The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-07-24
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF NTEMPERANCE.
a Single Copy of a Daily Paper Con-
tains Enough awful Liquor
Traffic News to Furnish Texts
For a Dozen Sermons.

For a Dozen Sermons.
Taking up a daily newspaper, I
read that a young girl is brought be-
fore one of our courts, charged by
her mother with being guilty OF
habitual i~ntoxication. When asked
her age she replied, Most eigh-
teen."
In another part Of the same paper
is an account of the death of a once
noted minister Of the Gospel, who
had to step down and out Of the pull
pit because of drink; was reclaimed
through the efforts Of some good
woman, and for a few years did grand
service in the cause of temperance;
but fell again, and could no more be
persuaded to try again to live a sober,
orderly life, but died a poor, dis
graced pauper.
Still more bad news: A little boy,
twelve years old, was taken to the
station house in O beastly state of
intoxication, the result of some otller
boys buying whisky. by the pint.
And, as a climax to the whole, an
account of two policemen being found
drunk while on duty by their superior
officers.
After reading what I have briefly
related, I made up my mind that a
single daily newspaper contains a
sufficient amount of the "awful," as
regards the liquor traffic, to give a
speaker the matter for a lecture
every night in a week, or to write an
article for every week in a month.
The deaths, accidents, misery, con-
tentions and poverty caused by the
drink traffic exceed those resulting
from all other causes combined.
How long is 1t going to last?
That's the question that ought to be
settled soon, in order to save eigh-
teen-year-old girls from being sent
into captivity by their mothers; to
save other preachers from becoming
wrecks in spite of the fact that they
ought to know better; to save little
boys from rushing the growler" be-
fore they have entered their teens;
and to protect ~inoffensive citizens
from the effects Of clubs in the hands
Of drunken policemen. 10y
Men have spent their lives and
their means in trying to change the
habits and ways of. others. But still
the curse of appetite holds sway
among the people. The fathers n
mothers drink every day, and their
children (after their DEATH keep up
the old family habit. why do you
swear?" was the question asked a
boy; and the reported reply was, ITO
keep my fathers peculiar trait. be-
fore the people," A generation OF
drunkards begets another like unto
them, only worse. ..
I once met a half-drunken, bolster
GUS young man crossing a bridge at
Flushing, L. I. AS he passed me he
said: "Say, boss, the old mar and
his boys are all on a glorious old
spree" He looked as If he had been
struck by a hurricane. A few min
utes after. the "old man" came along,
and with a laugh peculiar to the
drunkard, asked me If I had seen his
darling son. AS to his looks, he ap-
peared as If he had been suddenly
overtaken by a cyclone that had made
sad havoc with his clothes and whis-
kers. And the people laughed, as il
it was very funny; but those of a
thoughtful disposition must have felt
that it was a shame that father and
sons could have fallen SO low. .
In some families the liquor curse
has lasted long enough to put into
early graves the bulk of their mem
bers. In others it has taken off the
pride of a mothers heart and the
Joy of the father; in others it has
brought tears Of anguish on account
of disgrace upon disgrace that has
been the result of debauch after de-
bauch.-George r. Scott, in the New
York Weekly Witness.