Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-04-05
DRINKS VICTIMS
KNOW TIE TRUTH
BURDETTE COMPARES 1T TO
OTHER VICES
DOES NOT ALLURE MEN BY ANY
FALSE PRETENsEs
Presents Its Most Hideous Aspect to
Those Who Indulge, They De-
ceiving Themselves by
Their Pride

Rev. Robert j. Burdette preached q
temperance sermon at the Ienple
Baptist church last night, using. as
text Thessalonians SIS, Let us, since
we are of the day, be sober.
drunkenness" he said, sis about
the only vice that tells a man the
truth the first time they meet A man
who has grown rich through avarlce
excites ones envy by his millions ana
the Difference and luxury and comfort
and influence they bring him-no mat
ter how he got them. An abandoned
woman. by certain animal beauty of
figure and face, striking dashiness
of dress, gayety of manner ana the
arts of fascination which she so well
knows how to use, allures men, ehar1n-
ing them to forget for the time her
fearful SHINING and the hell of her al
Turing, The first time a man plays
cards for money or bets on a race ms
nerves tingle with the gambling mad
ness and he sees nothing evil in 1t. IL
charms him But the first drunken
man he sees-inf1amed face, d1sordered
clothes, bleary eyes, idiotic expression
muddled senses, thick, maudlln utter
ance, disgusting actions, foul obscen-
itv and bIasphernous profanity, reeling
gait-all this dsgusts and horrifies thc
man and frightens the child. And the
drunk looks at the Disguised man ana
cries with a hundred terrible voices.
AYE, you lookl This is what | VIII
do to you If ever | get hold OF you!
I'm telling you the truth And the
man listens. goes away and gets drunk.
'oThe other vices lie to their victims.
Drink never does. The other vices
put on their most alluring faces and
attractive garb and say, Now you see
the worst of me; l will always De as
beautiful, as delightful, as merry ana
harmless as I now appear to you. But
they lie. The real self is hidden away
the horrible putrescence and foul
ness of a whited sepulcher. But drink
wears its deaths head openly and calls
attention to it. 1t clothes itself in
raiment of disease and rags OF poverty
TT invites YOU to see the worst OF IL
se1f II writes its name openly and
in the most glaring letters above the
doors of gin-mill and grog-shop. IL
cries, Here is where 1 live and IN
vites you to visit with it in its own
home, where the air is foulest the
company vilest, the entertainment
most abhorrent and the profanity most
shocking. And the man looks above
the door, reads the name, sees what
kind of a place it is, glances at the
company, goes in and gets drunk. ana
the drink, when it gets him on the
floor or in the gutter, says, Didn't L
tell you so%
Lies to Himself
whisky doesn't lie to man, but
it has the peculiar quality of making
a man lie to HIMSELF and, worse still
of telling the very kind of lies drink
wants him to tell. 1t makes the man
even contradict the drink which is
telling him the truth. The man says,
ooh. YES you have enslayed some poor
weak, ignorant fellows, but you never
can beastialize me. 1 am too wise and
strong And drink says, II you won
believe me, let my record of thousands
of wears speak to confirm my truth
fulriess. Read the IL IF men ana
women whom 1 have shared shamed
and ruined-artists, poets, soldiers,
teachers, preachers, priests. prophets'
kings and queens, statesmen and con-
ouerors-I have taken them in their
nride and confidence and laid them IN
the mire of the ditch and the sewer
side by side with FOOLS criminals mar
lots and gamblers and murderers. AND
I'll Law you among them. Hear me
tell you? If you keep on with me-
will nut YOU in the ditch and the grave
beside the worst of them. Why won't
Won believe me?' And the man listens.
laughs, shakes his head, goes off and
gets drunk -
nreacher: it's your work to deliver
men from these terrible yices-from
ali manner of sin. You tell, doctor,
Won study the bodies and the brains
of men: it is your work to keep their
bodies and brains well and sound. You
tell. policeman: it's your place to keep
the streets clean and safe, and the
laws unbroken. You tell. fool of a
drunkard-why do you do lt?'