Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-17
Christian Endeavor Hour

Review of All Temperance Passages" HapaK-
kuk. H:5-15.
K Yea Also because he tranSgresseth Dy
wine. he Is a proud man, neither keepeth
at home who enlargeth his desire as hell,
and is as death, and cannot be satisfied,
but gathereth unto him all nations, ana
heapeth unto him all people:
g. Shall not all these take up parable
against him, and a haunting proverp
against him. and say, Woe to him that IN
creaseth that which is not his! how long!
and to him that ladeth himself with thick
clay!
T. Shall they not rise up suddenly that
shall bite thee. and awake that Shall vex
thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto
them?
g. Because thou hast spoiled many ma
tions all the remnant of the people snail
spoil thee; because of mems blood, ana 1or
the violence of the land, Of the city, and
of all that dwell therein.
g. Woe to him that coveteth an eV1, COW
etousness to his house, that he may set his
nest on high, that he may be delivered from
the power of evil!
TO- Thou hast consulted shame TO thy
house by cutting off many people, ana mast
sinned against thy soul.
IL. For the stone shall cry out OF the
wall, and the beam out Of the timber shall
answer it.
12. Woe to him that buildeth town
with blood, and establisheth city by IN
iquity!
13. Behold, is it not Of the Lord of Hosts
that the people shall labor in the very
fire, and the people shall weary themselves
for very vanity?
knowledge Of the glory Of the Lord, as the
waters cover the sea-
Is. Woe unto him that gtyeth his neigh
Dor drink, that putteth thy bottle to him,
and makest him drunken also, that thou
mayest look on their nakedness.
The Lesson.
Let us turn the searchlight of this Scrip
ture selection into our own neighborhood
and see just what the "transgressor by
wine," described so long ago in the Bible,
has wrought. Enter this house. young
man lives here who used to be an active
Christian Endeavorer He married world
ly church member, who thought 1t no harm
to take glass Of wine occasionally. Now
she takes it oftener. They have been mar
ried but five years, and already he has
learned that his persuasions are OF no use:
She will keep the tempter by her, and upon
occasion take it. His heart Is torn by an
guish sometimes when he looks on her
beauty and sees it coarsening, and when
he looks upon his little girl scarcely more
than a baby, and breads for 1t the future.
Two blocks away Is home where are
two children almost in their teens, q boy
and q girl. The father comes home from
the city almost every night Keeling. The
men on the train all see him, and some
times hold their breath as he gets off be-
fore the train has stopped. His wife, once
a fine looking woman, has bloated race
and bloodshot eyes. Their little girl wears
frame on her frail body to hold her
fiower-like head in position.
She has curvature of the spine, the re-
suit of her fathers and mothers drink
ing, and an injury she received from
I'LL bob hnxy hor
brother already shows signs of following
in his fathers footsteps, and these, bear
1t in mind, are people of good deal OF
refinement, who live in handsome house
and dress and live WELL and by no means
belong to the class Of people where one
expects to find desolate homes. Another
block down the same street lives man
who Is making great deal of money He
Ia high in political circles and firm friends
with the Brewers Association. He has
all the beer and wine he wants, and has
1t sent home. He taught his wife-hiS
frail, sweet-faced wife-to take Httle
now and then when she was not strong,
when she needed stimulant, when she
had company, when he wanted her to
take a glass with him. But alas, she
connot control her appetite as he can. He
often comes home and finds her sleeping
heavily, the servants gone, the fires out,
the house in a terrible condition, and
their one boy, twelve years old. running
the streets with :he widest companions.
eral glasses of his favorite beverage, he
dragged her from her bed by the hair and
flung her down stairs. The neighbors
saw the pretty bruised cheeks and tenn
pies the cash above the sad, sad eyes, for
she knows what terrible havoc she has
wrought in her once happy home, yet she
cannot stop 1t. There was talk of sepa-
ration or divorce, and meanwhile it Is
said the boy is learning to drink.
Down a Quieter street where are small,
plain houses, in a very old building, lives
a family of eight children. They go shiv-
ering in old worn clothes though the
not drink, and every bad or troublesome
thing that happens in the neighborhood
Is charged to those boys, because they are
known to be so bad that 1t is supposed of
act. The poor, Woodworking mother God
bless her, hollow-eyed, gaunt and unable
to keep the scanty clothing of her chill
dren always whole and clean, is doing her
best, but the father is fast dragging the
family to sure ruin. 1t is an old story. of
course, but IL you could just look in on
their supper tonight and see the hungry
faces of the children, the insufficient supply
of food, and the hopeless, hardened look in
the eyes of all, would you not feel it more
keenly as you go home to your own COM
Portable dinner and frown over some slight
mistake in cooking. or some disappointment
from your meat man?
Down another street nearby live three
colored families, every one under the do
mlnion or the power or drink, the hoCkS of
little dark faces full of dread over the home
coming of their fathers. And another dark
skinned man who used to be the factotum
of many good families has fallen through
trap door in the stable where he worked,
because he had fallen asleep, drunk, in the
hay. House after house as You pass through
the streets has a story to tell Of sorrow
and suffering through drink. And all this in
a clean little prosperous town where there
is no liquor sold These cases / have men,
toned are real cases. You know many more
to match them In your own neighborhood
There is not a house or an individual that
| Is not in some way hurt by this great
| liquor curse. Why do we not do more to
| stop 1t? Yet 1t grows and grows. Cities are
| built on blood And the liquor traffic goes
| on its prosperous way, "enlarging it's desire
as help and gathering to itself that
which Is not hist
| Why are there not more Gibbonys to rise
up and face the wrong and help to sweep
| this curse from of the earth? Are you and
| l doing what We might do? Are we doing
ALL we can do? If we are not we are re-
spcnsfbie for the sin and the crime and the
| shame and sorrow that have come to our
| neighbors. How terrible to stand before
| God and not be able to clear ourselves from
| the woe that is pronounced on him that
| ''giveth his neighbor drink, that putteth the
/ bottle to his lips" Are you quite sure that
you are in nowise responsible for that bot
| tie?