The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, June 30, 1886, Image 4
RELIGIOUS READING, j
i
Nothing to Do.
Nothing to do!" in this world of ours.
Where weeds spring up with fairest flowers ,
Where smiles have only a fitful play,
Where hearts are breaking every day!
"Nothing to doP' thou Christian soul,
Wrapping thee round in thy selfish stole:
Off with the garments of sloth and sin,
Christ thy lord hath a kingdom to win.
"Nothing to do!" There are prayers to lay
On the altar of incense, day by day;
There are foes to meet, within and without
There is error to conquer, strong and stout
"Nothing to do!" There are minds to teach
The simplest form of Christian speech;
TViow*oro liaqrf.Q tr* liiria with lovilier wi!??
From the grimmest haunts of sin's"clefile.
"Nothing to do!" There are lambs to feed,
The precious hope of the Church's need;
Strength to be borne to the weak and faint, j
Vigils to keep with tho doubting saint
"Nothing to do!" and thy Saviour said,
"Follow thou me, in th* path I tr -ad."
' Lord, lend thy help tie journey through, j
Lest l'aint, we cry, *'So much to do."
Indifference to Sin,
If there is a disease in our modern the- j
ology and our modern philosophy of life j
more conspicuous than another, it is indifference
to sin. "We lull it with ano- j
dyne. Wc call it anything but sin. "We I
form our schemes of social improvement j
and material progress without any conviction
of the deep plague spot of ou:
nature. Wc hide it from ourselves until
it breaks out in some scandalous form i
and startles us with its intensity. We |
will drill men into morality; we will re- |
?; 1 -'1 TIM 11 Bmntir I
press cniuc uj cumauun, >?v >?? ? |
our jails by philanthropic legislation;
but the sin that dwelleth in us is too
strong for human remedies, too rampant
for the social reformer's pruning hook.?
Deaii of Peterborough.
A Marvellous Movement.
v Some of our readers are familiar with
Mr. Moody's experience three years ago
among the students of Oxford and Cambridge
universities. They will remember
how the first meeting was broken up
by the disorderly conduct of the students,
the subsequent conversion of some of the
most eminent, the dedication of a few to
the foreign missionary service at their
own expense, and the farewell meeting j
in Exeter Hall, which was not large
enough to contain the crowd. Incidents
of their work are given as follows by
Rev. Dr. Zabriskic in the Christian Intelligence:7
The missionary party shipped for Suez
in a vessel whose captain was a notorious
infidel, blasphemer and drunkard. "If
you can convert that captain," those who
knew him said, "we will bcliev?." The
captain rubbed his hands with glee at the
prospect of putting down the missionaries.
All approaches to him were met by
blasnhcmv and infidel argument. "Had
he read the Bible ?" "Yes, knew it I
through and through, and it was all i
bosh!" After a fruiiless interview of two
hours, Mr. Studd remarked as a close to
, the conversation: "Well, all I have to
say is, I have a peace which the world
cannot give." The man seemed struck
by the remark, grew serious, and said:
"We are all seeking that, but we never
find it." "You can have it by simple
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ," was the
reply. The captain then opened his heart,
and revealed its secret of unrest. After
separating from the young missionary, he
went down and shut himself in his cabin.
The next that was seen of him was his
writing a letter home, asking forgiveness
for having left his family rudely and
without a word. He gave his heart to
Christ, and became completely changed,
and all the crew marvelled greatly.
On vhe voyage to Calcutta every one
of their fellow passengers, they shipped
as second class for this very purpose,
gave evidence of being born again. At
Shanghai, a place so pre-eminently bad
that no previously religious effort had
availed, the same results of awakening
and conversion followed. Among other
cases was that of an Episcopal clergyman
who electrified his congregation at one
of the meetings by announcing that if
God called him to his account on the
Sunday previous his soul would have
been lost. A bitter and abusive article
appeared in an English paper there,
which was inexplicable till it was ascertained
that the editor was venting his
rage because his wife had been one of the
KnTivcrts T?nt she prevailed on him
also to attend tbe meetings, and ere long
he too -was a confessor of Christ.
These young men were not content to
remain on the seaboard, but had plunged
into the interior where no missionary had
ever penetrated. In order to do this
the more effectively, they had shaved
their heads and adopted the Chinese costume.
They were separated from all
Europeans, and were regarded and
treated as "foreign devils," stoned, and
in peril of their lives. But none of these
things had moved them, and they wenfull
of peace and joy, and testified that
they had chosen the better part.
This was very remarkable when we
consider what they had left for this
cause. Every one of them had already
made his ma k. They were the leading
cricketers and oarsmen of England, officers
of the British army, ministers in the
English Church, all with the finest
worldly prospects assured to them. In
some instances they had been cut off
from their inheritance by opposing and
disappointed relatives. Of those in Cambridge
who have followed them are the
first bicyclist, the first Hebrew scholar,
the man who has carried < II ail the
Vinnnro nnrl the examiner in thenlnorr
But all these things have been relinauished
in order to go abroad and preach
le gospel to the destitute and in the
deserts of the world.
If there be any overmastering temptation
-which baffles you, raise no fight
with it in your own will, but simply
turn yourself to Christ alone.
?Bushnell.
God yearns over us, grieving at our
ignorance, mourning over our unteachaKlnnpeo
nfTerirxr tn tench n? tn ni'itp in
wise. Thus pitying us, He provides for
us.?Bonar.
He that can apprehend and consider
vice, with all her habit.? and seeming
pleasures, and yet abstain, and yet distinguish.
and yet prefer that which is
truly better, he is the true warfaring
Christian.?Milton.
Not only Is liquor responsible for much
crime, but for disease as well. Sir Andrew
Clark, the distinguished English physician.
says that seventy out of every one
hundred patients in the London Hospital
are there through drink, including those
afflicted with inherited disorders.
The American Medical Association at
its lat? session in St Louis reaffirmed its
previous utterances concerning "the use j
and abuse of alcohol, and its effects upon
the human race," and recommended
temperance instruction ia the public
schools
i. i
M IMAGE'S SEEPS, !
ELM THE WORST ENEMY OF THE ]
WORKING CLASSES.
