The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1899-05-05
FERRORs OF DRINK.
Or. Talmage breaches of the Evils
of the Liquor Traffic.
I'm an Eloquent Sermon He Depicts
the Drunkard's WOe-The Rum
Fiend's Mission Is to De-
strOy All Good.
Copyright, 1899, by Louis Klopsch, Wash
inRton. Anril 30

ington, April 30.
At this time, when the evils of the
drink traffic are being widely discussed
and the movement for the abolition OF
the degrading and brutalizing canteen
In our military camps is gaining many
supporters, this sermon by DR.. Tai
mage, dealing with the broader aspects
of the plague of intemperance should
cheer and inspire the friends of tenn
perance everywhere. His text is Exc
dus 11:6, "And there shall be great
cry throughout all the land of Egypt"
This was the worst of the ten plaques.
The destroying angel at midnight
tapped his wing over the land, and
there was one dead in each house. La
mentation and mourning and woe
through all Egypt. That destroying
angel has fled the earth, but a far worse
has come. He sweeps through these
cities. 1t is the destroying angel of
strong drink. Far worse devastation
wrought by this second than by the
6rst. The calamity in America worse
than the calamity in Egypt, Thousands
. of the slain, millions of the slain. No
hI1buLlGIlC Cdll IuCll hulllDC4s
Once upon time four fiends met in
the lost world. They resolved that the
people of our earth were too happy,
and these four Intervals came forth to
our earth on embassy of mischief. The
one fend said: 'I'll take charge of the
vineyards" Another said: It'll take
charge of the grainfelds." Another
said: "I'll take charge of the dairy"
Another said: "I'll take charge of the
music" The four fends met in the
great Sahara desert, with skeleton fin
gers clutched each other in handshake
of fidelity, kissed each other good-by
with lip of blue flame, and parted on
their mission.
The fiend of the vineyard came in one
bright morning amid the grapes and sat
down on a root of twisted grapevine in
sheer encouragement. The fiend knew
not how to damage the vineyard, or,
through it, how to damage the world.
The grapes were so ripe and beautiful
and luscious. They bewitched the air
with their sweetness. There seemed to
be so much health in every bunch, and
while the fiend sat there in utter indig-
nation and disappointment he clutched
n cluster and squeezed it in perfect
spite, and 10! his hand was red with the
blood of the vineyard, and the fend
said: THAT reminds me of the blood of
broken hearts. I'll strip the vineyard,
and I'll squeeze out all the juice of the
grapes, and I'll allow the juices of the
grapes to stand until they rot, and I'll
call the process fermentation" And
there was a great vat prepared, and
people came with their cups and their
pitchers, and they dipped up the blood
of the grapes, and they drank and drank
and went away drinking, and they
drank until they fell in long lines of
death, so that when the fiend of the
vineyard wanted to return to his home
in the pit he stepped from carcass to
carcass and walked down amid great
eauseway of the dead.
Then the second fiend came into the
grainfield. He waded chin deep amid |
the barley and the rye. He heard all the |
grain talking about bread and prosper
GUS husbandry and thrifty homes. He
thrust his long arms into the grainfeld,
and he pulled up the grain'a and threw it |
into the water, and he made beneath it |
great fres-fires lighted with spark
from his own heart-and there were |
grinding and smashing and a stencil,
and the people came with their bottles, |
and they poured the fiery liquid, and |
they drank, and they blasphemed, and
they staggered, and they fought, and |
they rioted, and they murdered, and |
the fend of the pit, the fend of the |
grainfeld, was so pleased with their be- |
havior that he changed his residence
from the pit to the whisky barrel, and |
there he sat by the door of the bunghole |
laughing in high merriment at the |
thought that out of anything so harm
less as the grain of the field he might |
turn this world into a seeming pande-
monium.
The fiend of the dairy saw the cows
coming home from the pasture field,
full uddered, and as the maid MIXED |
he said: I'll soon spoil all that mess;
I'll add to it brandy, sugar and nut
meg, and I'll stir it into milk punch,
and children will drink it, and some of |
the temperance people will drink it, and |
If / can do them no more harm I'll give /
them a headache, and then I'll hand |
them over to the more vigorous fiends
of the satanic delegation" And then
the fend of the dairy leaped upon the
shelf and danced until the long row of |
shining milkpans almost qualIed.
The fend of the music entered a
and there were but few Gus
toners. Finding few customers, he
swept the circuit of the city, and he
gathered up the musical instruments
and after nightfall he marshaled
band, and the trombones blew and the
cymbals clapped and the drums beat
and the bugles called and the people
crowded in, and they swung around in
merry dance, each one with a winegless
n his hand, and the dance became
wilder and stronger and rougher, until
bhe room shook and the glasses cracked
md the floor broke and the crowd
dropped into hell.
Then the four fiends-the fiend of the
and of the grainfield and of
he dairy and of the music hall-went
pack to their home, and they held high