The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-02-06
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF INTEMpERANCE.
Drink, the Great Destroyer-It Kills
Ambition, Friendship, self-Re-
spect, Honesty and Even Love-
Tn tho GRAVEYARD of Rum. .


spect, Honesty and Even Love
In the Graveyard Of Rum.
Once more we take up the subject
that is the most important Of all to
millions Of human beings. -
And we urge you to use this pic.
ture (The picture referred to repre-
sents a drink-sodden, ragged and re-
pulsive looking bum meditating In
RUNS Graveyard, where are buried
Ambition, Self-Respect, Hope, Family
Ties, Love, Friendship and Health.
Whisky bottle in hand, the victim OF
intemperance Is seated on the grave
of his Additionally and this edi-
torial, and your own stronger per-
sonal arguments with young men that
may be in danger, with older men
and women that need to be helped
to fight the greatest curse.
This Is a picture that will appeal
to the imagination Of children and to
the experience of the old. A few
things make life worth while; among
them: Friendship, ambition, self-re-
spect, honesty.
All of these and many others are
put away in the graves that are dug
by drink.
First goes ambition. The grave Of
ambition is big, and 1t Is filled with
the men that began to drink wita the
idea that "a little would not hurt
them" only to find out that the little
of the beginning meant destruction
In the end.
. D.f-1x Lao 1,s11nl wanna . phifinn
than all other forces in life put to-
gether.
Drink kills friendship.
One by n friends are driven from
the nan that put his W selfish ap-'
petite ahead of duty and Of all other
considerations. <1sl
Friendship is based upon appre.
citation of manliness, upon the sense
Of equality between men.
Drink destroys equality; it drags
a man. down, and it drags him away
from his friends.
Drink kills love and happy family
life. ,
How many. wives have chung to
drunken husbands! How desperately
they have tried to save them only
the drunkards know. But what
drink starts out to do, it does. It
destroys affection, and it destroys
the family. The family is based
upon the respect of the children for
the father and mother. Drink de-
stroys self-respect, for it kills that
by which respect was created.
A drunkard struggles and strives,
over and over, to save himself-to
save the s~elf-Tespect that is slipping
away from him.
But eventually self-respect Is burr
led also in the graveyard OF drink,
and principle-nonesty-can be found
in a grave nearby.
A mans conscience attacks and
worries him, even in the last stages
of drinking. Others forgive him
again and again-but in his good
moments he does not forgive himself.
:. Hope, Of course, lies in the grave
yard of drink. It's death Is slow, for
alcohol deceives the man that 1t Is
destroying, and it deceives him with
hope. Hope and health end together
at last-and are buried and added to
the list Of graves.
IL is nara 10 cure Iue mdu upou
whom drink has fastened its hold.
Of such men a great majority want to
do better. ,
But drink has cunningly destroyed
the will first of all. And while the
drunkard wants to do what you tell
him, he wants a thousand times more
the drink that he Graves. n
It Is hard to reform a man far
down the hill.
But it is not hard to fill with
hatred and fear of drink the young
that are still free from it, or those
that are only beginning
Make clear to the young men, and
especially to children, the road that
leads to this graveyard. Let them
know that the road Is a steep hill,
. that it gets sleeper and sleeper as 1t
goes down
At the top you can stop in safety
and look into the dark graveyard at
the foot. A few steps down, and you
can still turn around-but it soon
becomes too late. There is hardly a
home in the United States that has
not a member in need of this picture.
Use it.-From an Editorial, in tn.
New York American.