Tart- "Ha that earnath wares earneth ,
wages to put it iu a bag with Holes.'' Haggai,
i., 5:
In Persia, during the reign of Darius
Hystaspas, the people did not prosper. Taey
made money bat they could not keep it.
They were like a man who has a sack
which he puts money iuto, not knowing that
the sack has been torn or worm-eaten, or is
in some way incapacitated to hold valuables.
As he puts the com in one end of the sa:;k it
drops out of the other. They earned wages
but they lost them, or, as the prophet puts it:
'He that earneth wages earneth wages to
put it in a bag with holes." What has
become of the billions and billions of dollars
paid as wages to the wording class.-s
of this couutry i Many of the moneys have
gone for the purchase of wardrobes, for the
purchase of homesteads, for the support of
families, for the education of children, for
the meeting of the necessities of life, for providing
comfort for time of old age, and
r-icrlitlTr ciont. Ph pi .tin nl v snpnfc. What has
become of the other billions and billions of t
the wages paid to the working classes of this ]
country? Many of them foolishly wasted, t
wasted at gaming tables, wasted "in intoxi- i
cants, put into a bag with a hundred holes. 1
Gather up the moneys that have been spent t
by the working classes of this country during c
the last thirty yea s for rum and tobacco, i
and I will build for the workingrueu, every t
workinginan, a house, surrounding it with a 1
garden, clothing his sons in broadcloth and e
his daughters iu silks, standing at his front t
door a prancing span of bays or sorrels, 1
and insuring his life so that his place can be ^
Ironf iit- iif'tov his dftath. If m the citv of R
Brooklyn the people have expended $17,1)00,- s
000 in one year for strong drink, and one- c
half of that money has been spent by the s
wage earning classes, theu one-half the c
wages of this city has gone for runj. I stand g
beiore the Christian church and before the i
American people to-day to delcare that the t
most persistent and overwhelming enemy of t
tbe workiujr classes is intoxicating liquor. It ]
is a worse enemy than monopoly.it is a wor.-e t
enemy than associated capital, it is the pest t
of the century, and has boycotted and is boy- t
cotting the body, mind and *oul of American ?
industry. It snatches away a large percent- r
age of the wages of this country. It meets t
the laboring man and operative on his way j
to work in tho morning, with baletul solici- 1
tations, and at the noon spe'l aud r
in the eventide and on Saturday e
when the wages are paid it takes much of >
that which ought to go for the support of I
the famiiv and sa?irfices it to the saloon L
keeper. We have now in these cities saloons a
that have what they call free lunch, aud for i
K nnnfe fka 1 orr mon moxr Viovo llic frldCC *
of iutoxicating liquor and one or two articles (j
of food, and you wonder how the saloonist a
can afford that. I will tell you how he af- ?
fords it. The laborer does not stop with one r
glass or one cup. His thirst is kindled and I
ne drinks on and drinks on and become? a t
patrcn of that establishment, and drinks c
lucre and more until he goes into the grave, s
and his wife and children go to the poor- r
house. Within SOOyards of old Sands Street t
Methodist Church, Brooklyn?that Gibraltar f
of Christianity, that fortress of Godliness t
and the truth decade after decade, that old s
historical church, in which John Summer- r
field thundered on righteousness, temperance c
and judgment to come?within UO'J t
yards of old Sands Street Methodist c
church, there are to-day fifty-four drinking *
saloons and an application for another. It ^
has been estimated that if the groggeries and f
the rum shops of this country were put side 1
by side tbey would make a solid bl >ck from I
New York to Chicago. The liquor traffic is 1
gathering up its forces and crying out: "For- 1
ward march! take possession of the ballot e
box, take possession of the city halls, take f
possession of the Legislatures,take posse sion l
of the Congress of the United States, r-apture e
the whole law for intoxication." Will you s
tell me what chance there is for the laboring
classes of this country while this iniquity
Erogresses as it does? "The rum trattiu pours
3e vitriolic,damnable stuff down th3 throats
of hundreds of thousands of the working
class,and while a strike injures br>th employer
and employe, I this day proclaim a universal
strike against strong drink, which strike if
kept up will release the working class and be
the salvation of the nation. Any h9althy
man in America, if he will be industrious for
twenty years and abstain from strong drink,
and be saving, mav be his own capitalist on
a small scale. This country spends annually
in strong drink one billion, five hundred million
and fifty thousand dollars. A large part j
of that money is expended by the laboring c
classes. In Groat Britain there are exDended r
annually one hundred million pound*, or five f
hundred million dollars. Oh, workingmeu
of America, whether you sit in this house today,
or whether these words shall in some
other way come to you, I ask you to sit
down and add ud how much you
have expended during your lifetime for
rum and tobacco, and" then ask your
fellow workmen how much they nave
expended for rum and tobacco, and add it all
up and realize that by co-operative association
you might have been your own capitalist,
instead of answering the "beck and whim of
of others. Anythiug that takes from the
working clashes of America their physical
strength is a robb?ry. Now, a man who f
stimulates has not as mu?h energy and phys- I
ical endurance as a man whD refuses to a
stimulate. My father told me how he be- s
came a temperance man. He said: "I be- t
came a temperanco man when everybody g
drank, because of what I saw in the harvest c
field, where I found that though I was phys- t
ically weaker than other men because of lon^ h
sickuess, I could endure more than my comrades
in the harvest field; I could work harder
and work longer, and be less fatigued at
night; they took stimulants, I took none."
