The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1911-04-14
THE DRIFT OF A DAY.
(By Rambler.)
EuIoey on Water.


The signs of the times point to an
unsafe condition as regards the future
sale of intoxicating liquors in the In
dian country. 1t has been mildly sug-
gested by some high public officials
that the prohibitory laws against the
introduction of liquors were onerous
and not expected to be enforced. The
line between the "bootlegger" and the
fellow who "just ships it in for his
own use" is very hard to draw so as
to make the one a violation of the law
subject to punishment and the other
good law abiding citizen. 1t will be
a sad day for the Indian when his coun-
try is thrown open to the promiscuous
sale of intoxicants-and that time is
coming as fast as time flies, and one
or two more whirls of the congress
sional wheel and prohibition will be
unknown in Oklahoma.
A friend declared to me the other
day that no social function was COM
plete without something stronger than
water to drink, and that no harm
could come from the temperate use of
intoxicants. OF course l did not agree
with this preposterous assertion.
Illustrating this very point it is re-
lated of the late Emery Storrs that
when sitting around a wine table with
number of lawyer friends he insisted
on drinking ice water. They taunted
him for his absteiniousness saying:
what is there in water? You can
say nothing for it." Picking up his
glass he said. How do you expect
to improve upon the beverage furn-
ished by nature? Here it is-Adams
ale-about the only gift that has de-
Eden! Natures common carrier, not
created in the rottenness of fermenta-
ton, not distilled over guilty fires I!
Virtues and not vices are its compan-
ions. Does it cause drunkenness, di-
| sease, death, cruelty to women and
children? viii it place rags on the
person, mortgages on the stock, farm
and furniture? VIII it consume wages
and incomes in advance and ruin men
in business? Mo- but it floats in white
gossamer clouds far up in the quiet
summer sky. and hovers in dreamy
mist over river and lake. 1t wells the
woods and hills of earth's landscapes
in purple haze, where filmy lights and
shadows drift hour after hour. 1t piles
itself in tumbled masses of cloud
domes and thunder-heads, draws the
electric flash from its mysterious hid
ing places, and seams and shocks TIL,
wide air with vidid lines of fire. 1t il
carried by winds, and falls in rustlint
Icurtains of liquid drapery all over tn,
Thirsty woods and fields and fixes ii
Gods mystic eastern heavens his beau
titul bow of promise, glorified with
radience that seems reflected out 0
heaven itself. 1t CLEANS in the fros
crystals of the grand old mountain to-
and the dews of the valleys: 1t silent
ly ereeps up to each leaf in the myria
forests of the world and tints eacI
i fruit and flower. 1t is here in tn
grass blades of the meadows, and ther
where the corn waves its tassels an
/ the wheat is billowing! 1t gems tn
depths of the desert with the gla
green oasis. winds in oceans aroun
the whole earth. and roars its hoars
! enternal anthems on hundred thor
sand miles of seashore. 1t claps it
, hands in the flashing wave-crests c
! the sea. laughs in little rapids of tn
brooks, kisses the dripping moss-coN
) cred old oaken well bucket in coun
} less host of happy homes. woul
: not exchange one glass of pure sparl
! ling water for all the intoxicatin
. drinks on earth.