Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1915-05-06
COMMUNICATED.

t~OM@ONANAIED.
Cleanliness Is Next 70 Goodness.
The colOred friends of st. Mary's Co.
are requested to attend q meeting in
LeonardtOwn the first Saturday in June.
for the purpose of discussing the great
local option question. We would like
to have a representation from every
district in the county. This is a fight
IN which every colored man should take
a part. This war, Ike the story. en-
titled Paradise Lost, the great right
against the greater wrong lis one which
will be fought, not with shot and shell,
but with the artillery of the ballot box.
Who will win That is to be decided
by our soldiers of the cross.
The enemy has been in camp among
our people for a long, long time, and
the hour has come when we must put on
our armor, reinforce our ranks and
march in battle array against him; he,
with all his deceitful entreating, with
all OF his artful decoys, is only q false
prophet. Turn deaf ear to him. He
is only an agent Of Satan. He will drag
men down from the loftiest peak of
success to the lowest grade of poverty,
and gentlemen and fair readers, he has
no pets: he cares not who his victims
are-the honorable old maid, the bloom
ing, rosy checked young lady. the prom
ising young man, or the weatherbeaten
soldier all look alike TO him.
Suppose roaring lion, a growing
bear or wolf would appear in our neigh
borhood, who would not give helping
hand to remove such pest from among
US Ii either of these wild beasts of
prey should strike US he would only kill
M DIV navw
meet our Creator. But alcohol, Oh,
think of it ! Should we succumb to its
influence, both body and soul are de-
stroyed. The man who dies drunk 10
dead indeed. With no time for prepar-
alton, no time to ask Gcd's mercy. he
IL simply gone. dead in body. dead in
sin.
The opportunity has presented itself
now my friends, to vote alcohol out of
the county, So
Gather the rosebuds while We may,
Old time is still flying;
That same flower which smiles today,
Tomorrow, may be dying"
Ii any young lady has a husband
who leans towards the wet blanket,
take him gently by the arm, draw
him lovingly away, and, in the
hhfAs oWGCt AOhG tWnlGu OUiy u l8uy
knows how to use), caution him against
the coughs and colds contracted by
getting wet and neglecting to take
the proper physics to preserve his
health. IL any young lady has q friend
who may some day be her husband, en-
treat him with tender smiles and Ian
gushing eyes 20 flee from that death
dealing demon, alcohol, and be q man.
Aha <N{
St. Mary's County, for my sake, the
children's sake, your own sake, and last
but not least, for Gods sake, vote to for
a dry county. Tell your husband, tell
your friend not to be u Pharaoh. He,
by his hard head and his hard heart,
pursued the wrong course. and follow
ing the children of Israel, was swal-
lowed up in the deep and was no more
on earth.
Alcohol, my friends, has DESTROYED
and is sending to destruction every year
a greater, stronger, and mightier army
than Pharaoh's. Ii is destroying the
army of the world.
One of my colored brothers has seen
| fit TO call me a Judas. Now, 1 would
rather be called q Judas, fighting to
set right a great wrong, than to take q
stand for an unjust cause-against all
the teachings OF Christ and His CON-
mandments. IL am a Judas because
| stepped from the wrong path into the
right, what would we call Professor
Booker t. Washington, the father of
the colored race, who says the absence
of whisky in the colored population Is
the greatest boon ever offered the race
since the days of bondage ? If he, who
has travelled. not only from state TO
state. but from country to country,
grand division to grand division: from
wet locality to dry locality, who il a
man that knows, advocates local option,
why should not the Judas. William Jour-
dan, make change and follow the right
road to success in this world and glory
| in the next
We have in my district some honor
able and influential men, both white and
colored. fgating for the same cause,
and IL all the other districts in the
county show up as well as the old Sixth.
We will lay King Alcohol as low as old
Pharaoh was buried In the Red Sea.
mean every word | say: they are from
my heart and would like them to reach
the hearts of every one.
Now my friends. in conclusion, wish
to say that ! have most carefully stud
led the local option situation as il stands
today, and 1t Is most encouraging to see
that we have with us the very best peo-
pie. among whom | am proud to men
tion the clergy of the entire county, the
allies. God bless them; the doctors, the
merchants. most all prominent business
men. and what somewhat puzzles me,
we also have the undertakers with US,
too. As rule, one would think they
would line up with liquor dealers, whose
interests are counterpart. The saloon
starts man on his downward career
and the undertaken. finishes it. and il
he can. as also the doctor, afford to vote
dOu,,, .x,k;~l,x, e. .~-o~k.-A "a A.. a.