The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-09-14
Be Honest.

Be Honest.
Nine out Of ten Of US are disciples OF Hy-
pocrates. This is o pretty severe arralgn-
ment, and yet it is true. We bubble and
speak parrot, mince the truth, patter and
sham every day Of u lives.
On this question of prohibition nearly
every layman in the church is a strong
shining disciple Of Hypocrates, the dis
sembler. A man who does not practice
what he breaches, what is he? You know
and / know men who do not shy In the
very least at Old King Alcohol, men who,
while they do not abuse themselves In its
use, yet use it. They have 1t In their
homes it is there now; it stays there.
And yet these same persons will talk about
liquor in a way to lead people to think
that they would not allow'a drop to come
into their homes for any consideration.
They seem to think that their positions
In the church and their standing in the
community demands that they take a GER
tain stand in regard to the matter which
will line them up right shoulders to the
pastors Of their respective churches and
to Johnny on the spot" in polite society.
How many times have you heard the ex-
preston, The whiskey evil? Do you
believe that whiskey is an evil ? No, you
know that all the evil in this world Is
bound up in the hearts of men and women
There is where all the evils are. Whiskey
Is 60 more an evil than is coffee and tea
and ether and chloroform. You will find
all the evil in men. There Is where it
turks. Thence it finds expression.
Ali the wines and the whiskeys and the
beers and the absinths in the universe can
not harm you, but remember! they can be
the instruments Of doing you and yours
great harm morally. mentally, and physic-
ally. Within themselves they are harm
less. The danger turks within you.
But our teachers teach US that the harm
Is in the whiskey, our preachers preach to
us that the evil is in the liquor, and we our
selves look on drink as a %personified imp
OF Satan, or a spiritual chief clerk to Be-
elzebub! Insn't that a fact?
Whiskey to you is as harmless as the
water that lifts over stones In the running
brook so long as you and your conscience
are in accord. We all have a misconcep-
ton OF the right and the wrong Of this
question.
We are all now crying, "Put it away!
put it awayr as If 1t were a dragon de-
vouring men and women; as II those who
are devoured are not at all responsible; as
II the Dragon were responsible for all the
evil incident to its presence. You might
just as well cry, stop manufacturing cards;
you might just as well cry, stop growing
horses: you might just as well cry stop
the existence Of everything by which sin
full man harms himself and society as to
cry the present cry Of Down with whiskey.
OF course many will take issue with the
above statement. It is perfectly natural
that they should. They see no way to
lessen the evil from the use Of whiskey ex-
cept to "Put it away"
There Is only N way, and that Is to
teach and preach temperance; to set mans
heart right to follow the dictates OF the
still small voice, the grandest leader in the
greatest fight that pen has ever pictured.
What respect have you for a man who
doesn't want prohibition for himself, but
wants it for the other fellow? What do
you think Of the integrity Of a man who
: votes prohibition and takes a nip every
day and expects to do so after prohibition
. is in force? There are scores OF such peo-
pie.
II Prohibition is right for Abbeville
county, it is right for South Carolina. If
it is right for South Carolina, it is right for
the United States. If 1t is right for the
United States, it is right for the nations Of
the world. And yet, mark you, should it
be possible by vote to dry up the source OF
LIQUOR until it was as arid as the Sahara
desert, THERE WOULD BE SUCH A
FALLING OFF OF THE PROHIBITION
VOTE THAT WE WOULD THINK THAT
THE WHOLE COUNTRY HAD GONE
TO THE DEVIL. Isn't. that so?
What, then, is wrong with our policy
that we thus make hypocrites Of our peo-
Die The trouble lies in the fact that we
have a miseonception Of what is right and
what Is wrong. You will agree that a hyp-
ocrite Is q most detestable person, and yet
our system tends to manufacture them by
the wholesale.
Make a mans heartIright and his con-
science right and you have n whom
neither life nor death, nor angels, nor
prinspalities, o powers, nor things pres
ent, nor things to come, nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature can injure
or harm.
The good ministers OF our various
churches think that their elders and their
deacons and other officers are honest when
they speak OF plotting out the curse
when these same elders and deacons and
officers often do not mean what they say.
They talk one way and think another. 1t
is wrong. 1t is a sin, a grievous sin.
We should be taught to be honest first.
II we are honest, in all probability we will
be nearer the mark Of what we ought to
be than we are at present. 1t takes a man
to tell his shepherd that absolute prohibi-
bition does not square with his views,
when his shepherd has been preaching to
him on it. We 60 with the crowd, no mat
ter what our own views are. No matter
what we think, to run counter to the pub
Lie mind might cause friction, and we trim
our sails TO suit the direction OF the COM