The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-07-13
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF lNTEMPERANCE.
Once the Drink Appetite is Formed II
is Only by n Miracle Almost That
the Man is Saved-How One Man
Reformed.

is Only by n Miracle Almost That
the Man is saved-How One Man
Reformed.
A great point to be aimed at is proven
tion-to build up a barrier between the
unpoliuted lips of boys and drink. Once
the drink appetite formed, it is only by a
miracle almost the man is saved.
Mr.. Cough once tod the writer that
while the guest OF a gentleman in New
Hampshire. and admiring the perfect ap-
.pointments of the house, his host said:
''Mr. Cough, I was one of the most de.
based and degraded of drunkards. | will
tell you how l reformed. Some ladies no
ticed a little girl passing by their house
daily with a tin pail in her hand. One day
' XVI ere do You liRve!; Down in the no.
low The lady accompanied her home,
and said to the mother: is this your
child, madam: Yes Does she 60 to
SCHOOL, No; we have no clothes for her.
Send her to our house and We will furnish
her with clothes Yes responded the
poor woman, and he will steal them for
drink Does your child go to Sunday
school? inquired the lady. No. replied
the mother. I propose a plan said the
lady; let your little girl come to our house
in the morning, and we will give her
clothes, so that she can 60 to Sunday.
school, and she can return and put the old
ones on before returning home That was
agreed upon, and the little girl was so
teachable, and learned to read so soon that
she was presented with a little Testament,
which was the first thing she ever owned.
She loved it so much that she took it to
LII ,r,1l how onl ha1l - ~ hap hand I'll
she went to sleep. One day the child was
i'll, so sick that the doctor said she must
die. The father went into her room and
sat by her side. He said to me, oh, how
I wanted drink; that quiet little child
knew the hell that was in me. l must
have drink, and 1 felt like stripping the
house of everything / could lay my hand
upon. I looked at the child; she was doz-
ing; the Testament dropped from her
fingers on the coverlid Of the bed. saw
it and looked about me-, for l felt l was
guilty; I stretched out my hand, took that
Testament, put it in my pocket, went out
and got for it a pint Of gin. / drank it,
and it started the %stagnant blood in the
diseased vessels of my stomach. I felt bet
ter, persplratlon came. and there was
warmth in my system. l came back to the
child, and soon she looked at me and said:
Papa, you know Jesus said, Suffer little
children to come unto Me-" I have tried
to come, papa, just as well as I know how,
and when I die I shall go to Jesus, but oh,
papa, suppose Jesus should ask me what
you did with my little Testament, what
will I tell Him." He said that was like a
flash of lightning, but before that child
died she held his two hands in his and
heard him cry: God be merciful to me, a
sinner From that day to this, said he,
I have never touched Intoxicating drink
That is t~wenty-eight years ago, yet I tell
you an absolute fact that l never smell
the breath of one of the forty or fifty men
in my employment who has been drinking
but I want it, and although twenty-eight
years have passed since l tasted it, if I
smell the breath Of one who has been
drinking I have leaped upon my horse and
ridden ten miles on a full gallop to get
rid of the desire that would creep over me
at such times"