIe drinks. and it can be proved, he
begins to go down. What clerk can get
Il position with such Il reputation
What store wants him? What church
of God wants Linn for member? What
dying man wants him for an executor?
"lIe drin;sl" / stand before hundreds
of young men-and | say it not in flat
tery-splendid young men who have
their reputation us their only capital.
Your father gave you IL good education.
or as good in education as he could
afford to give you. He started you in
city life. He conld furnish You no
means, but he has surrounded you with
Christian influences and Il good memory
of the past Now, Young man, under
God You are with your own right arm
to achieve yorr fortune, and as Your
reputation is yonr only capital do not
bring npon it suspicion by going in and
ont of liquor establishments or by an
odor of your breath or by amy glare of
your eye or by any unnatural flush on
Your cheel:s. You lose Your reputation
and you lose your capital.
The Inebrinte's Dcgrndntion.
The inehriatc suffers also in the fact
that he loses his self respect, and when
you destroy Il mans self respect there
is not much left OF him. Then a man
will do things he would not do other
wise. he will say things he would not
say otherwise Tho fact is, that man
cannot stop or he wc!ild stop now. He
is bound hand and foot by the PILLS
tines, 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 he anxious 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 awhile
it will get the mastery of you. Oh,
mol" he says. 81 can stop at any time.
l can stop now. can stop tomorrow. "
His most confidential friends say:
.'Why, IN afraid You are losing your
balance with that habit. You are going
a little further than you can afford to
go. You had better stop" ooh, mol"
he says. II can stopat any time. l can
stop now" He goes on further and fur
ther. He cannot stop | 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 temper, than he
used to. Why does he not stop? Because
he cannot stop. Twill prove it by going
still further. He loves his wife and
children. He sees that his habits are
bringing disgrace upon his home. The
probabilities 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.
had very dear friend, generous to
a fault. He bad given thousands and
tens of thousands of dollars to Bible So
cieties, tract societies, missionary soci-
cites, asylums for the poor, the halt,
the lame, the blind, the imbecile. l do
not believe for 90 years anybody asked
him for dollar, $50, or 500 for char
ity but he gave il. l never heard of
anybody asking him for help but he
gave it. But he was under the power of
strong drink, and he went on down,
down. down. His family implored him,
saying: "You are going too far in that
habit. You had better stop. He re-
piled: 81 can stop any time. I am my
own master. 1 can stop" He went on
down, down. His friends advised and
cautioned him. He said: Don't be
afraid of me- l am my own master. l
can stop now. l know what l am do
ing" He went on down until he had
the dclirium tremens. On down until
be had the delirium tremcns twice. Aft
er the second time the doctor said: IF
you ever have an attack like this again,
YOU will die. Yon had better stop. He
said: ~ can stop any time. can stop
now, Ha went on down. He is dead.
What slew him? Rum, rum! Among
the last things he said was that he
could stop any time. He could not stop.
Power OF the Rum Dragon.
Oh. my young friends, want to tell
you that there is a point in inebriaticn
beyond which if a man go he cannot stop
But sometimes IA man will be more
frank than that A victim of strong
drink said to rcfoIJner: at is impos-
sible for me tostop. Irealize it. But if
you should tell me. coulln't have a
drink until tomorrow night unless | had
sll my fingers cut off, l would say,
Bring tie llatchet and cut them off. .
l had very dear friend in Philadelphia
whose nephew came to him and was
talking about his trouble and confessed
it. He confessed he could not stop. My
friend said, You mnst stop He said
Il can t stop. If there stood cannon,
and it was loaded, and there was a
glass Of wine on the month of the can
non. and 1 knew you would fire if off if
approached, would start to get that
glass of wine must have it. can t
get rid Of this habit. l can't get away
from it. OH, it is awful for Il man to
wake up and feel that he lisa captive l
hear him soliloquizing, saying; 81
might have stopped three months ago.
but I can't stop now. Dead, but not
buried: | am walking corpse. | am
an apparltOn or what once was. am
Gagged immortal and my soul beats
against the wires of my cage on this
side and beats against the wires of my
cage on the other side until there is
blood on the wires and blood on the
soul, but I can't get out. Destroyed
without remedy''
Again. the man suffers from the loss