A brick maker in England, having in his
employ many men, investigated the subject,
ana he gives as the result of his investigation:
"The beer drinker who made the fewest bricks
made 659,000. The abstainer who made the
fewest bricks made 740,000. The difference in
behalf of the abstainer over the iudulger,
87,000." There came a time of great weariness
in the British Parliament andthe sessions
were so long, and from week to week, that
nearly all the memlers of the Parliament
were either sick or worn out. Of the U32
members only two went through undamaged. 1
They were teetotalers. In time of war, r
soldiers who go forth with wa'er or coffee in j
the cantsen can march longer and make t
braver fight than the soldiers who carry ^
\yhisky in the canteen. Rum U a great help s
for a man to fight if he has only one con- c
testant and that at the street corner; but if a t
man goes forth to fight for God and his
country, he wants no rum about him. When t
the Russian army goes out a corporal passes r
along the line and smells the breath of each f
soldier, and if there be in the breath the s
slightest suggestion of liquor the man is sent l
back to the barracks. Why? He cannot c
stand the battle, he cannot stand the march. c
All our young men understand this. When r.
they are preparing for the regatta, for the i
ball olul), for the athletic wrestling, they s
abstain from strong drink. It is most im- c
portant that all my friends who are toiling t
with hand aud foot and brain understand <fchfiv
can do more work without rum than
they can do with it. The workingman who j
puts down his wa^e.s and then put-; clown (
right beside them his expenses and makes '<
them ,'ust 0'iual is not wise. I know laboring \
men who are in a perfect fidcet until they ?
have sj.ent their last dollar. The followiug i
circumstance <aire under my own ohserva- f
tion: A voung man was gett ng SOU) or $700 s
salary. Day of marriage came. His wi'e I
inherited ?o0() from her grandfather. She j
expended every dollar in a wed ling equip- t
ment. Then they rented a 1 ootn. Then the (
young man found it necessary to take even- (
ing employment. He was already nearly f
worn out from overwork; but now to the <
day must night employment bo added, until i
his evesight was nearlv extinguished and his y
health nearly gone. Why did ho add night t
employment to the day emp'oyinent? To ]
get n ore money. What did he want j
'o get more money for? To put away t
for a rainj' day? Oh no. To get his life in- ?
sured so that if he died bis wire would not <
be a beggar? No, oh no. He bad this other t
grand and glorious enterprise on hand; he '
wanted to get. and he did get, by this extra
labor $150 with which to purchase his wife a
sealskin coat. Worthy of a man's highest
endeavor! The sister of the brido heard of
the achievement and she was not to be
e-'lipseil. She was earning her living with
the uea.lle. So she sat up nights week after
week, month after month, until she came to
the same glorious achievement and she had
won $1.10 with which to buy a sealskin coat.
I do not know what the effect was on that
street. There were many people on that
street with small incomes and I supposa
this contagion spread and that people
came out crying, figuratively if not s
literally, "though the heavens tall, I must i
lave a sealskin cr>at " Now, between auoh
i fool as that and pauperism there is only
>n9 step. I was told about eight vears ago,
fvhile riding with a clergyman in Iowa, that
nearly all his congregation and the neighborhood
had been financially ruined by the f ?rt
;hat the farmers had rut morteages on their
rarms in order that they might send their
'amiliesto th? Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition.
"Why." he said, "it was not conlidered
respectable here notto go to the Philidelpln'a
Centennial Exhibition." So they
til went. Ah, my friends, if by some tint of
;he capitalists, if bv some new law of the
government of the United States, twenty-five
jer cent., fifty per cent., 10? per "cent,
ould be added to the wages of
;he working people, hundreds of thou-wnis
>f them would be no better off. More
none)*, more rum. More wages, more holes
n the bag. Scores of people who might have i
jeen wen on co-aay, are in aesiuimuu ooause
they chewed, or smoked, or drank, or
ived beyond their means, while others on the 1
ame salary went on to a competency. I
enow a man now who is all the time com- '
Gaining of his poverty and crying out '
leainst rich men, yet he keeps two '
logs, and he smokes and chews, and he i
s lille l to the chin with whisky and beer. 1
Uicawber said to David Copperficld: "Cop- j
>erfield, my boy, one pound !ncome, twenty 1
.hillings and sixpence outgo. Result, misery. '
But Cooperfield. m}r boy, one poun 1 income, <
iinetreu shillings and sixpence outgo. Remit,
happiness." But oh, workingmen, you
;ake your dram in the morning, and I
7O'j take vour dram at noon, and you
-ake your dram at night, and I will prom- 1
se you and your children poverty forever. 1
Hie vast majority of the children in the 1
ilmhouses of this country had for father# 1
Irunken or lazy or improvident man. I do
?05 Know now it is wnn otners wuu u y lo wju
he poor, but nine out of ten reople that I
lelp are the wives or the children of drunkards.
Now, the times have got to change if
here is to be any relief from these influences.
rVe have got to live within our means, and
ve have got to be prudent And here, let me
ay, that I do not sympathize with skinflint
aving. I am pleading for Christian prulence.
A mau now may have no means to
ave, but we are at the morning of a great
lay of national prosperity, ana people are
;oing to have means to save. There are men
vho now have not a dollar who might have
>sen their own masters, independent, of em)loyers,
independent of capitalists, and what
say, you all know to be true. I know
here are people who think it is mean to
urn the gas down lower when they leave
he parlor. I know there are people who
ire very much embarrassed if the aoor bell
1?1?11 li'iwUfArl T I'nntr
TDg.s ueiure luo uau i? u^uvwu. *
here are people who feel apologetic when
'ou find taem at a plain table, plain food.
iVell, it is mean if it only be for piling up a
niserly hoard; but if it bp to eive a better
iducation to your children, if it be to give
lelp to your wife when she is not strong, if
t be to keep your funeral day from being a
lorror beyond endurance because it is the
tunihi'ation of your home?that isgrand, that
s magnificent. It depends very much upon
vhat you save for, whether it is mean or
fraud. I know young women in this city
vho are denying themselves all luxuries to
iducate brothers, or to eive a younger sister
nusical advantages. What do'vou call that?
!tis next to the angelic. Now, 1 want to say
o the workingaien of America, so far as I
an reach them, and I want to say at the
ame time the same things to all business
nen, men of all classes and occupations,
he greatest foe of labor, the greatest
oe of literature, the greatest foe of religion,
he greatest foe of all classes of people, is
trong drink, and I want this morning in the
lame of God to implore you to quit the use
>f it. I warn you to take one square look at
he suffering man who becomss the despoilei
>f the wine flask or the beer mug or the
vhisky bottle, and understand that a
-ast multitude are running for that
roal. Some of you are running for it!
iVhen a man comes from under this influence
le feels bemeanpd. I do not care how recke-s
ho talks. He may say: "I don't care."
le does care. He caanot look you in the
ye without a rallying of his energies and
orce of resolution. The Philistines have
>ound him hand and foot and gouged his
iyes out and shorn his locks, and ne has
.fTflnH in t.lia mill nf a orreat
Ill CttU* OIU1 tvv* WW tuu ?u V..W 0
lorror*. Just as soon as a man, whether ho
>e a workiniiman. or. as we call him, a busi?ess
man, pets under the influence of strong
Irink, he will try to persuade you first of all
hat he can ston at any time. He cannot. I
vill prove it. He loves himself, he loves his
>ody, he loves his mind, he loves his soul. He
cnows his habits are ruinine all thsse, yet he
ceeps right on. Why does Tie not stop? He
anhot stop. He loves his family; he thinks
he finest group in all the world is his
vife and children; he knows that he is,
hat his son and his daughter are going out
mder tbe baleful influence of having had an
nebriated father. Why does he not stop?
