Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1917-05-31
BOONE WATAUCA COUNTY, N {. THURSDAY 81, 1917
4 Bafksspsr's Opinion Of Billy Sunday.
Concord Times.

- WsVy WSWO0ys
Concord Times.
From day to day the New York
World'prints in a prominen t place
an article from various persons,
many OF them OF considerable
prominence on "What Think OF
Billy Sunday" In it's issue OF
Tuesday there is presented t b 9
opinion of a man who for more
than 15 years has sold liquor O..
YER bars in New York, and who
attended the Sunday Tabernacle
expressly for the purpose of hear
ing q temperance sermon. Be-
cause he is still in the liquor bus
itess, bis name is not print ted,
but the World vouches for the
fact he is sincere in what he saws.
The man signs himself "A Veter.
an Bar TENDER" and here is what
he says:
81 oughtn't knock my own
game. maybe, or try to give a
black eye to the business t h a t
keeps me in food and clothes and
a roof over my head, but, take it
from me, there's an awful lot in
what this fellow Billy Sunday
says. l know! l have been back
OF the bar fora whole lot years,
and I've seen drinking men come
and go, but | never saw one OF
them leave the saloon q better
man than he was when he came
in it.
"BilPs argument-1t don'tget
you anything is about the best
| know. | wish l had a dollar for
every young fellow I've seen star
ting out to drink and winding up
in trouble. The may have a good
time with a couple OF cocktails
before dinner and a half dozen
high-balls before turning in for
the night, but they're not having
any fun when they sneak up to
the bar in the bar in the morn.
ing and get an absinthe frappe
to straighten them out and say
to the bar tehder, 'How do | 10 ok.
Charley? All right? Do'you think
| can face the boss in the office"
"And they're not very gay
when they ask the bartender-as
they often do-to slip them a
dollar to see them through the
day. And many a one does that
fellows with good jobs
and fine chances in life.
"a mans a boob, a sucker, to
get started in the drinking game,
| don't know whether Billy Sun
days statistics are right or not
about the increased prosperity
of a town, and all that, when it's
dry. But do know from " b a t
I've seen with my own eyes that
for the individual man the booze
game is all wrong. 1t takes his
money away from him; it takes
his job away from him; it takes
his health away from him. Ma
ny and many a time in the ! a 8 t
few years I've put on a black tie
and followed some good fellows
coffin to the grave yard. Maybe
he WASH t q SOuSe or q very hard
drinker, but the old stuff gothim
through some disease or weaken.
ing that whiskey brought on.
"There's mot a bartender in
New York who has been on t b e
job for q few years but what
could tell you all sorts OF stories
about what happened to the
good fellows, and through moth.
ing else than booze. l gave up
the stuff myself long ago because
| saw what it did to other peo-
pie. And | think you'll find most
bartenders-and most saloon
men, too-either do not touch
it or else go very light with it.
They're wise to what it does.
Billy Sunday is right a b o u t
booze. 1t would be a good thing
for the country if the Pesident t
or Congress would stop it, for