The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1909-03-19
iNGERSoLL ON ALCOHOL.
A Beautiful Piece of Word Painting by
the AgnOstic.

The following wonderful piece OF
word painting has been frequently
published, says the Chicago Tribune,
but we repri it at the request OF sew
eral readers, who desire complete
copy. Col. Robt. G. Ingersoll, in
addressing jury in case which in
volved the manufacture of alcohol,
made the following terrible arraign-
ment Of the demon:
81 am aware that there is preju-
| dice against any man who manufac-
lures alcohol. | believe that from the
time it issues from the cOiled and
poisonous worm IN the distillery un-
tt it empties into the jaws of death,
| dishOnor and crime. it demOraliZes
every body that tOV,..eS II, from It's
source to where !. ends. do not be-
lieve anybody can contemplate the OBJ
ject without being prejudlced against
the liquor crime. All we have ~ d.,
gentlemen, is to think of the wrecks
on either side Of the stream of death,
of the suicides, OF the insanity, OF the
ignorance, of the restitution, Of the
| little children Juggling at the faded
and withered breasts of weeping and
despairing mothers, OF the wives ask.
| Ing for bread, Of the men of genius il
has wrecked, the men struggling with
imaginary serpents, produced by this
devilish thing; and when you think OF
the tails, of the almShOuses, of the
asylums, of the prisons, of the scat.
| folds upon either bank, do not won,
der that every thoughtful man is pre-
iudiced against the damned stuff calico
alcohol, Intemperance cuts down The
youth in its vigOr, manhood in its
strength, old age in its weakness. /
breaks the fathers heart, bereave:
the doting mother, eXtinguishes ma
tural affection, grasses conjugal love
blots out tlal attachment, blights par
| entail hopes, brings down mournin!
! age in sorrow to the grave.
1T produces weakness, not strength
sickness. not health; death, not life
| 1t makes wives widows, children or
: phans, fathers fends, and all of ther
/ paupers and beggars. 1t feeds rheu
mutism. invites cholera, imports pes
thence and embraces consumption
1t covers the land with idleness, mis-
cry, crime. 1t fills your jails, sup
plies your amshOuses and demand
your asyums. 1t engenders cOntrO
versieS, fosters quarrels and cherish
es riots. 1t crowds your penltentlar
, les and furnishes victims for the seal
+ folds. 1t is the life blood OF the gam
? bier, the element of the burglar, tn
prop of the highWayman and supper
t of the midnight incendiary. 1t count
enances the liar, respects the thiei
p esteemes the blasphemer. 1t violate
+ obligation, reverences fraud and hor
ors infamy. 1t defames benevolence
hates love, scOrnS virtue and SANDER
innocence. 1t incites the father t
6 butcher his helpless offspring, help
i. the husband to massacre his wife, an
the child to grind his paricidal ak.
@ burns up men. consumes women, d.
4 tests life. curses God, despises HEAVIER
!. 1t subornS witnesses, nurses perjury
4 deiiles the jury box and stains jud
h cial ermine. 1t degrades the either
I debases the legislator, diShonorS ii
# statesman and disarms the patriot.
brings shame, not honor; danger, nj
safety; despair, not hope: misery, NJ
happiness; and with the maleYolent
g of tiend it calmly surveys it's frigh
a full desolatiOn and unsatiated havO
;. 1t poisons felicity, kills peace, ruiz
: morals, blights confidence. Stays re
utations and wipes out national ho
, or, then curses the world and laugh
al it's ruin. 1t does all that and NOR
Il murders the soul 1t is the sum
G all vllIanies, the father of all crime
) the mother of all abomin ations, Il
/ devils best friend and Gods vor
. enemy"