3e cannot. I had a friend who for fifteen
>r twenty years was going down under this
>rcce>s. He was a generous soul. He had
;iven thousands of dollars to Bible societies,
irac-t societies, missionary societies, and you
:ould not make an arpaal in behalf of charity
jut he liberally responded. His
>rdinary mode with intimate friends
yas when applied to for help to say: "Put
ny name down on the subscription paper for
vhat you think I ought to pay, aDcl I will
)ay 1c." u-ionous soul. i>ut iuuiit 11k.o uinit Jut
strong drink put its grappling hooks
lpon him and he went on, on, down, down,
rle said: "I can stop any time I want to,
lon't be worried." His pastor protested,
md said: "Don't you Know you are
uining yourself, you are raining your
amily, now, you stop." He said: "Oh.
! coufd stop anv time if I wanted to." After
iwhile he had delirium tremens. The doctor
aid to him: "Now, if you have another atack
of this kind the probability is you won't
;et well." "Why," said he, "doctor, I can ;
top at any time; it is only a question of
im'e. I can stop as easily as turn'ng my
iand over." He had a second attack,
lis physician said: "Now. you must,
top. If you have another attack like
his I can t be any help to you, nor
au any doctor. You must stop." "Oh," he
aid, "doctor, I could stop if I wanted too, if
, thought it best. I think you are mistaken,
loctor." He is dead, my friends, dead. What
rilled him? Rum! One of the last things he
lid was to try to persuade his friends he
:ould stop if he wanted to, if he thought it
vas best to stop? lemonstrating the fact that
here is a point beyond which if a man
;o he cannot stop. A man said to a Christian
riend: "If I were told I could not get any
trong drink before to morrow night unless I
WW fi7-1 rrnro ohrirmoH off I WOlllfl S/1V! J
Bring "a hatchet and e^onthern off.'" I had
i dear lrienti in Philadelphia who was chid- i
ng his nephew for yielding to this teniptaion.
The nephew said: "Why, unole, if there
vas a cannon and on the tnp of the cannon
itood a wine glass, and the thirst were
>n me and I knew as I advanced
hat cannon would be fired off, I
TOuld start for that wine cup." Oh, men of
he working classes and men of all clause*, do
lot get this grip on you. It is an awful thing
or a man to wake up andsay; "I could have
topped once, but I cannot stop now. I might
lave lived a useful life and d:ed a Christian
leath. Dead but not buried. I am a walking
lorpse. I am only an apparition of what 1
race was. I am a caged immortal, and my soul
>?ats against the wires of tha cage on this
ide and beats airainst the wires of the cage
>n the other side, but cannot get out, and
here is blood on the wires an.l there is blood
n my soul. Destroyed without remedy.
fc.nd then there is all the sorrow that coma
roni the loss of physical health. Doctor
Sawall?some of the aged men in this
rongregation may remember the time
when he went through the country
ind electrified audiences. I am told by those
A'ho fceard him that he had eight or ten d a
rrams, whicn he uispiayeu oerore mb i>eop:e,
showing tho devastation of alcoholism on the
itirr.an stomach. There were thousands of
:eople who turne 1 away from these ul.-erous
sket;hes swearing by the help of Almighty
>od thev would never asain touch intoxicating
liquor. Oh, what the inebriate suffers.
Pain tiles on every nerve and travels
ivery muscle, and gnaws every b jne and
iu r us with every fla:in, and stingi
ivith every poison, and pulls with every toi;ure.
What lieuds stand by his midnight
lillow? "What horrors shiver through his
ioul? Whit gr >ans tear his ears? Talk of
;he rack, talk of the inquisition, talk of tha
rushinsr juggernaut?he fte'.s them all at
>nce. There he lies in one of the wards of
;he hospital. The keeper comes up and says:
'You must bo still; you've got to
>top this noise; you're" disturbing the
ivhole hospital." No sooner has tha
teeper gone away than the poor soul says:
4Oh God, Oh God, keep me! Tuke the
levils off of me. Oh God, give me rum, give
ne rum!" Aud then when the keeper comes
io asks the keeper to kill him. "Stab me.
slay nie, smother me. Oh God. Oh God."
[t is no fancy sketch. That is going on ail
ip and down this land. Moreover, it is the
lent il some of you will die.
T; en there are all the sorrows of a destroyed
home. I do not care how much a
nan lovo< his wife and children, if this passion
for strong drink comes upon him, and he
anu^t get it in any other way, ho will be
willing to sell them all into eternal bondage.
I bate that strong drink. Do not tell me a
man can be bappy when he knows that h? is
breaking his wile's heart and clothing hi* children
withrags. Ah! there ate thousands of
children to day on the streets of the city and on
the roads of the country, unkempt, uiicombed
and uncared for. Want written 011 every
patch of their garments and on every wrinkle
of their prematurely old face. They would
have been in the bouse of (rod and a* well
clad as any of you but for the fact that their
fathers were drunkards. They went down
and took their families with them, as they
always do. Thora is not an as^emtdase in
the United States to-day in which there
are not women who are fighting the battle
for bread alone. The man who promised
fidelity, the man who was ordained as the
head of the household is destroying himself
and destroying' oil those dependent upon him.
Oh Rum, thou foe of Go'l, thou despoiler of
the human raco, thon recruiting officer of
hell, I hate thee.
