Connecticut western news., 1899-05-04

or as good an education as he coul
 afford to give you. He started you il
 city life. He could furnish you n
 means, but he has surrounded you wit
 Christian influences and good memor,
 of the past. Now, young man, unde
 God you are with your own right aru
 to achieve your fortune, and as you
 reputation is your only capital do no
 bring upon it suspicion by going in an,
 out of liquor establishments or by al
 odor of your breath or by any glare O
 your eye or by any unnatural flush ol
 your cheeks. You lose your reputation
 and you lose your capital.
 The Inebriate's Degradation.
 The inebriate suffers also in the fac
 that he loses his self respect, and whel
 you destroy mans self respect ther,
 is not much left of him. Then a mar
 will do things he would not do other
 wise, he will say things he would no
 say otherwise. The fact is, that mal
 cannot stop or he would stop now. H,
 is bound hand and foot by the Philis
 tines, and they have shorn his locks ant
 put his eyes out and made him grind
 in the mill of great horror. After h.
 is three-fourths gone in this slavery tht first thing he will be anxious to impres,
 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 "I can stop at any time.
 I can stop now. I can stop tomorrow. '' His most confidential friends say
 ''Why, I'm 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. "Oh, noi'' he says. 'I can stop at any time. I 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 stop2 Because he cannot stop. 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 bilities 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.
 I had very dear friend, generous to a fault. He had given thousands and tens of thousands of dollars to Bible so- cieties, tract societies, missionary soci- cities, asylums for the poor, the halt, the lame, the blind, the imbecile. I do not believe for 20 years anybody asked him for dollar, $50, or $100 for char ity but he gave it. I never heard of any body 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, eaying: "You are going too far in that habit You had better stop" He re- piled: "I can stop any time. am my own master. can stop" He went on down, down. His friends advised and cautioned him. He said: Don't be afraid of me. I am my own master. can stop now. I know what I am do- ing" He went on down until he had the delirium tremens. On down until be had the delirium tremens twice. Aft CT the second time the doctor said:, "If you ever have an attack like this again, you will die. You had better stop" He said: ''I can stop any time. l can stop now" He went on down. He Is dead. What slew himH Rum, rumi 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, I want to tell you that there is point in inebriaticn beyond which if man go he cannot stopl But sometimes a man will be more frank than that. A victim of strong drink said to reformer: ''It is impos- sible for me to stop. Irealize it. But if you should tell me I couldn't have a 6rink until tomorrow night unless had all my fingers cut off, I would say, Bring the hatchet and cut them off ? I had a very dear friend in Philadelphia whoee nephew came to him and was talking about his trouble and confessed t. He confessed he could not stop. My friend said, "You must stop. He said: ''I can't stop. If there stood cannon, md it was loaded, and there was a glass of wine on the mouth of the can non, and knew you would fire if off if l approached, would start to get that glass of wine. I must have it. I can't get rid of this habit. I can't get away from it. ' Oh, it is awful for a man to wake rlp and feel that he is a captivel I hear him soliloquizing, saying: ''I might have stopped three months ago, but can't stop now. Dead, but not buried; am a walking corpse. am an apparition of what once was. am a caged 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 of usefulness. Do you know some of the men who have fallen into the ditch were once in the front rank in churches uuu III 1uO lIOul Iduh III IclOIhdbOIJ institutions Do you know they once knelt at the family altar and once car ried the chalice of the holy communion on sacramental daysf Do you know they once stood in the pulpit and preach ed the gospel of the Son of Godf We will not forget the scene witnessed some years ago in my Brooklyn church when a man rose in the midst of the audience, stepped into the aisle and walked up and down. Everybody saw that he was The ushers led him out, and his poor wife took his hat and over coat and followed him to the door, Who was hef He had once been a mighty minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ in a sister denomination, had often preached in this very city. What slew himf Strong drink Oh, what must be the feeling of a man who has destroyed bis capacity for usefulness Do not be angry with that man. Do not lose your patience with him. Do not wonder if he says strange things and gets irritated easily in the family. He has the Pyre- nees and the Andes and the Alps on him.