Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1899-05-18
THE DRIFT OF A DAY.
BY RAMBLER.


future sale of in
EulOgy toxicating liquors
on Water. in the Indian
country. 1t has
been mildly suggested by some
high public officials that the pro.
hibitory laws against the intruduc-
ton of liquors were onerous and
not expected to be enforced. The
line between the "bootlegger" and
the fellow who 'just ships it in for
his own use" is very hard to draw
so as to make the one a violation
of the law subject to punishment
and the other a good law abiding
citizen. 1t will be a sad day for
the Indian when his country is
thrown open the promiscuous sale
of intoxicants-and that time is
coming as fast as time flies, and one
or two more whirls of the congress
sional wheel and prohibition will
be unknown In the Indian Terri
tory.
A friend declared to me the 9TH
er day that no social function was
complete without something
stronger than water to drink, and
that no harm could come from the
temperate use of intoxicants. OF
course l did not agree with this
preposterous assertion.
Illustrating this very point it is
related of the late Emery Storrs
that when sitting around a wine
table with a number of lawyer
friends he insisted on drinking ice
water. They taunted him for his
absteiniousness, saying: "What
is there in water? you can say
nothing for it," Picking up his
glass he said: "How do you expect
TO improve upon the beverage fur
nished by nature? Here it is
Adams ale-about the only gift
that has decended undefiled from
the garden of Eden! Natures
common carrier, not created in the
rottenness of fermentation, not
distilled over guilty fires! Virtues
and not vices are its companions.
Does it cause drunkenness, disease,
death, cruelty to women and chill
dren? Will it place rags on the
person, mortgages on the stock,
farm and furiture? viii it con-
sumo wages and incomes in ad-
vance and ruin men in business?
No! but it floats in white gossamer
clouds far up in the quiet summer
sky, and hovers in dreamy mist
over river and lake. 1t wells
the woods and hills of earth S land.
scspes in purple haze, where filmy
lights and shadows drift hour after
hour. 1t piles itself in tumbled
masses of cloud-domes and thun-
der-heads, draws the electric flash
from its myterious hiding places,
and seams and shocks the wide air
with vivid lines of fire. 1t is car
ried by the winds, and falls in
rustling curtains of liquid drapery
all over the thirsty woods and
fields and fixes in Gods mystic
eastern heavens his beautiful bow
Of promise, gloTified with a radI-
ence that seems reflected out of
heaven itself. 1t CLEANS in the
frost crystals of the grand old
mountain top sand the dews of the
valleys. 1t silently creeps up to
each leaf in the myriad forests of
the world and tints each fruit and
flower. 1t is here in the grass
blades of the meadows, and there
where the corn waves its tassels
and the wheat is billowingl 1t
gems the debths of the dessert
with the glad green oasis,
winds in oceans around the whole
earth, and roars its hOarse enternal
anthems on a hundred thOus-
and miles of seashore. 1t
claps its hands in the flashing
wave-crests of the sea, laughs in
little rapids of the brooks, kisses
the dripping moss covered old
oaken well bucket in a countless
host of happy homes. l would
not exchange one glass of pure
sparkling water for all the intoxi-
eating drinks on earth.