The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-03-11
A DOORWAY OF DEATH.
The Saloon Lives on the Ruin
of the Home.
II Robs husband and Father If Manhood and
Clothes Wife and Children in
Rsgs.
Presbyterian Standard.

the superstructure, no matter how pro I'd
or beautiful tumbles to earth. The home
is the foundation of all influences for
the life of the coming generation. II
the fountain be defiled, the stream is
made foul. ard there is no way to cleanse
it from below the fountain-head. And
the saloon is the corrupter of the home
and the dcfler of the home.
The home begins with the man and
the woman who have plighted their love
and joined in wcdlock. There may be
dependents on his side or hers. But these
two make the beginning of the home.
The man is the bread winner. The wo-
man is the home-kecpcr. She is not only
the keeper at home, but the keeper Of the
home for him. And the normal ~ -
blessed thing is that when the days ~~~'
is over and rest-time comes, hP should
come to the home which has been kept
for him. and to its peace and its Joy.
Now we arc not saying that"the woman
is always free from blame. And at some
other time we might make an appeal
to the woman for her own sake and her
husbands to make her home just the
sweetest and happiest place on earth.
Better let some of the outside work so
if one jot of the peace or the happiness
of the home is to be sacrificed But the
saloon stands as the woman's great enc
my. to take advantage of her slightest
fault even of her physical weakness or
attractions as the rival of the home.
More than that, be she a very paragon,
it will try to steal her husband from her
inn IN w
its fiery brand upon him claiming him
as its own.
It is said sometimes that the saloon
is the poor mans club" If so, there is
no deeper damnation for it than that.
The club is the place for those who have
no home in the real sense. When the
club begins to assert itself as the rival
Of the home, then it becomes an agency
for evil. The leisure class may be able
to enjoy both. A man may attend his
lodge or his club as a place Of good fell
lowship. But when he begins to attend
either constantly then the home life Is
gone Home is the place for man,
whether he be rich or poor, when the
work of the day. in mart or mill, in Of
flee or study, is over.
But the noor man is bound to be
working man. if he is a man at all. For
him the only holiday Is the time Of rest,
at the close of the day. or on the Rest
day itself If he spends the foW hours
of recreation between working time and
sleeping time at the saloon, for him there
is no time at home. There begins es
arrangement And the company that fills
the saloon is not as good for him IS that
of his wife. or of the friends that drop
in to see him under his own roof And
the liquor that he learns to love more
and moro does not help him for the next
days work So both ends of the candle
arc burned at once. The bread winner
loses efficiency, the home-keeper loses
all incentive for her efforts, and home
making as business for these two IS
at an end. And then comes the inevitd-
bic drunkenness and the cruelty and
bestialty that Stays love ITSELF and the
home is destroyed.
1t is even worse with the complete
home, which Is the home whore the chill
dren's prattle is heard and the patter of
their footsteps Husband and wife have
become also father and mother and the
duty of the man to be at home rather
than in the poor mans club is double
one When he stays at the saloon the
children grow up worse than orphaned.
For they might be taught to revere Il
fathers memory But they cannot re-
spect his example. Whether the boys fol-
low in his footsteps or not, they lack
in the crisis of their lives a fathers
authority And too often, far too often,
they inherit a faint of the blood that
sends them to the barroom just as Ger
tainly as if the taste were an instinct.
And so every end of the home ,as the
place for love and play and rest, and for
training the children in the paths OF
peace, is destroyed. Small wonder then
if in the grimy poverty that comes whom
the bread-winner has become the saloon
loafcr, the wife becomes slattern and
the children are unkcmpt and begin al
most in infant years. the mans work of
winning bread. The home has been done
to death by the saloon.
But it would be a great mistake to sup
pose that the saloon is the enemy OF the
poor man alone. It is as great q levcler
as death itself. We have seen here in
| Charlotte proud, handsome woman sit
| ting in her carriage at the door Of sa-
| loon. while some sympathizing friend
went within to bring out her maudiin
| hsuband. How often the refined and cuI-
tured home, with all the luxury that
wealth could buy, has been ruined by the
saloon!
| We are not discussing drunkenness al
| though it can be easily shown that the
saloon is the great promoter OF drunk
| enness Prohibition allows drunkenness,
and no law can be framed except one that
shuts all the Hrunkards up in prison, that
/ will not allow drunkenness. But under
| prohibitory laws there can at least be
prevented any such rival of the homo, as
the saloon is. There can be no open IS
] somblng of men to drink. Tine dspsn-
sary allows drunkenness. though 1t does
all that law can do TO prevent ana dis
| courage it, But the dispensary IS as in
| hospitable as an ice-housc lt is no rival
| of the home And this il seems to us IS
the most damning charge that can be
brought against the saloon. 1t destroys
human life. because it promotes drunk
cnness. IT is in alliance with the Famb-
ling hell and the house OF shame ne
cause evil passions run together. 1t Is a
| source of disorder and crime ~ taxes
| the people to death to pay for the mis-
| chief it works through its crlminaiity.