But the negle t takes a deeper tone when I
tell you that it despoils?this evil despoils tuo
soul. The Bible indicates again and again
that if our hearts he unchanged and we go
into the other world nnregenerate, our evil
appetites and passions go with us aud there
torment us. In this world the man could
borrow or steil five cents to get that which
slaked his thirst for a little while, but in
sternity, where is the rum to come from?
Dives wanted a drop of water. The inebriate
wants rum. W hero shall it come
from? Who wid brew it? Who will mix it?
Who will fetch it? Millions of worlds now for
She dregs which the young man slung out on
:he sawdusted floor of the restaurant. Millions
of worlds now for the rind pitched out
from the punch bowl of the earthly banquet.
Dives wanted v.-ater. Th? inebriate wants
rum. If a spirit from the lost world should
;ome up forsome work in a grogshop and
;hen go back, taking one drop on his inferaal
wing, nod that one drop on the
lend's wing could be put on the tip of ';he
longne of the lost inebriate, however small
the drop, it it amy nave coe sreacK or aicoiolic
liquor, that one drop on the inebriate's
tongue would make him cry: "Aha! aha!
that is rum!" It woulci wake up all the
jchoes of the dammed, as; they crv: "Give
me rum! give me rum!" I do not think the
sorrow of the inebriate in the next world will
be the absence of God or the absence of
light, or the absence of fi.oline.-s; it will be
the absence of rum. I say it to the working
classes of America, and I say it to all business
classes, to all the?e merchants, to all
these men whether they toil for a living with
brain, or har.d, or feet, you ought to quit
four strong drink, have nothing to do with
it. "Look not upon the wine when it is red,
when it movetb itself aright in the cup, for
it the last it biteth like a serpent, and it
stingeth like tin adder." Oh, I think it is about
time for another women's crusade, such as we
tiad seven or Digllt vears in Ohio.when thirty
kvoiren went it and clear-ad al! the gropshops
jut of a town of a thousand inhabitants?
thirty women surcharged with the Holy
Grhost, their only weapons prayer and s jng,
ind many a grogshop was closed as 1:hoy
jarne up, the owners saying: "Now, don't
:ome here and pray and sin?, we'll closa up."
[f thirty women surcharged with the Holy
jhost could clear out rum from a
tillage of a thousand inhabitants, three
thousand consecrated women of Brooklyn
n the strength of Almighty God banding toretber
and going forth, could in six months
;lear out at least three fourth* oi' the grogshops,
anfl if "he thi'ee thousand should band
x>gether, and they'had no other leader, I, a
minister of the most hijdi God, would offer
my services, ?.nd I would come out in front
>f them and would say: "Come on,
?ome on with your prayers and your songs
xnd your Christian entreaties, come on!
Some of you will take this left
sring of the <?ne:ny, and others of you will
ta';e the right wing of the enemy. Forward
! the Lord of Hosts is with us, the God
>f Jacob i9 our refuse. Down with the
iramshops, down with the grogshops. (Applause.)
Ah:, my friends, rather than your
ipplause, let it ba your prayers to Almighty
Bod that this beloved city.the prideof our resi
lenco, mar tiave tne awiui curse 01 strong
Irink lifted. Not waiting for those mouths of
hell, the grogshops, to be closeil, start you
5ii your duty,for if I said a few moments ago
:hat there was a point beyond which if a
nan went he could not stop, I have to tell
jrou that the Lord God Almighty by His
ijrace can help any man to stop. I was; over
in one of the meetings in New York where
there was a large number of reformed drunkirds,
and I hai a revelation made to me
there that I never before understood,
The substancj of the testimony of twenty or
thirty people was this: '*We were the victims
or strong drink. We tried to quit. We
?ould not. We made failure. We Djlonged
to all sorts of societies and we tried to ?et
Dver the habit, but we always failed. But
iftera while we found God and gave our
heart* to Him. We have been greatly
changed. Not only have our hearts
been chanzed, but our bodies hav9
t>een changed. We don't feel the thirst any
more. We don't have the temptation."
Not only can the grace of Christ change
the heart, but it can recuperate and
:han<?e the body, and though to-day
pou feel at the roots of your tongue the cravings
of a mighty thirst, call on God and He
ivill rescue you. You cannot do it yourself.
He can. He can. And if you have
)nly be^an to go astray, if it is a
natter of luxury to you: when the liquor
x>urs into the cup, whether it be a golden
ihalice or a pewter mug, I want you, oh men,
;o read in the foam 011 th ton of the cud in
ivhifeit letters the word. "Beware!"' But
jo right on as some of you are going and
n ten years you will as to your body lie down
n a drunkard's grave, and as to your immoral
soul you will lie down in a drunkard's
iell. It is an awful thine to say, but I am
compelled to say it. Oh, when the books of
on/1 fon mill inn rlrnnlr
jUdglUOUb UIO ouu wu ?.. WM
irds come up to get their dx>m, I want you
o testify that this day, in all kindness and
oveand' plainness,I warned you to beware of
;he influences which have already reached
rour home and are putting out some of its
ights, a premonition of darkness former.
Oh, that to-day you might hear
ntemperance with drunkards' hones on the
;op of the liquor cask drumming the dead
narch of immortal souls. And thrn the sight
sf a wine glass would make you shudder,
ind then the color of the liquor would remind
you of the blood of the slain, and the
foam on the cup would make you think of
the froth c>n the maniac's lip, and you would
go home from this service to kneel down
and pray Almighty God that rather than
your children should become victims of such
a habit you might carry them out to the
cemetery and put them down to the last
sleep, until all over their prave wouid come
the flowers?sweet prophecies of the resurrection.
God hath a balm for such a wound,
but tell me. tell me, tell me, what flower o'
comfort ever grew on the blasted heath of a
drunkard's sepulchred
When* a woman's temper is bad it is
rery bad. An Episcopal rector in
Elizabeth, X. J., has experienced a
realizing sense of this fact. A prominent
lady member of his congregation
wanted the pastor to wait until she had
the baptismal font arranged before he
would administer the sacrament. Annoyed
by the lady's interference, the
rector objected, whereupon, her temper
being unable to brook a reproof,
she struck the clergyman
a resounding blow on the cheek.
