Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1899-05-05

soul, but : can't get out. Destroyed
without remedyr
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
and in the front rank in reformatory
institutions: Do you know they once
knelt at the family altar and once car
ried the chalice Of the holy communion
on sacramental daysl Do you know
they once stood in the pulpit and preach
ed the gospel Of the Son Of Godg We
will not forget the scene witnessed some
years ago in my Brooklyn church when
man rose in the midst Of the audience,
stepped into the aisle and walked up
and down. Everybody saw that he was
! intoxicated. The ushers led him out,
and his poor wife took his hat and ever
coat and followed him to the door. Who
was hel He had once been a mighty
minister Of the gospel Of Jesus Christ
in a sister denomination, bad often
preached in this very city. What slew
him. 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.
Do not try to persuade him that there
is no future punishment. Do not 60 in
to any argument to prove to him that
there is no hell He knows there is. He
is there nowl
Horrors of Alcoholism.
But he suffers also in the loss Of phys
ical health. The older people in this au
dience can remember DR.. Seweil going
through this country electrifying great
audiences by demonstrating TO them
the effect Of strong drink upon the hu-
man stomach. l am told he had eight
or ten diagrams which be presented to
the people showing the different stages
in the progress Of the disease. and am
told tens Of thousands Of people turned
back from that ulcerous sketch and
icants God only knows what the
drunkard suffers Pain files on every
nerve and travels every muscle and
gnaws on every bone and stings with
every poison and pnlls with every tor
ture. What reptiles crawl over his shiv-
ering limbs What specters stand by
his midnight pillows What groans tear
the air Talk Of the rack talk Of the
funeral pyre, talk Of the Juggernaut-
he suffers them all at once.
See the attendants stand back from
that ward in the hospital where the in
ebriates arc dying. They cannot stand
it. The keepers come through it and
say "Hush mp. now Stop making this
noisel Be STILL You are disturbing all
the other patients. Keep still now
Then the keepers pass on. and after
they get past then the poor creatures
wiring their hands and say: 80 God
Help, helpl Give me rum. give me
ruml o God Help Take the devils off
Of mel O God 0 God!' And they
shrek and they blaspheme and they cry
for help and then they ask the keepers
to slay them. saying: "Stab me. stran-
| gle me, smother me Q Godl Help,
helpl Rum Give me rum. o God
Helpl" They tear ont their hair by the
handful, and they bite their nails into
the quick. This is no fancy picture. It
is transpiring in a hospital at this mo-
ment. 1t went on last night while you
slept. and, more than that, that is the
death some Of you will die unless you
stop. see it coming God help you to
stop before you go so far that you can
not stop.
De-poiler OF Homes.
But it plaques a man also IN the loss
Of home. l do not care how much he
loves his wife and children, if this habit
gets the mastery over him be will do
the most outrageous things. If need be-
in order to get strong drink he would
sell them all into everlasting captivity.
There are hundreds and thousands Of
homes that have been utterly blasted
Of it. am speaking Of no abstraction.
Is there anything SO disastrous to
man for this life and for the life to
Gomez Do you tell me that a man can
be happy when he knows be Is breaking
| his wife's heart and clothing his chill
dren with rags2 There are little chill
| dren in the streets today, barefOOted,
unkempt, uncombed, want written on
every patch Of their faded dress and on
every wrinkle of their prematurely old
countenance, who would have been in
the house of God this morning as well
clad as you had it not been that strong
drink drove their parents down into
penury and then down into the grave.
Oh, rum, rum, thou despoiler Of homes,
thou foe of God thou recruiting officer
of the pit. hate thee
But my subject takes a deeper tone
when it tells you that the inebriate sut-
fers the loss Of the soul. The Bible in
Inmates that if we go into the future
world unforgiven the appetites and pas
sions which were regnant here will tor
ment us there. | suppose when the inc
briate wakes up in the lost world there
will be an infinite thirst clawing upon
him. In this world be could get strong
drink. However poor be was in this
world, he could beg or he could steal D
cents to get a drink that would for
little while slake his thirst. but in eter-
nifty where will the rum come fromf
Dives wanted one drop Of water, but
could not get it, Where will the inebri-
ate get the draft he so much requires,
so much demandsS No one to brew it.
No one to mix it. No one to pour it.
No one to fetch it, Millions Of worlds
now for the dregs that were thrown on
the sawdusted floor Of the restaurant
Millions Of worlds now for the rind
flung out from the punch bowl Of an
earthly banquet. Dives called for water
The iuebriate calls for rum.
Look Not Upon the Wine.
If fend from the lost world should
come up on a mission to grogshop
and, having finished the mission in the
grogshop, should come back, taking ON