The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1904-07-19
Yonng Man, Beware of Drink; Young
Woman, Beware of Drinkers.

Dear Aunt Jennie:-It seems that
I must let go my work a few mo-
ments this lovely morning and drop
in on the members of Social Chat.
I know we all dread morning call
ers," but please excuse me this once.
There have been SO many good let
tiers of late, with not a dull one even
for a change. Maybe mine will be
appreciated for this %purpose). There
have been some especially good
things, as I say, but I loaned my pa
pers, and so haven't them at hand
this morning, and I do not remember
the names Of all the writer's upon
these special subjects.
One question / remember that has
been discussed to some extent is that
of young ladies associating with
| young men of questionable habits,
| such as drinking, smoking cigarettes.
etc.
Now, friends, please excuse me, for
| I reckon I am a "crank" on the sub
ject of drinking anyway. But it is
not because I have ever been afhict-
ed by drink in any way mayself. Ny
father is, and always has been, a
sober man. Not one of my five broth
ers $50 far as my knowledge goes)
| ever tastes the vile stuff, and though
[ have been married eight years, /
| have never detected the odor of
| liquor of any kind on the breath of
my husband; so you see my protests
are not the bitter cries of despair.
But when I see so many, who were
lovely and ACCOMPLISHED girls only
ten or fifteen years ago, who are now
the miserable wives of wretched
drunkards, my heart yearns for those
! lear young girls who are now "keep-
lng company with young men who
drink, thinking hat by so doing they
can reform" them! Girls, bewarei
lest some bitter day, in the not dis
tant future, when you arise in the
morning CATER a night of weeping)
with pale cheeks and swollen eyes
you hear from the very lips that now
compliment your beauty IN the very
incest terms, the crushing words
"What's the use of your making a
fool of yourself now? You knew /
drank when you married mep
Young lady, those very identical
words have been heard by heart
broken wives, who were once as fair
and happy as you are now!
Then there are so many bright boys
and young men who are running
themselves and destroying their use
fulness by tampering with drink. Oh.
the pity of it! They say they have
a right to do as they please, and
they turn a deaf ear to the pleadings
of mothers, sisters and all others,
because they "have a right to do as
thye please" Have they?
Here is a bright young man. He
has two good strong hands, and two
perfect eyes. He is a model of ply
steal perfection. But he gets to won
dering how a blind man ever gets
on. The thought grows on him till
finally he says: "Well my eyes are
my own; I can do with them as I
please, and it's nobody else's bust
ness" So he iabs a knife into his
eyes and puts them out! Then he
has heard of some great man who
has lost both hands and he wants to
know how a man feels without any
hands, so he goes and gets some
crazy surgeon to cut off his hands.
Now did he have any right to make
a wreck of his body in that way2
He might have been a great and use
full man, but what is he now? IF he
did not owe his mowers for usefu1-