Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1907-10-15
Johns Letter.

| Well, young Sir! wonder If It be
fact, as reported, that you are acquiring
the habit of taking little something
now and then, braiding the tiny strands
into letters too strong to break by-and-
by. Have you been, and are you now,
an inspector of open-topped glassware,
holding 1t up meditatively to your eye at
an angle of about forty five degreesP At
that angle and with the rim of the ware
pressing the lower lip there is danger OF
the contents slipping down your throat
and all along your alimentary canal. II
it be water you are all right, but II 1t
happen to be pig-wash take an emetic.
There Is death In it-and the devil. IT'S
hell brewed mixture.
It may be that you take pride in being
regarded as hard old "party." If that
be 30, and God Almighty does not inter
fere, you are ruined for all time. The
bud will never arrive at manhood's
flower and manhood's fruit. The prom
Use Will never reach fulf1llment.
"Oh, can leave It alone now or any
future time"
No such thing. You can not or you
will not, and in this case there is no
practical difference between can not and
will not, for either leads direct to hid
den remorse and open shame. Can not
you believe at the last it biteth like q
serpent and stingeth like an adder, with
out personal trialp Is the written testi-
mony false and human experience lie?
"a little something bracing for dog
days and little something warming
when nights are frosty and days are cool,
Is the proper thing, you know. A glass
of toddy now and then is relished by our
leading men. 1t can work no harm to
me-"
o, no! You were not built on the same
plan as other men. You are leathern
man with copper toes-no passions-no
powers to pervert-no appetite to pam
per and no taste to please-no growth 10
you for good or i'll. What an admirable
sign to set up for cigar factory, if only
you had the red mans falcon glance and
lion bearing!
"When find it harmful at all / will
stay my hand and drink no more"
I have heard that note struck before.
1t has familiar sound, like half for
gotten thing of long ago. l knew him
and he loved the creature dearly and
would frequently take smile.
so, he could leave it any time easily"
But he was not put together like you.
His internal arrangements were not tin
lined, and the vitriol' ate way through
somewhere and-puff! out he went.
Years ago saw young man take his
first nip of the ardent. Just swallow,
thank you. 1t is enough for me. 1
don't propose to make swill bucket OF
my corporal system" A few years
afterwards I witnessed like perform
ance by the same performer and / could
but notice how wonderfully his capacities
and capabilities had increased. This
time his little glass ware was full to the
rim, and he tossed it off like an old stag
or, tipped his glossy beaver over his ear,
and strobe down Evergreen Avenue like
a man who has been to Bawston and seen
service.
"Well, what of him? Isis he dead?"
Dead! no! like you be is leathern
man, with swine-skin nerves and bowels
of pig-iron. Not dead, but he ought to
be-. All that makes life desirable and
we'll worth the living burned to ashes on
the altar of his thirsty Moloch.
Apples of Sondom, my boy, apples OF
Sodom, but 60 right on chewing just the
same. 1t is noticeable that the current
generation lays not to heart the warnings
of the past generations of men. That
seems to have been the arrangement from
the beginning, and has not been departed
from universally nor to any great extent.
Forbidden fruit has had peculiar al
lurement ever since our first parents
went wrong under the pippin-tree. The
birthmark is more or less apparent on
the children.
Well, what are you going to do about
IL. JOHN,