The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1900-05-17
lNuERSOLL ON ALCOHOL.
A Wonderful Piece of Word Painting
by the AgnOstic.

Colonel Robert &. Ingersoll, in ad
dressing jury i'll case which in
volved the manufacture of alcohol,
made the following terrible arraign-
mert of the demon:
Il am aware that there is pref
udice against any man who manufac-
lures alcohol. believe that from the
time it issues from the coiled and
poisonous worm in the distilIery until
it empties into the jaws OF death,
dishonor and crime, it demoralizes
everybody that touches it, from it's
source to where it ends. | do not
believe anybody can contemplate the
object without being prejudiced
against the liquor crime. All we have
to do, gentlemen, is to think of the
wrecks on either bank of the stream
of death, of the suicides, OF the in
sanity, of the ignorance, of the desti
tuition. of the little children tugging
at the faded and withered breast of
weeping and despairing mothers, of
wives asking for bread, of the men of
genius it has wrecked. the men strug-
Cling with imaginary serpents, pro-
duced by this devilish thing; and
when you think of the jails, of the
almshouses, of the asylums, of the
prisons, of the scaffolds upon either
bank, l do not wonder that every
thoughtful man is prejudiced against
this damned stuff called alcohol. In
temperance cuts down youth in it's
vigor, manhood in its strength, old
age in it's weakness. 1t breaks the
fathers heart, bereaves the doting
mother, extinguishes natural affec-
ton, erases conjugal love, blots out
filial attachment, blights parental
hopes, brings down mourning age in
sorrow to the grave. 1t produces
weakness, not strength; sickness, not
health; death, not life. 1t makes
wives widows children orphans;
fathers fiends; and all of them paupers
and beggars. 1t feeds rheumatism,
invites cholera, imports pestilence
and embraces consumption. 1t covers
the land with idleness, misery. crime.
1t fills your jails, supplies your aims
1t engenders controversies, fosters
| quarrels and cherishes riots. 1t
crowds your penitentiaries and fur
nishes victims for your scaffolds. 1t
is the life blood o: the gambler, the
element of the burglar, the prop of
the highwayman and support of the
midnight incendiary. 1t countenances
the liar, respects the thief, esteems
the blasphemer. 1t violates obliga-
tion, reverences fraud and honors in
fanny. 1t defames benevolence, hates
love, scorns virtue and slanders in
nocence. 1t incites the father to
butcher his helpless offspring, helps
the husband to massacre his wife and
the child SO grind the paricidal ak.
1t burns up men, consumes women,
detests life, curses God, despises
Heaven. 1t suborns witnesses, nurses
perjury, defles the jury box and
stains the judicial ermine. 1t degrades
the citizen, debases the legislator,
| dishoners the statesman and disarms
the patriot. It brings shame, not
honor; misery. not safety; despair,
not hope; sorrow, not happiness. and
with the malevolence of fiend it
calmly surveys its frightful desola-
tion and unsatiated havoc. 1t poisons
felicity, kills peace, ruins morals,
blights confidence, Stays reputation,
and wipes out national honor, then
curses the world and laughs at its
ruin. 1t does all that and more. 1,
murders the soul. 1t is the sum Of
all villainies, the father Of all crimes
the mother of all denominations, the
DEVILS best friend and Gods worst
enemy"