Milford chronicle., 1902-10-03

serpent and stingeth like an adder"
My father has now been dead about
six months. Since his demise have
received scores OF letters from many
parts Of this country asking me to de-
fine my position on the Temperance
question. Only yesterday strong,
earnest plea came from one Of tile
New England states which went some
thing like this: "Your fathers voice
always rang true in his hatred for the
wine cup. Will you not come to orr
aid and help the thousands Of mothers
who have drunken sons and the wives
who have drunken husbands fight this
relentless enemy Of God and the
homer It is in answer to these. let.
tiers that shall state ny belief and
position upon the temperance question.
But l speak with broader purpose
than merely TO crafty curiosity /
want every man, woman and Oh Id
who hates the saloon and who is CON
secrated for a combined coml Mt
against this arch fiend Of the centur cs
to look upon me as brother and a
cOmrade. pledge myself as the col
league of every foe of the Intoxicating
cup. At every opportunity, with voice
and pen. will thrust at this Serpan-
tine monster. 1t shall be my aim. as
it should be the aim of every one of
Gods ministers. to rally, with all he
influences at his command, the enc
mics of this hitherto invincible and IN
conquered foe of the human race. Nay
God grant us to live to see the day
when the fangs of this mighty monster
shall have been extracted and when
its head shall have been crushed and
its vile carcass dismembcred under the
advancing hOofs Of the white chargers
of the gospel army.
The evil Of intOXicntiOn Is universal
curse. Its long. Shiny. twisting coils
spread over every land and are visible
In every walk Of life. There is hardly
man OF woman sitting before me who
has not had at least one near relative
who has been cursed by the fatal bite
Of this crawling. insidiOus enemy. Per-
liaps that near relative was u father,
mother. an uncle. an aunt, Il brother,
sister. wife, husband or a child.
Alas, many Of us can say we have not
only had one. but many near relatives
and friends who have gone down into
drunkurds' graves after they have lived
the hopeless and humanity helpless, de-
graded earthly existence of the drunk
ard Even as am preparing this SER
mon news is published that man who
has filled high places in the service of
his country. who bore name honored
in our history, has lost his life in a
hrawl In which he would never have
been involved If he had not INDUCED in
Intoxicating drink. 4
The Warming of Solomon.
Solomon compared the sin Of lntOxi
cation to the writings and twis tingS
of II serpent and to the stinging IF al
adder because ut that time poisonous
serpents were everywhere. Every
thicket was filled with constellation
of their cleaning eyes. Every deser
was the home of the pun adder, lyins
half buried in the sand Every sEamI
was the retreat of the water viper. Ey
cry hillside had for the Traveller I
warming hiss or rattle. Even unit,
this day many Of the countries Of tn
east are overrun with poisonous rep
tiles. In India alone over $4,000 in
habitnnts annually die from poisOnou
snake bites.
The deadly serpents can multiply a
most indefinitely In the wild. urdeve
Oped region of virgin soil. Hum
bOldt, the celebrated German Sclentis
guve this description Of one Of hi
travels: in the savannas Of EssC
pubic, in Guiana. | saw the most wOI
dprful and terrible Of spectacles w
were ton men on horseback. TWO &
whom took the lead in order to soun
the passages. while preferred 10 SIKH
the green forest One Of the blac
men who formed the vanguard r,
turned at full gallop and said to IN
- Come here. sir. and see serpents In
pile He pointed out 10 me sOmethin
3 elevated in the middle of the saval
mas which appeared like a pile (
arms. One of my companions sal,
This must be one OF those assen
blHgcs Of serpentS which heap ther
selves on each other after u yiolel
e tempest ! have heard Of such. bl
- have never seen any. Let us be ca
tiOus and not 30 too near When Y
4 were within twenty paces of 1t, Il
= terror of our horses prevented Of
r. nearer approach. to which. howevC
y none Of US was inclined. Sudden
a the pyramidPd mass became agitate
Frightful hiSSings issued from it. Tho
sands Of serpents rolled spil'ally
- each other. They shot their hideo
heads out of the circles. pIcsenti
their fiery eyes at us | then thong
what could be the design of this q
v mprOuS aSSPmblage ! concluded IL
this species of serpent dreaded Sol
colossal enemy and they united the
selves. after having seen this enen
IN order TO attack or resist II IN I
=, mass" So today the Serppnts of
wine cup attack singly or en- mas
p5N They are everywhere and find tn
nc. prey in all ranks OF society. The wi
w. spread curse OF the wine cup was V,
ee. strikingly compared to the fdtnl $
s zee NrntS of the SOlomOnic era. VIII
res were almost everywhere. But. uni
ms the serpents which have almost
,ns appeared before our advancing ci'
for cation, the trails of the adters of
MS toxicatiOn are even more multitl
mi nous now tlmn ever before.
serpents Everywhere.
RI. The serpents of intOxicatiOn have
- ceased so rapidly that they are l
NJ ,nnumerable We hear their hiss
M almost every legislative hall We
their eyes cleaning out of almost
cry palace. We lind them lying III
the orange blossoms Of the MARI
r altar. as well as in the detention
Il, pitfalls for the patients who have t
rooms filled with the cOiliHg SCRIP
of dplirium trcmens. We find man
our Statesmen paralyzed by the Il;
.ntal of this adder'S eyes, as poor,
frightened sparrow might tremble
crouch until she falls into the
mouth of the blacksnake which
TO. charmed her We find that even
of the ministers who fill the pulpit
Il the gospel of Jesus Christ are te
lied 10y the sight of the Sc -pent o
nalE toxication. hecIuse the rich hF,
ray may be the president of the boar
pg trustees or the wealthy distiller's