It was a dramatic tableau that
shocked those present and furnished
food for gossiping tongues. The same
lady, who is very wealthy, very austere
and very active in charitable undertakings,
some years a^'O ordered an
iron co'lin from one of the undertakers
in town. She has frequently visited
bis store and spent hours in gazin/j on
the casket which was to be her last resting
place. In some manner this leaked
out ar.d the place was instantly besieged
by scores of fashionable ladies,
who pleaded hard to be permitted to
see tho coffin. The undertaker was
very angry and puzzled how to get rid
of his fair visitors. The lady herself
becanu) highly indignant when she
heard of the matter, and peremptorily
refused to pay for the casket, which the
undertaker still has in his possession.
He is out over $200 by the transaction.
jmmm
TEMPERANCE DEPARTMENTr
"Three Little Men are We."
Thre<? little men on a lark are we,
l*hree little bottles here you see,
Filled to the neck with choicest glee,
One little man with a blackened eye,
i Another little man with hat awry.
Third little man has lost his tie,
Three little men on a spree.
Three little men, who all unsteady,
Won't go home till we get ready;
While our wires are home in bed, we
Are naving a n;co little spree.
: Three little wives alone are we,
Waiting here quite anxiously
for three littl j men who home should be.
Three little wives who long have waitadl,
Threa little tempers irritated,
Three little beings agitated,
By Ithree little men on a spree.
Three little men and three little keys,
Thrise little keyholes each man sees,
And each one thinks for sure that he's
Mixed up to some degree.
Three little bells are wildly rinning.
a. a a inree uttie wives *o ulkji a um sniuging.
Now three little tongue3 are hot words
flinging,
At throe little men on a spree.
Three little men are now explaining,
They stayed up town 'cause it was raining;
[ think bat little ground they're gaining,
For the story's old, you sec.
?Germantown Telegraph.
A Temperance Barroom.
A writer in the Atlanta Constitution
tells of a temperance barroom in Boston
that is a great success in every way. It
is on Washington street, and advertises
in big letters: ''Temperance Drinks."
Mr. Eaton, who started this establishment
three years ago, says that he lost
several thousand dollars the first six
months of his experiment. But he is
willing and able to wait. He let his
saloon advertise itscu Dy its reiresning
drinks and attractive furnishing. No
prettier barroom can be found in Boston.
Behind the marble counter stand six
young men in white coats and caps*
Each man wears a flower in his buttonhole
and a pleasant look on his face of being
in a business which maketh not ashamed.
Over the counter is a long list of the beverages
on sale. Besides ice cold soda in
all its agreeable compounds, there are
lactarts, egg phosphates, acid phosphates,
Moxie's nerve food, hot beef tea,
chicken tea, and other refreshing and
invigorating fluids, all of the kind that
cheers without inebriating. In the rear
of the saloon there is a lunch counter?
where the very best chicken and ham
sandwiches, pies, rolls, and delicious
coffee may be had at moderate rates. On
any day at lunch time the room will be
found crowded, men waiting their turn
to take their lunch. The custom at this
counter is only limited by the room.
Meantime at the drinking counter there
is no intermission in the stream of customers.
During the hour spent there
I f.iiL'lnrt wit-Vi flip nrnnriefcor there were
"""* """ I""X*
more applicants than could be immediately
attended to by the large and active
force of attendants. Mr. Eaton said
they had consumed a hundred dozen
eggs in one day during the hot season
for egg phosphates alone. That means
thai; 1,200 people took a glass of this
j one fascinating drink on that day. What
the sales of other drinks were he did not
say; but he docs say that the profits of
the trade are, in his opinion, larger, as
well as cleaner, than are made in the
barrooms of the old kind. He has refused
larger offers to go elsewhere
and repeat his establishment in other
la-ge cities. The success he has made
in Boston is due to the personal care he
! gives to each detail of the business. Only
I the very nice-t material is used in the
| preparation of his refreshments. The
j eggs are furnished by one collector, who
i is paid nearly double the market price to
warrant their freshness.
?.o particular is the proprietor that he
gave up the use of grape milk, a profitable
and popular unfermented drink, because
he found it contained 1| per cent,
of alcohol. There is no fuss of philanthropy
about his barroom; no pretense
that it is carried on for any other purpose
than to make money. And the interesting
and encouraging feature about
it is just here?it really pnys better than a
liquor saloon of its size would pay. What
the gains are to the people who accept it,
in place of the old tap, no one can tell.
But Mr. Eaton would be less than human
if those giiins did not add something to
the satisfaction which he gets from the
others. Only he does not wish his business
advertised for what it is not. It is
business strictly with him, not charity,
mercy or reformation. He entered upon
it a< a speculation, and he finds it a paying
one.
The W. C. T. U.
Rev. William Kincaid has said:
"Among the striking and unsuspecting
powers that woman has developed in our
day, is a wonderful facility for organization;
the Woman's Christian Temperance
Union is a masterpiece in this line.
Every pha^e of the multifarious temperance
reform, education, literature, the
pledge, the press, and so on, has its own
elrilfnlltr doviofxl Itiirnnn nnrl pvptv Til
Iage and hamlet has its own local
"union," inspired and d rectcd by the
larger unions in the couuty, State and
nation.
I "The command .-r-in-chief sits at Evanston,
'touches her little bell' and
there is response along the entire
line. The subtle and pervasive power of
! this vast combination the politicians have
j already feit, and they will feel it more
and more. When machine meets machine
then comes the tug of war."
Temperance Notes.
The United States national debt January
1, 1876, was $1,344,770,204. The
money spent for drink would soon pay it.
Mrs. Jane E. Wcedon is doing excellent
temperance evangelistic work in
Oregon under the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union.
Says the Chicago Tribune: "So far no
saloon has been boycotted for keeping
open over eight hours a day. What do
the agitators mean?"_
"FEAST OF BONG.
CURIOUS MEMORIAL SERVICES
OF THE JAPANESE
Religious Rites Lasting Several
Days and Nights?Orations and
Decorations ? Addressing
the Dead?Fireworks.
