Milford chronicle., 1902-10-03

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band themselves together for its ex-
tinction. We should deal with the ser
pent Of strong drink in the same way
the travellers over the western pruiries
deal with the attlesnakes There it
is a universally obeyed law that every
man shall kill every rattlesnake he
may see. 1t ought also to be a uni
versally obcyed Christian law that ev-
cry Christian should strike at the hid
eOus head of the Satanic adder of in
tOXicutiOn whenever it reveals itself
or lifts its fatal poisonous fangs to
strike.
There are four distinct reasons for
hating this serpentine evil of intOxi-
cunts. four distinct reasons to wage
against it unsparing and relentless
warfare The first is because the ser
pent Of intOxicants destroys a mans
/ brain, dethrOning his reason and utter
ly running his mental capacity for any
kind Of important work AS mer.
chant he will enter into wildcat spec
ulations until often his whole fortune
is swept away. AS physician he Will
unfit himself for the sickroom. AS
{ lawyer he will ruin his practice. be-
cause he can 10 longer plead in the
courtroom as he once could plead. And
everywhere the cry will he raised
about this poor. drunken mental wreck.
no matter IN what sphere of life he
may live; make way! Make way!
Leave him alone! He drinks! lie
drinksi
When man begins to drink intOxi-
cunts, his mental usefulness is inevita-
| bly, weakened. The temperance lectur-
ers sometimes neglect to press home
| this appalling fact when they dwell
upon the vast amount of money which
is annually spent in national liquor
/ bill They tell us that one seventy-nfth
I of all the American race is every year
engaged In the manufacture and the
sale OF intOxicants. They assert THAI
! $90000O.0O0 Is spent annually for ac-
cursed drink They affirm that grcnt
army Of over $4,000 men and women
! living in the city Of Chicago devote
their entire time to running the places
of evil resorts which are chiefly kept
open through the influence of strong
drink The amount spent every year
upon Il national liquor bill is appalling,
but that is one Of the least of the evils.
Many a rich man could easily afford
to spend $1,000 or $4,000 or even $780,
600 annually for liquors If the evil end
ed there. But no man. not even John
d. Rockefeller, rich rs he is, can af-
ford to drink Intoxicating liquors.
When man is addicted to strong
drink he is heading toward mental as
well as physical depletion and annihi-
lation.
FnrreRching Results of Drink.
The evil results of a mans mind
long weakened by intoxicants are very
| farreaching. We read with amaze
ment how Il boa constructor can swal-
low down a calf or kid or deer ap-
parently five times wider than the
natural size Of the serpent's throat.
But every country boy has seen the
same phenomenon upon small scale.
a snake with Il throat hardly larger
than your little finger will give chase
to u large, fat toad. 1t will then gather
together the two hind legs of the toad
and by suction slowly draw the whole
body down its throat and into the
stomach. Then. if the country boy
will pick up the snake by the tail and
snap him as he would whipcOrd. the
serpents mouth viii open and the toad
will be elected, alive and well, as was
Jonah when thrown from the mouti
of the big fish after he had beer
vOyuging for three days in its interna
cavity. But, though the student OF
serpentolOgy may wonder at the size
of Il big toad which small snake Is
able TO swallow, his wOnderment Ough
to be as nothing compared to the uttel
establishment with which he sees tn,
huge meal which the serpent of In
toXicatiOn can swallow after the braiI
! of its victim has been wrecked by
strong drink. Without any apparen
effort 1t can swallow down the mer
: chants store, the minister's pulpit. tn,
lawyers office, the surgeons operating
) table. the mechanics bench, the en-
gineer's engine. the sea captains ship
And. mark you. In order that the Sol
OmOnic serpent may accomplish thi
gastrOnomic feat IT'S victim does no
, have to be intoxicated all the time
5 All that the minister has to do to los
: his pulpit Is to reel as drunkard-
+ just once. All that the engineer hu
e to do to wreck his train is to be drum
t just once. All the physician has I
d do to make q wrong diagnosis and XII
t his patient is to be drunk-just ono,
k On account, therefore. of the beclOuC
: ment of mans intellect and the III
:, seating of the human reason throug
a the influence OF the wine cup ] hat
< the SOlomonic ndder with an into
J. hatred. hate it with unutterab
y lOathing hate it as God wants e
l. cry Christian to hate sin.
j Tie serpent Of intoxlcatiOn can d
J. stroy mans heart as well as his hea
Il We read of n bridegroom who took h
II young bride to IL cabin upon the hi
j. sides of the Rocky mountains. II
e young husband unknowingly built
le home over a den Of snakes. After Il
IT married couple had retired for Il
+ night the fire they had lighted on til
y cold winter night warmed the dorna
serpents into life. They came for
D. into the room of the sleeping coup
ID PsThey crawled up upon the bed. Tn
Us buried their cruel fangs in the flesh
" man and woman alike, and the nupti
Ut couch became the bed of death. VIII
IL a husband looks upon the wine VIII
AZ it is red, he always builds his hOI
lie over a den of vipers He let's the p
u sOnous selpents crawl up into his b
~ and not only Stay his body, but al
ne poison his love for his wife and
ne children. for his parents and his bro
Sc ers and sisters. for all who ought to
or near and dear to him and whom
le ought to love better than his own If
- The Heart OF a Drunkard.
'oh a drunkard's heart through the tor
lie Of the adder Of lntoxicatiOn not OF
iis- becomes a poisoned heart. but the III
iii. CHESS heart of an inhuman monsi
I'm. In order to drink drunkard is will
,di. pra ctically to go to any extreme.
is ready to let wife and children star
have known two drunkards "
were willing to sell their own flesh 1
III blood into n life of crime in order t
low they might get liquor with which
IN satisfy their diubOlical thirst. Til
see two drunkards were not men of
eV- lowest social rank. They were L
der who were born In as good families
age yours or mine. But why continue
nos this strain? Is there any need of
lelr lnnger describing how the sernent