The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1900-07-12
REFLECTIONS FROM
THE 4TH.
1NTEMPERANCE IN THE HOME
Customs Iron Rule.


vations moved a correspondent 30 writ.
the following for the Norfolk Virginiar
Pilot for July 5th:
What the she'll is to the fort, the
tornado to the forest, the earthquake t.
the earth, that intemperance is to the
home. The shell striKes the fort, and
it is demolished, destroying the lives
within the tornado, the forest and i,
lies in a tangled mass of ruin; the
earthquake rends the very earth, and
then we fear to trust it. Iltemperance
in the home is all this and more. 1t
blights the hope of beautiful lives i,
wrecks the strong and the weak to-
gether it sh1yers the very foundations
OF society, and leaves the individual
afraid to trust the strong arms of tdose
they love and upon whom they have
heen taught to lean for protection
Surely the picture is complete, and the
ruin of intemperance in the home is
fearful.
1t is amazing to- obser-e how many
are the ways in which strong drink
moves upon the home to do its terrible
work. Perhaps the mother of the home
is a brave soul. She has said strong
drink shall have no place there. To
this brave stand the father has yielded
and it looks as if that home is safe
from the bIighting curse, but 1t Is not
far from safety.
Society has its peculiar ways OF
breaking down barriers and opening
the way for the entrance of this mon
ster. The home is not safe from It's
bllghtlng touch, not even when father
and mother both have agreed that it
shall have no place there, for society
Will set up its demands in the face OF
the opposition of~the heads of the
household, and through the Influence
of these demands the entrance is ef-
fected, the barrier Is broken down and
strong drink RACES in the home where
it was thought to have no rights.
POWER OF CUSTOM.
Custom is a terror to temperance. Ii
is customary to have eggnog at Christ
mas time, and though the father and
mother have no idea Of having strong
drink in their home, yet through this
custom pressure Is brought to bear
and many father and mother have
yielded to the demands of custom,
just this once, only to see King Alchol
IN the lives of the father and the sons.
It was only yielding to custom, but it
meant ruin to the home. It was the
shell from the enemies gun, and it did
its work most effectively.
Again, there is the custom of wine
served in the wedding supper, and So
ciety says it is the custom and you
must not break 1t. The heads of the
house yield to the demand, made, ap-
parently in such innocence, and yet it
means the wreck of one young mans
life and the destruction of one young
mans spirit, wrecked In time and for
eternity, and 1t was only little tribute
to custom, the custom OF a heartless
society life.
So far reaching is this power Of Gus
tom that 1t avails itself OF almost
every event that Is out of the usual
order of daily life and makes an oe=
casion thereof to drag into its unholy
power the homes Of the best people,
making havoc of the purity and happl-
ness of the true and the brave.
Through the conyentionalities of soci-
ETY., strong drink gets into the homes
of many of the leading people OF our
land, and then, once entrenched there
in, it is bold to take our sons and our
fathers aud lead them down the broad
and beaten way to hell. Thus many
a home is wrecked and ruined for time
aud for eternity, and IN it all there is
no purpose served higher than to hon
or the most damnable tendencies and
demands of rotten society, the agent
of the a1ch-enemy of man.
These demands are not limited to
the matter of strong drink, but almost
every conceivable sin uses the same
artful way to get an entrance into the
hearts and lives and homes of the best
people OF our land, and the sad pant
about 1t comes in the fact that go few
men aud women are found who have
the courage to stand against this drift
OF society. They could face tornado,
or a battlefield where shot and shell
are Staying thousands, or they could
meet an epidemic and nurse the sick
ana dying without fear for their own
safety, but they cannot meet and
boldly resist the power of this dreadful
evil which we call the custom of so
ciety. Better were it rightly named
and boldly called the deyil's flank
movement to entrap souls into his net