The Japanese Feast of Bong, says a
contributor to the New York Observer,
occurs during the month of August, partaking
of the character of a national holiday.
and is similar, in many respects, to
the Chinese Feast of Lanterns. The
ceremonies continue through a succession
of days and nights, and are participated
in by the masses, seemingly engaging
the interest of rich and poor alike, in the
remembrance of their dead, to wiiomthe
occasion is dedicated. Keligious rites
are performed by priests in the temples,
where thousands of people flock on the
first day, after which the cemeteries are
visited. For weeks before the event ,
preparations for it begin, and it is inaugurated
with the decoration of dwellings
throughout the city with flags and
strangely-wrought devices, symbolic and
legendary, displayed at every point.
As the feast day advances, the temples .
are filled with devotees, who listen to the ,
"Bouses" in flowing robes, as they chant
their litanies before their triune gods. .
Then the pilgrimages to the tombs fol- ,
low, and it is apparent to the unaccustomed
eye that preparations have been
made to prolong their sojourn at the
graves of friends beyond the present
day, for an abundance of food and other
essentials arc among the articles conveyed
thither.
Arriving at one of the cemeteries, we
find the approaches to the same?the ,
roads and by-ways adjacent?bearing .
the appearance of holiday preparations,
reminding one of an American village
fair. Gay colors prevail, noticeable in (
the fags and lanterns, as weil as varie- ,
gated dress of the people, which mingle j
with the bright hues of a profusion of
flowers?all together dispelling any pos- .
sibility of gloom associated with the oc- ,
casion. Booths for the sale of articles (
of food and a variety of bon-bons, which ,
find ready purchasers, are seen here and ?
there near the gates of the cemetery. |
Many pilgrims arc thus tempted to en- (
large their supplies of eatables and
knick-knacks, which are abundantly dis- j
pensed as offerings to the dead, being
placed upon their graves by endearing ]
hands.
Groups of people of all ages assemble ;
at the tombs of relatives, where they re- <
main during the day, and with the requi- sites
for camping, or more properly
bivouacing, with nothing above them
but the starry heavens, they continue
their visit until two or three days and
nigljts have passed. Protected from the
suu's rays by day, by their sun-shades,
the day passes with the preparation and \
eating of the food brought, and the dec- i
oration of the hundreds of craves with <
flowers and the offerings liberally dis- ]
pensed. While thus assembled, the (
throngs are addressed by a stately per- ]
sonage, who officiates as a kind of recorder
and histotian. who moves about j
among the people reading from a book j
he bears an endless disserlation on the ]
affair* of the country, recounting public '
occurrences of interest which have trans- ]
pired during the preceding year. Thus ,
are the dead supposed to be informed j
concerning every topic of interest, as it is ]
to the departed that this address is made j
in grave and impressive accents by the i
Btately sage, whose prerogative it is to en- j
lighten those whose lives are cut off from t
, things earthly. 1
The younger portion of the assembled j
gathering are similarly instructed by an- i
other dignitary, who receives the pro- '
found respect of all, and who in turn re- j
counts the legends and native lore of the <
laud to listening crowds. Thus are the <
the young, as well as their elders, in- ,
structed in much that other peoples ]
gather from popular literature concern- ,
ing the history of their country aud their <
rulers of by-gone periods, the achieve- <
mentsof armies in battle and the coun- s
cils of the nation. <
When at the close of the day the
darkness gathers, tires are lighted in the
midst of each family group, and the
evening meal of rice and fish is prepared
over a kind of furnace called he- ]
baches. Hours are spent in sipping tea !
from tiny porcelain cups, and during all 1
these ceremonies the dead is invoked to <
iharc with the living every luxury, hence j
plates of rice and fish, with delicate por- s
celain cups containing tea, are invariably ]
distributed among the graves, where s
these portions of the dead participants <
are left mingling with flowers and shrub- ]
bery. <
The night scene at the cemeteries is (
even more strikinsr to the visitor than
tbat which meets the eye by day. 1
Myriads of lights twinkle and flash from
the hills, ana lanterns now aglow, swaying
in the breeze, reflect the hundred ;
varied hoes and countless devices pictured
on the banners and streamers, and
the carved and quaintly drawn images,
which, with the illuminated temples in
the vicinity, impart to the occasion a
weird and incomprehensible attraction,
which mystifies while it entrances the
beholder. '
As the night advances and the light of s
the lanterns wane and dimly burn, group 1
after group of the assembled throng I
spread their mats beside the graves or i
their dead and sink to sleep. The second
day's proceedings are a repetition, with <
aome variation, of the first, but on the 1
1 third day the scribe dwells, in his dis- '
I course, on subjects of a more loral and
loco imrvArtonf r?V?aropfnr* in wVlinVl thp I .
Itoo ilUUV ? *4* It U?V VMW j village
gossips enjoy a harvest of information,
in which every household seems
to possess an interest.
The Feast of Bong terminates on the (
third day with a great procession lasting {
into the night, which occupies for the j
I time being, the main streets of the town. (
I Animals and birds may be seen moving ,
in the procession, propelled by some in- (
visible force, which, on inquiry, we learn (
Is supplied through the agency of con- ]
cealed men and boys. Many men anil (
women bearing miniature ships and ! ,
junks, gaily trimmed, and loaded with !
"chow-chow" for the dead who have
been lost at sen, is a feature which is re- |
yarded as important in the event of the (
feast. The moving pageant is enlivened j
by many instruments, whose performers j
follow in groups rather than as organized ]
bands, and the music they discourse can j
not b regarded as at all harmonious or at- j
tractive. More musical arc the efforts of <
bands of musical girls, who pass in re- (
view, as a feature of the pageant, in
which a place is reserved for them.
Following with the moving throng we
find that the most impressive scene is
yet in store for the on lookers. Al ter the
procession has passed through the town,
it arrives at the water side, where those
who have borne the little food-laden
ship consigned to the dead of the sea,
launch upon the waters these miniature
vessels as maritime memorials, dedicated
to the memory of those who among
relatives and friends have in other days
gone down to the sea in ships never to re
iurn.
One by one these 8hip>-beare*
step aside, and approaching the water!
sdge, launch their boats seaward
consigning them and their freight witl
many God speeds to the realms of thi
deep sea's dead.
Each one of these little craft are sup
plied with a paper lantern and combuati
bles, which, after being set afloat, ig
nite and continue to burn for a length oitime.
