The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1910-02-04

i dollars. He buys and treats and gam
bles, so that when he leaves five dol
lars of his weeks wages have gone.
And he has nothing to show for It..
But the man has a wife and four
children at home. The rent has to
| be paid, food for the coming week
has to be purchased, and some of
the children need shoes. He also
remembers that they will need some
meat for Sunday dinner, so he steps
into the market The man from
whom he bought the liquor is there,
and as ne steps through the door
he hears the saloon-keeper give his
order. Two pounds Of porter-house
steak, and cut 1t thick. Also send
over a six pound rib-roast for to-
| morrow we are having company.
But this working-man remembers
that large part of his weeks wages
have gone, orders two pounds of
| liver, and a soup-bone. He then
staggers home. When he nears the
| house, his wife sees his coming, and
| trembles, Tor she knows that he has
| been drinking again. The children
know it for they hide. They have
| felt their fathers blows when he
| has been in drink. Now listen. The
| man has spent five dollars in
whiskey. Two dollars are needed
for rent How is that family to live
during the coming week. Now take
it for granted that the forty men
have done a similar thing. Where
is the prosperity of that town COM
| ing from? The saloon-keeper max
ing money, but he grocer, the butte
err, and the dry-goods man have not
done enough to keep them busy.
Now for another picture. The
next day is Sunday. The man re-
| members that he and his wife used
| to go to church. They are no longer
able to do so, for he has no desire,
| and their clothes are not decent. He
does a lot of thinking that day. On
Monday morning ne gathers his shop
| mates together and puts PROPOSE
ton to them.
at runs something after this fash
ion: Mates. last Saturday night
when ] reached home l found that
] had spent five dollars of my weeks
| wages in liquor. The rent goes un-
paid this week. The children have
to live on very poor food and not
enough of that. The wife has to
| take in washing to buy clothing for
the children. And it is all my fault.
You are in the same boat. Shall we
try another plan? viii you agree
with me not to drink drop OF
whiskey this week, and see what
kind OF a day next Saturday brings
us? The compact is entered upon.
The next payday the man goes down
Main street But he goes into the
meat market, and he orders a rib
roast, for which he pays. The thir
ty-nine men are with him and before
| they are half served, the butcher is
at his wits end. He is bought out
| that night. Then the man goes into
| the shoe store and buys two pairs of
boys shoes. The others follow suit.
! Eighty pairs of shoes sold that night.
He then goes to the dry-goods store,
and buys eight yards Of material for
! dress for his wife. The others do
likewise. Three hundred twenty
yards of material sold that night.
He steps into the grocery store, and
buys a sack of flour-40 sacks Of
-four sold that day. So with the
shoes and the meat and the dress
goods and -four he goes home. His
wife is looking for him. And she
hears him whistling as he comes up
the road. Now / ask you, where is
the prosperity? If that goes on for
six months, all those forty homes are
comfortably furnished. The women
are happy, the children are well fed,
all the men have bank accounts, and
the only man put out of business is
the saloon-Xeeper. If that is strik-
ing blow at the prosperity of the
city, then God help us to strike 1t, to
strike quickly and strike surely.
But let us consider further. AS Aked
tells us, in every Sunday school con-
vention the question is discussed
what becomes of our older scholars.
Let me tell you. If you go into any
prison in this country you will find
thereof have passed through our
Sunday schools and that more OF
them fell through drink. This thing
is going on the world over. Condi-
tons are bad enough to warrant
minister saying to his Sunday school
workers, and indeed to all the men,
bers Of his church and congregation:
Your are doing a good work, and
God will bless you for it. There is no
work to equal that Of training the
young to walk the ways of pleasant
ness and the paths of peace. But
all the while you are engaged in this
work, there is another force at work
which nuliInes all the good that you
do. Whether you are fighting the
saloon or not, the saloon is fighting
you. While you are trying to build
up, the liquor traffic Is pulling down.
it damns ten souls for every one
Il