The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-01-17

| l practice
You told me you were church mem
Der. Of course you pay your preacher"
90 yes, always pay him. I pay a dol
lar for myself and fifty cents for the 'ol
woman
Pretty good,'' I remarked. 81 have
seen the statement I went on, that
sixty-six and two-thirds cents is about
the average which the people OF the
J United States pay for having the gospel
preached.
"They ought to be ashamed of them
selves he said, Frightening up and look
ing pious.
You are right L said, ''and I am glad
to know that you and the old oman are
paying more than the average, if you do
take drink now and them
What little l drink don't cost any
thing haroly for 1 never drink at home
and only take one drink when l come
to town, and don't come to town but three
times week: that don't cost much and
won't hurt anybody
ooh. no." 1 answered, that don't cost
much, unless you pay very high for your
drinks
| Il always pay ten cents, for l believe
when one does drink at all he ought to
drink pure nquor, and not poison his
stomach with cheap stuff"
| / told him he was right about that, and
if l ever got to taking my drains, 1
thought l would do like him, take the
best. Then taking up a single l made
this calculations: Three drinks a week at
20 cents per drink are equal to thirty
cents and ,Iirty cents a week are equal
to fifteen dollars and sixty cents year.
And subtracting one dollar and fifty cents
from fifteen dollars and sixty cents I
found that he was paying fourteen dollars
and ten cents a year more for whiskey
than he said, he and the "old oman
were paying the preacher, and that if he
should pay the same amounts for fifty
years ne would in that time pay out for
whiskey seven hundred and eighty dol
| lars, while he and the "old oman would
pay the preacher, for the same length of
time, only seventy-fiye dollars.
"You needn't be figuring" he said, see
ing me using my pencil; three thousand
shingles at $50 a thousand comes to $3.50
and you can't make nothing more of it,
if you figure all day
I'm not figuring on shingles, but how
the account is going to stand against you
at the day of Judgment 1 said, land 1
tell you my friend, the thing looks bad"
why? How?" he asked.
in the first place" said I, 81 find
that you love whiskey better than you do
your preacher
cit amt so,'' he replied.
Didn't you tell me while ago that
you paid most for that you liked best?'
81 believe 1 did. If 1 didn't I'll say it
now
"All right. l find that you and the old
oman pay the preacher $3.50 year. while
you III the same time, pay for whiskey
$3.50, which is $141O more for whskey
| than you pay for the gospel. I find also
! that you and the old oman will only pay
$500 to the preacher in fifty years, while
you alone will have spent $4,000 for
| whiskey. The Recording Angel is keeping
| the account just as it is, giving you
credit for all you pay for the spreading
of the gospel, and charging you with all
you spend for disqualification. What do
you reckon you'll do when the judge
opens the book and reads out, right be-
fore the angels and the assembled world,
as follows: "Bill Mitchell, member of
the devil being $705.00 more to support
the gospel $500, being $3.50 year from
him and the old oman Then turning
to the other page he'll read out. Bill
Mitchell and wife, members of the church,
paid out in fifty years $4,000 in support
of the liquor traffic, which is the agent of
the devil, being $4,000 more to support
the devils cause than they paid to build
up the Lords cause. 1 say, what do
you think you will do, when the account
is read out that Way?'
Il don't know what I'll do. but I sup
pose I'll have to pick UP my hat and
walk right down to the other place. But
look here, l didn't know the thing was as
bad against me as that, upon my honor
didn't"
1.-The reason you didn't know how the
matter STOOD I said, as we drove into
the yard, sis because you keep no ac-
count against yourself like you do against
God"
And that's the mistake too many of us
make: we magnify the little that we do
and give to make the world better, and
thereby to glorify God, while we minify,
if we do not entirely forget, what God
does for us, and especially the claims
which he has upon us.
Yes. 1 like the idea of making people
register when they buy liquor at the dis
pensary. But I heard of man the other
day who said he would quit drinking be-
fore he would put his name on the LIQUOR
register: he didn't want Gabriel to find
his name in such place as that. and he
wouldn't put it there.
Come to think about it am really glad
that the bar-room business is passing away
for it will do away with a servitude that
don't see how any young man could
stand, to-wit: handing out decanters to
and washing tumbers after all sorts of
drinking men, white and colored Don't
seem to me fellow engaged in the
tumbler washing business could have a
very high opinion of himself. And then
a man can never know when he is selling
tho fatal drink to a customer-the drink
that Will make him drunk and send him
home to murder wife or child-the drink
that will ruin him for time and send his
soul to hell ! don't think l could sleep
well after selling liquor all day. But