The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1901-11-26

and drink, as 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
1 was most at home-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 I had worn the gray at the
Point, fell by the wayside and were court
martialed out of service.
''In 20 and II we had a board that.swept
the army like a 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 1t was no
longer a joke to set a fledgling officer to
taste the tempter-it was a crime. -Four
years after l was commissioned we had
one total abStainer out of some so officers
at the mess, and he was a man whose life
and honor depended on it. Three years
ago, when 1 went to see you, thsTe 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
1 know, but there has gradually developed
all over our land, notably in those commu-
mites where the custom used to be most
sion of sentiment.
Quarter of a century ago even among
many gently nuTtured women the sight of
man overcome by liquor excited onlv
sorrow and sympathy; now it commands
nothing less than adherence I and INV
surviving contemporaries started in life
under the old system. You, my dear bow
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 as saying that
the staying powers of the teetotalIer exceed
those even of the temperate man, and
staying power is a thing to cultivate
LAS you know, have never banished
wine from our table, my boy Both your
mother and 1 had been accustomed to see
ing it in daily use from childhood, yet she
rarely touches it, even at our dinners But
Sanford, l 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 for old com
rades whose heads and stomachs are still
sound, and who find it agrees with them
better than wine, 1 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
It would be remarkable if you never de-
veloped a tendency towards one or all
of them, and it was my duty to warn you
before. 1 mourn every hour L wasted over
cards and every dollar I ever won from
cOmrade more than-much more than-the
many hundred dollars I lost in my sew
III @0I-o
just about the poorest investment Of time
a soldier can devise.
Knowing all do, and lookir e back over
the path of my life, strewn as it is with
the wrecks of fellow-men ruined by whisky.
I declare if I could live it over again it
would be with the determination never to
touch card for money or a glass for liquor
"Ard now, my own boy, let me bear the
blame of this-your first transgression.
You ere more to US than we have ever told
you. You are now your sisters guardian
and knight, for, though she goes under the
wing CT Mrs. DR.. Wells and, owing to her
intense desire to take a womans part, we
could not deny her, both your mother and
L are filed with anxiety as 10 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. CYOu yourself
would delightin seeing what q tip-top little
soldier VIII is makingO You have ever
been manful truthful, ard, I say it with
pride and thankfulness unutterable, square
as boy could be. You have our whole faith
and trust and love unspeakab.e. You have
the best and fondest mother in the world,
my son. And now Ihave not oAe more word
to urge or 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
a moment no answer. Sandy's 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, then shot
back the bolt and took his sister in