Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1901-10-04

and drink my father and grandfather
used to plead when, regularly every morn
ing, the family and the negro servants were
| mustered for prayers. AT every post where
] was stationed. either in the east or where
| most at heme-the far frontier
whisky was the established custom, and
man after man. fellows who had made fine
records during the war. and bright boys
with whom had worn the gray at the
| Point, fell by the wayside and were court
martialed out of service.
I'm 20 and II we had board that swept
the army like seine, and relegated scores
of tipplers to civil life. but that didn't
stop It, Little by little the sense and man
hood Of our people began to tell. Little
by little the feeling against stimulant be-
gan to develop at the Point. It was no
longer a joke to set a f1edgling officer to
| taste the tempter-it was crime. Four
years after was commissioned we had
one total abStainer out of some so officers
at the mess, and he was man whose life
and honor depended on it. Three years
ago, when / went to see you, there were
dozens at the mess who never drank at all,
only eight who even smoked. Athletics and
rifle practice had much to do with this
know, but there has gradually developed
all over our land, notably in those commu-
mites where the custom used to be most
honored in the observance, a total revui-
sion of sentiment.
Quarter of a century ago even among
many gently nurtured women the sight of
a man overcome by liquor excited only
sorrow and sympathy; now it commands
nothing less than adherence L and my
surviving contemporaries started in life
under the old system. You, my dear boy
are more fortunate in having begun with
the new. Among the old soldiers there are
still some few votaries of Bacchus who
have to count their cups most carefully
or risk their commissions. Among those
under 40 our army has far more total alb
stainers than all the others in the world
and such soldiers as Grant, Crook Merritt
and Upton. of our service. and Kitchener
of Khartoum. are on record saying that
the staying powers of the teetotaller exceed
those even of the temperate man, and
staying power is thing to cultivate.
LAS you know, L have never banished
wine from our table. my boy. Both your
mother and had been accustomed to see
ing it in daily from childhood, yet she
rarely touches it, even a our dinners But
Sanford, [ sent John Barieycorn to the
right about the day your blessed mother
promised to be my wife. and though 1 al
ways kept it in the sideboard foraold com
rades whose heads and stomachs are still
sound, and who find it agrees with them
better, than wine, never offer it to the
youngsters. They don't need it, Sandy, and
no more do you.
+ But you come of a race that lived as
old their fellow men-to whom cards. the
bottle and betting were everyday affairs.
1t would be remarkable if you never de-
veloped a tendency towards ali
of them, and it was my duty to warn you
before. 1 mourn every hour I wasted over
cards and every dollar I ever won from
many hundred dollars I lost in my sew
era1 years apprenticeship to poker. It's
just about the poorest investment of time
a soldier devise.
knowing all I do, and looking back over
the path of my life, strewn it is with
the wrecks of fellOw-men ruined by whisky.
1 declare if 1 could live it over again it
would be with the determination never to
touch a card for money glass for liquor
G And now, my own boy, let me bear the
blame of this-yOur first traHsgression.
You are more to US than we have ever told
you. You are now your sisters guardian
and knight, for, though she goes under the
wing of Mrs. Dr. Wells, and owing to her
intense desire to take a Womans part, we
could not deny her, both your mother and
I are filled with anxiety as to the result.
To you We look to be her shield in every
possible way. We have never ceased to
thank God for the pride and joy He has
given us in our children. (You yourself
would delight in seeing what a tip-top little
soldier Will is making) You have ever
been manful, truthful, and. I say it with
pride and thankfulness unutterable square
as boy could be. You have our whole faith
and trust and love unspeakable. You have
the best and fondest mother in the world.
my son. And now have not one more word
to urge advise. Think and decide for
yourself. Your manhood under God will
do the rest.
In love and confidence,
FATHER"
When Marion came tapping timidly
at the Stateroom door there was for
moment no answer. Sandys face
was buried in his hands as he knelt
beside the little white berth He
presently arose, dashed some water
over his eyes and brows, thea shot
back the bolt apd took his sister in
his arms.