At this stage of the proceeding*
already the darkness has followed th?
end of the third day, and soon the sur
face of the water is covered with hun
dreds of these burning ships, the light)
of whinli rwinfflinrr -n/ifli fVirvoo nn lonH
uiiu^uu(j nivu tuwu vu iuuw
the blazing rockets and the illuminated
temples and habitations, with the ia>
creasing splendor of pyrotechnics of at
descriptions, make up a fitting finale o'
the strange and startling scenes associated \ . i|9
with the Feast of Bong.
Country Life in Chiua.
Life in a Chinese hamlet is wound up
to run like clockwork, and its busy regu*
larity never varies. The hamlet itself,
says a writer, is often very picturesque.
Here is a group of 700 or 800 houses,
situated between two graceful hills, presenting
a charming view. Excepting
about a hundred tradesmen massed on
the banks of a small river that runs
through the valley, the inhabitants have
scattered their cottages a little everywhere,
leaving between them here and
there spaces occupied by fields and gardens.
The stream, spanned by bridges,
is constantly dotted with big and little
boats going and coming from neighboring
towns. Compelled to shape theii
fields according to the sinuosities th<.
water describes and the contours of th#
bills, their designs are of the most un<
looked-for sort. By small canals, conveying
the water from the river, the ter
races on the hills are irrigated for cultivation.
Upon these terraces the gay, *
jreen color of the rice fields predominates
over the darker tint of the sugai ' vJaM
cane in spots not so well irrigated;
big yellow flowers stand
Dut on the cotton stalks; lines ol
Drange-trees, with their sombre leafage,
ire visible, and beyond stretch plantations
of tea trees, under which is caught
% glllLipiC Ul uuc ^iaj taua, v,vuuaouug t
with all the re>t. Rice, tea, cotton,
sugar and oranges arc the most import ml
:rop? of the locality, but there are several
jthers that add to its income, viz.:
Hemp, yielded by a palm tree, its large ' v &
leaves reaching twenty feet from the
ground; oil extracted from a tree which
lias a disgusting look on account of ita
knotty, crooked trunk and rusty leaves,
ind bamboo, the most useful of all the
mill trees, and exceedingly graceful,.
wim us oraucnes extending imrty ieei.
ind balancing their leaves in the slight?st
breeze. The country roundabout has bunches
of small trees, from which assend
morning, noon, and evening, silver
tinkling3 from the bells of a dozen pago1ns,
revealing their triple roofs of yellow '
tiles and their upturned corneri through
lifts in the foilage against the pure blueif
the sky. No rumbling wheels are
heard, and even the song of birds, the
?choing voices of the field laborers, dalot
break the deep prevailing stillness.
Diminutive as the farms are, theiryield *
is enormous. On a farm of four acres a
family will live comfortably and economize
five or six hundred dollars a year.
ro secure such a result, the tillers do not
limit themselves to selling the raw prod- .
jets of the land, but transform them as
far as possible by manufacturing in their
homes, i They manufacture, by primitive
process, their own oil and sugar, and
tveavc their silk, hemp, cotton, and, by "yM
thus establishing manufactories as much {3s
is possible on the farms, keep manv larinrpru
flttiirhed to the soil and ttrevent
;heir concentration in large factories,
tvhich would encourage overproduction.
They proportion the quantity of their
products to their immediate wants, thorjughly
convinced that steady work will
ilways supply them from year to year.
A.6 a consequence, littles capital is accumulated,
an China, perhaps, has less " !*
noney piled up than any other nation
}f the worlu. All this is simply in accordance
with frugal methods of living
?nd the cardinal idea that work 19 the
chief end ot man.?Baltimore American.
The Sanitary Value of Trees.
Dr. Stephen Smith recently read a
paper before the New York Academy of
Sciences on the sanitary value of trees in
:he city. It is a well known fact that
-1 * !???* r\4 onmmar fKora -i .ufl
lunag IIIU 1I11CU9C licab Ui ouiJiiuwi uaav&v ' . ? -jjrgBBM
3 more suffering and death from sun-,
stroke and high temperatures in the
Northern cities than in the South, a remit
which must certainly be attributed
;o the absence of suitable protection.
From three to live thousand people die
;very summer in the metropolis from the- x4|
iffects of heat.
In the arid, treeless streets and avenuea
the temperature often runs from ISO to
150 degrees Fahrenheit, when under the
tranches of a thrifty shade tree it would
lot exceed seventy or eighty degrees.
[n the absence of sheltering trees, %
:he stone and brick walls acton the prin:iple
of the regenerative furnace, and
ibsorb the heat of the sun to yield it up
igain during the night. If trees were
planted in the streets, the pavements and
lurrounding walls would be much cooler,
>nH at thp same time the trees would ah
jorb the deleterious pases thrown off from
he lungs and from decomposing matter,
fielding, in return, a supply of pureoxy- * 'fa
' The value of a systematic culture of
;rees in all of our large cities can hardly
je estimated. From both a sanitary and
irtistic standpoiut they are a very desira- -J
jle addition to any city.?Scientific
American.
Sad Fate of a Young Lady.
In Aspen.Col., a party of ynung ladies
limbed to the top of the fire bell tower,
iixty feet high, to obtain a good view ol
fitpwart stenned to the
>IJC V-.VJ.
:dge of the tower, ana was leaning ^
igainst a corner post, looking over the y
country, when the janitor, not knowing
of the presence of the ladies, seized the
bell rope to call a meeting of the fire
company. The sudden clang of th? I
jreat bell startled Miss Stewart, and she
plunged from the dizzy height to the
pavement. She was carried into a neigh- . sjj
\nrinor house, when it was discovered
:hat both legs were so badly crushed 9
:hat the feet had been driven to within a
few inches of the knee. Tho bones oi
ler left arm were broken into splinters, . j
md live ribs on the right side wer? I
Kokon and torn loose from the spine.
She was alive when picked up, but hct J
ieath occurred soon after.
The Difference. -jm
In muslin light, I
So bright and white, I
She chattered with a youth from town; I
Atid with a sigh I
Her eyes so shy -J
Turned all its blushing glances down. 'I
He thought: This maid, I
Afraid and staid. I
Could bring ine into love's young dream. I
She thought: How nice, 1
If twice or thrice I
He only ?70uld set up the cream! I
-Tid-Bils. I