The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-12-23
The GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABO.T
The VICE OF INTEMPERaNcE

Sad Case Resulting From Selling liq-
uors to NIinors--It is the Duty Of the
Community TO Shield Youth Against
Its own Ignorance.
thirteen-year-od boy was picked up
on the street in New York the other day
heiplessly drunk and taken to the alcohol
ic ward of the Bellevue Hospital.
No father and no mother can read oil
such an incident without horror or with.
out fea" for their own boys, amid the
temDtatons of city life.
The small drunkard in. Bellevue. whom
his senses returned to him. cursed the
barkeeper who sold him the liquor
And the barkeeper ought 20 be cursed
not by the poisoned child on,y, but BY all
resting uDon the mature to shield youth
against its own ignorance, curiosity and
undisciplined desires.
It should be the special duty of the ait.
thorities to curse that barSeeper to prac.
ticai purposes by dragging him into court
and giving him long term in Jail for hi,
own punishment and as warning te
others in the same trade not tn break the
Jaw against. selling liquor TO minors. The
city that does not guard children from
whisky, and against all he indu'gences
open TO free-living men. is put to shame.
And lads older than the little Bellevu,
inebriate. boys nearing manhood. are en-
lititu 10 DtlttI lIOiu lHC cJli
mrnity than they receive.
Freedom is good TO: men. Give mer
liberty and ho,d them accountable for the
abuse of it-that is sound doctrine. Tn,
kind of goodness which is obtained by
making it impossible to sin is not the
kind OF goodness that will wear when the
time OF trial comes. 1t is a hot-houss
plant. Man should be master of himself
When he is that he has the mower withir
to resist any environment. But the mar
who is accustomed to props from without
goes TO pieces when those props are re
moved-when he moves to some place
where he may do as he chooses.
But the doctrine of liberty with rcsponsi
bility which applies to adults does not ap
ply to the young. Just as child has TO b.,
taught to walk, so must the youth b
taught to recognize danger when it con
fronts him. He needs the guiding hanc
until his moral muscles have hardened
and he is able to walk alone.
Lead us not into temptation" is s
prayer which above all other prayers
shows profound knowledge OF veal; human
nature.
Keep temptation out of the way OF tho
young, and keep the young out Of the wal
of temptation.
1t is a crime not to safeguard youth from
temptations that may ruin character whit
character is forming.
The penalties cannot be made too Sc
we're for such as place before growing lad
the temptation to drink, the temptation
of mbling-temptation OF any sorl
yielding to which impairs purity and wig
or of mind or body.
And whether temptation is presented t.
the young or their elders, this is a truth
that is not so well apprehended as i
should be:
The tempter is always worse than th,
tempted.
The man OF woman that offers brb,
to the policeman or the custom house OF
ficer is more guilty than the accenter q
the bribe-it is so insignificant to the Civ
er, so significant to the taker, of good
things desired and not otherwise obtain
able.
The rich man without conscience is thu
most dangerous enemy against whom so
ciety has to contend. He is an ever flow
ing fountain of corruption. 1t costs hin
no sacrifice that he cares about to buy
his way" through life. and his path il
strewn with dishonored fellow creatures
He carpets his progress with the seif-re
spect of others. He is Selfishness ncar
nate and destroying force, making az
together for evil.
We need sterner sex Of adherence fol
the tempter and a more living conscious
ness of responsibility for the tempted.
To all of us who have conscience. thai
thirteen-year.oid drunken boy in Belle
vue is reproach. II as a community we
were alive as we ought to be to the obi.
CATION of guarding the Young no child
atty for selling would be so heavy chat
no barkeeper even if so lost to manhood
as to be capable of committing the crime,
would dare to risk the consequences,
From an editorial in the New York Even
ing Journal.