The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-04-08
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF MTEMPERANcE
Niles Of Misery In rho Columns Of Alec
hoilsm-An Army VI Five Million Men
o Woman Who Daily Go . Saloons
For IntoxicatinR Drinks, .rF =

Niles Of Misery In rho Columns Of Alec
hoiism-An Army VI Five million Msn
and Woman Who Daily Go % Saloons
For Intoxicating Drfuks. F =
There are IN the United States 10000
with saloons on each side, allowing twenty
feet to each saloon, they would make Q
street 285 miles long. Let us imagine them
brought together in such a street, and let
US suppose hat the moderate drinkers and
their families are marching in. at the up
per end, and let Us see what that street
turns out IN one year.
What army Is that which comes march.
ing down the street in solid columns, five
abreast, extending SO miles? It Is the
army OF 100000 men and women, who
daily and constantly 60 to saloons for in
toxi"ating drinks as q beverage. Marching
twenty miles a day. it will take them more
than twenty eight days to 60 by.
Now they are gone, and close in their
rear comes another army, marching i've
abreast and sixty miles in length. In il
there are 10000 confirmed drunkards,
They are men and women who have lost
control Of their appetites, who are in tho
regular habit Of getting drunk and making
beasts Of themselves. Marching two
abreast the army il $50 miles in length.
Scan them closely. There are gray hayed
men and fair haired boys. There are, alasi
many women in that army. sunk to deeper
depths than the men, because Of tho great
take them seven days TO 20 by. Il ID O sad
and sickening sight, but do not turn away
yet, for here comes another army, l00, 1000
criminals. From jails and prisons and pen
itentiaries they come. At the head Of the
army comes q long line Of persons whose
hands arc besmeared with human blood.
With ropes around their necks, they arc
on their way to the g.llows. Others arc
going to prison for life. Every crime known
persous while under the influence OF drink.
But bark! Whence comes those yells,
and who are those bound with strone
chains and guarded BY strong men, that 20
raging by? They are raving maniacs, made
such by drink. Their eyes are tormented
with awful sights, and their ears ring with
awful sounds. Shiny reptiles crawl over
their bodies and fends from hell torment
them before their time. They are gons
now and We breathe more freely.
But what gloom IL this that pervades tho
coming slowly. down the street? It l. the
thousand who have died the drunkard's
death are being carried to their graves.
Drunkards do not have many friends to
mourn their loss, and we can put thirty Of
their funeral professions into q mile. We
have thus o procession 1888 miles in length.
1t will take . good share Of the year for
them TO 70 by. for funeral PROFESSIONS
move slowly. Look into the collins % they
60 by. See the dead ~drunkards. Some
died OF delirium tremens, and the lines OF
terror are still plainly marked on their
faaao Sarna Trnzo - lA&kL h- Az .@~A-
side, too drunk 10 reach their homes; some
stumbled from the wharf and wero
drowned; some wandered into the woods
and died; some blew their brains out;
some were fearfully stabbed in drunken
brawls; some were roasted in burning
buildings; some were crushed to shapeless
masses under the cars. They died in Va.
rious ways, but strong drink killed them
all. and on their ~tombstones-if they have
anyway, be ftly, inscribed. HE died .
Close behind them comes another long
line Of funeral processions-we know not
attended by mourning friends. They con.
tain the remains OF those who have met
death through carelessness and cruelty Of
drunken men. Some died Of Q broken
heart; some were fouHy murdered; soma
were burned to death in buildings set ON
fire by drunken men; some were horribly
manSied On the railroad because Of drunk
en- engineers or fagmen; some were blown
up on q steamboat because 4 drunken cap
tain ran Q race with q rival boat.
But here comes another army-the chill
drcn. innocent ones. upon whom have been
visited the iniquities OF their fathers. How
many are there? Two hundred thousand.
Marching two abreast. they extend up the
street thirty miles. Each one must bear
through life the stigma Of being o drunk
ards child. They are reduced to poverty,
want and beggary. They live in ignorance
and vice. Some Of the children are moan
ing with hunger, and ZONE are shivcring
with the cold, for they have not enough
rags to keep them warm. A large number
Of them are idiots, made 80 before they
were born by. brutal drunken fathers, and
worse than all the rest many Of them have
inherited q love for liquor. and are growing
up to take the places and do the deeds Of
their fathers. They will FIJI the ranks Of
the awful army Of drunkards that move in
unbroken columns down to death. It has
taken nearly a year for the street to empty
itself Of its wears work, and close in the
rear comes the vanguard Of the nezt years
supply. And il this is what liquor does in
our land in one year. what must be its re-
suits in the world through the long CEN
fury!