The news & observer., 1904-11-13
SOT WHO RUINS HIMSELF;
CHEAT WHO RUINS OTHERS
Some Childish Excuses for GuZZng. Story of a
Game Leg and Grit. The Real Clown
and the Would Be.

drink to kill the blues; and keep on
drinking lest the blues return. They
drink at Christmas and on the fourth
of July because they feel pious on the
one and patriotic on the other and
they have to drink, along between
times that they may keep their piosity
and patriotism at fever heat.
1 heard an old soak giving his rea-
sons for drinking the other day. He
said he drank when he was we'll and
felt all right because it tasted so
good, he drank when ne felt badly
because it tasted better than at any
other time, and he was bound to
drink at odd times to guard against
the "perhapses!"
What are the "perhapses?'
asked.
Snake and spider bites. chills and
the like" he said.
Has snake or spider ever bitten
ou?" / asked.
No" but, doctor, I'm the "fraid-
est" Of them things of anybody you
ever saw. I'm that 'fraid OF spiders
1 always take a big drink the last
thing before going to bed. NO, I've
never been bitten. as yet. but IN ex-
uecting every night one of them
hairy looking spiders will swing right
down from the ceiling and bite me
on my jugular vein, and you know,
yourself I'd be a dead man IN ten
minutes, if he did. And. as I've hearn
saw an ounce of prevention is worth
q pound of cure, l take the preVen-
tion.
"How about keeping off chills?'
80, I'll tell you how that is. doctor.
AS long as I've got any of the dis
pensary at home I'm all right. But
as soon as l drain the last drop from
the bottle, / begin to feel the malaria
working on me, and | just know II
have a chill sure if L don't go right OH
to town and get Il bottle or two. L
hitch up and start, and / get chillier
and chillier, and colder and colder,
and feel worse and WorSe-1ust ike
a fellow feels when the grippe's COM
ing on-and by the time | get to
town, 9Th tell you the truth, doctor).
I've mighty night got ager.
Yours is a bad ease, l replied.
"Im afraid you are about done for.
and old Alcohol will carry you TO the
devil before long"
Don't talk that way, doctor. ]
hate to hear you say anything like
that; for I'm bound to go to heaven.
l know l drink too much. right often,
but | never get so drunk but what
love my Jesus all the same"
There are thousands if we may
Judge of the matter. by those whom
we know, who are drinking constant
ly, for no better reasons; church MEM
bers too, who are keeDing their blood
hot all the time, spending more money
for whiskey than for the gospel. who
are hoping to reach heaven, drunk Or
sober.
~ But, after all, drinking liquor is not
the only sin to which too many of our
race are addicted. l know some peo-
pie who never taste liquor; who pride
themselves upon the fact that they are
total abstainers, and have great deal
TO say about drinking and drunken
ness, who are Just as bad sinners, in
some other way.
Take for instance. the man who
starts out to make a fortune by short
cuts, sharp practices and shreWd trad
ings. The very. first thing he does is
to erase from his Bible the golden
rule, and insert in its stead, do unto
others as you would not have others
do unto you''; which means: get. If
it can be done fairly and honestly; If
not get anyhow.
And the poor are those who are
to suffer by their cupidity. l have
known men who stood all right in the
church, prayed long prayers. and
abused drunkards. who, in the Ian
guage of Christ, were hypocrites. be-
cause they devoured widows houses
and oppressed the poor.
l knew a church member who loan
ed a tenant hundred dollars. taking
his note for that amount. in the be-
ginning of the year, to bear interest
at six per cent. for the whole year.
but he let the tenant have only ninety
dollars; and that. too, in monthly in
StallmentS. So the tenant paid that
Christian CD landlord sixteen dollars
interest on a hundred dollars. and
only had ninety.
The reader NAV ask why did that
tenant allow himself to be thus swim
died? Because he couldn't help him
self. Why did the landlord Swindle
him? Because he had him in his
power and he cared not for him nor
his family, so he got what they made.
That landlord stood high in the
church, invited the preachers to his
preachers were there, and talked lust
lily of church affairs. SO the preach
ers were bound to think we'll of him:
and he was made a steward.
The poor tenant couldn't say any,
thing. because he was dependent: and
people who are dependent must keep
their mouths shut. That's one side of
the question.
While there are harihearted land
lords, there are. also. some very un-
reliable tenants. (church members
too), who have to be watched, even
after they give mortgages, or they will
make way with the crop and leave
both the landlord. and the merchant
who furnished the supplies, in the
lurch.
A few years ago a case OF this kind
was brought to my attention. 1t was
as follows: A tenant had worked a
barn of tobacco. and had it ready for
market. The landlord intended that
the first load of tobacco. sold by that
tenant, .should paw off the guano bill.
for which he was responsible. The
tenant, the might before starting to
market, told the landlord he was going
to carry it to the town where the
guano debt was due; and asked the
landlord to be there and see the sale.
The tenant left home before day, and
the landlord thought. of course, he had
gone where he said he was going.
SO, after breakfast he drove there. in
time for the sales. But his man was
not there. He had gone to another
market, where he sold his tobacco and
pocketed the money, spending the
greater part of it for such things as
he desired. Did the landlord lose his
money? No; but he lost confidence in
one whom he had trusted and believed
to be an upright, straightforward man.
Getting ic