The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-06-14
Temperance Evangelist.

DR.. N. W. Tracy, temperance evangelist, hai
been, for several nights, holding 1nterestinf
meetings in his large tent. The seats hav'
been occupied every night by preachers, ell
ders, youthful sports, baldheaded sinners
mothers in Israel and the p~rettiest daughter
that ever made captive the masculine heart
The evangelist and the people have q splen
did time. The moving pictures moved th'
hearts Of the witnesses ~ the audience fire.
quently gave a large smile OF approval at the
Doctors pleasant way Of telling differen'
kinds of truths.
The Doctors description Of the name
and methods OF lovers as compared with thu
subsequent tanners n attentions OF Wives
and husbands made q laugh but 1t touched
the heart all the same and Impressed an i'm.
portant or forceful lesson in the duty Of kind.
ness, loving attention and the thoughtful con-
sideration OF the feelings OF each other In the
family.
The Doctor. inveighed against drunkenness
At every turn be expended bis energy and
his power against liquor after 1t had gained
the mastery over its victims.
Drunkenness In this city is the exception
There are not half a dozen drunkards in the
town. But there are a hundred husbands and
a hundred wives who do not exercise the
winning arts which characterized their con
duct during courtship. And every appeal fol
| tenderness and the expression Of heartfelt
love, hit It's mark. Many wives and as many
husbands fall to cypress the love they feel fol
each other. Every heart hungers for affec
tiop, and the heart hat Ia not nourished may
grow cold. The nourished heart is In q haven
Of safety and no harm can come to 1t In this
| world.
While we agreed In sentiment with nearly
everything the evangelist said, yet we dissent
in toto from his expression that q woman had
as much right as q man to get drunk and
swagger through the streets.
Until this form Of our civilization is
changed and until we have q new dispense
ton of the Christian religion, no such prepos-
ferrous proposition cal be accepted In this
country. Man iG the bread winner. BE goes
into the highways and busy marts, into the
crowded streets and into the rough places
that he may support himself and protect bis
| wife from all harm-from even the rough
blast OF heaven itself. She is bis adorable
queen, and she is his ideal Of all that is pure
and innocent. The Christian religion makes
her the keeper OF his house, the one safe place
Of his r~efuge-and by no method OF reasoning
has she the right to bring disgrace to the
home which has been set up for her. And
the man who would set up the same standard
Of morals for the beloved wife that the, world
sets up for man, would degrade her to the lev.
ell Of the dirt. Man without the ideal purity
OF the home, which the Christian religion
vouchsafes TO him, would become an outcast
and a vagrant.
The prodieal son may return, but who ever
heard Of the prodlgsl girls return7 Return
ed prodigals may fill our pulpits. but who
ever beard OF the prodigsl woman becoming
the beloved queen Of a pure household!
Those VIC would break down the high ped
estal upon which stands pure womanhood.
would do q most monstrous thing.
But the whole tenor Of DR.. Tracy's speech
made for purity and sweetness in the lives Of
his hearers.
During the delivery Of the Doctors speech
which must have been productive OF good, we
could not but be struck by the difference In
the attendance upon his meetings and at the
meetings at the church services. In that tent
and within the sound Of his voice, we esti'
mated that there we're perhaps twice as many
persons as usually attend divine services IN
all OF our churches on Sunday morning.
1.-THE moving pictures were an attraction,
why could we not have them in our church.
es? II the Doctors shots at folly as 1t exists
drew people to his tent, why do not our
preachers tell us something Of our 'folly-of
our daily sins Of commission and omiBaion ?
II the Doctors lessons in duty to one another
Interests the people, why do not the preach
ers give us something along that hnef
We have heard scientific lectures on the
different theological roads to the home OF the
holy prophets. Wehave heard lecturer that
would have had as muoh application TO the
people OF Rome as 10 the people of AbbeVille'
We have heard fine spun theories Of tneologi.
cal belief which would have been as applica'
BILE two Thousand years ago and which would
be as good q thousand years hence. As the
primary object Of the Christian religion is to
teach us how to live on ear tn 30 that we may
inherit a crown In the life to come. suppose
we hear more on the line Of DR.. Traoy's leo.
lures?