Christian herald., February 02, 1883, Page 8, Image 8

OHRISTIAX HRRAT.n.
8
Temperance Department.
The Gause of Temperance.
M yrtle C reek , O r .,
Jan. 19, 1883.
Bro. Lejand has been with us
and has organized a Band of Hope
and a society of Good Templars.
The young people seem to take
hoid“uni““"earnesl ; having '8CTÏÏ Ü1B
bad effects of intemperance we
trust they will be engaged in some­
thing better. Bro. Leland is a zeal-
. . oua ad vocate.of temperance....
We are socially inclined and we
should cooperate in the temperance
Cause. Every Christian should be
a practical advocate of temperance ;
it is his duty. Temperance is one
of the fruits of the spirit, meekness
is another. Therefore if a man is
intemperate he is not meek but
serves the carnal mind. Temper­
ance to thé Christian is one degree
—in nhriat.ianity, and to the UllWlF"
verted one step towards it.
If we would not have dur beloved
country with its benign institutions
degraded, we must put a shoulder
to the wheel of temperance. This
is a cause in which members of all
creeds can work and one in which
wé are all interested, and a great
step towards union in which there
is slrength.
We are interested in temperance
religiously, morally, socially and
financially.
Yours in hope,
L. U. H ill .
■
..
I
.
Loved and Lost.
f
I was the other day in a beauti­
ful residence, where I have very
often been entertained before.
There was a large gathering of
friends, for this fan ily I knew had
been prominent for their hospitali­
ty. I knew that total abstinence
had *■ hot been smiled upon there,
but I was astonished when I sat
down at the table to notice that
there were no wine-glasses. I al
most took it as a compliment to
myself in foolishness ; but, whisper­
ing to the lady, I said : “ I see no
wine-glasses here; are you teeto-
tlars for the day because I am
here ?” Aand I saw in a moment
the change in her face.
She said, “ I have something to
tell you about that.” -
—
.
As soon as dinner was over, shS
said to me : “You asked me about
the wine-glasses ?”
I said,-“ Yes; I noticed their ab­
sence.”
“ I will tell you the reason. You
“ I will make you anything you
remember my Willie ?”
“ Oh ! Yes ; I remember Willie like, my boy, but you must come
up stairs and lie down.”
well.”
“ O, mother! I can’t take it. I
deeTas^Ft w as"WnlfflF1“’11"8“8’“
asked with tears in her eyes.
I called his father and be came,
“ Yes,” I said, “one of the finest
but didn’t say an angry word to
lads I ever knew.,’
“ V hh ” she sAKT, “ and he was my him. He could not when he saw
pride. You know he used wine the state he was in. We carried
freely. You know that the leading him up stairs, and laid him down
iha hP<l and after a moment’s
ministers in the
ways made this house their home, pause, he said :
“Father, the drink has killed
and that they have always been
welcome. I. used to allow the me.
“ No, my boy,” said his father,
children to stay up when the min­
isters were here to have the benefit “ we shall bring you round yet.” -
“ Never, father—God be merciful
of their conversation. The chil­
”—and his head'fell
dren had a half a glass of wine, the to mo, a sinner
I •
ministers a full glass, and so had back, and there was an end to our
their father. “ By and by,” she said, boy in this life. His father stood
“ I noticed what aroused my suspi­ and looked at Willie as he lay there
cion,_ William used to Come home and s lid to me: “ Mother, the
smelling of wine, and I didn’t like drink has killed our Willie, and
it. I spoke to him, and he said there shall nevei be another drop
in this house while I am
there was no danger; he had only of • ■ drink
>»
mcctm*£ ft few friends.—By
r and gentlemen,“ cóntìnned
and by I noticed he was husky,
and at last he came home in a state Mr. Garrett, “ There are many
that made my heart ache. One Willies. I am at the head of a
night he came home quite drunk. mission in Liverpool, and I can
I could not conceal it from his fath­ truly say there is not a week in
er. His father is a hot-tempered which I do not have a Willie, or a
man. He met him in the lobby, letter about a Willie from some re­
and bitter words passed. His fath­ spectable home blighted and with­
er ordered him out of the huuse ered by^this terrible curse. Is this
and he went, and for months we a mere idle whim that we *are
never knew what became of him. speaking about? Ought we not to
Father would not let us mention battle with it now and ever, and
his name, and I and his sisters exert all the power we possess in
could do nothing but pray. We order to rescue the young people of
did not know whether he was dead our land, and make England what
or alive ; and one night when the it ought to be ? May God help
servants had gone to bed and we us! R ev . C has . G arrett , io
were sitcing together 1 suddenly Temperance Herald.
heard a noise, and I thought it was
Partial ___
Prohibition.
Willie’s voice. I dared not speak.
•
My husband looked round and said;
While the highest form of tem­
•‘Did you hear anything? I thought perance legislation which we can
I heard a voice. I believe,’ he said seek is that of total prohibition,
« it is Willie. Just go to the door either by the aid or without it of a
constitutional provision, yet we
and see.”
She said : “ I went to the door must not fall into the error of too
and there he stood more like a many reformers, just uow, of refus­
ghost than a young man. He look­ ing all other methods of repressing
the liquor traffic. There are times
ed at me, and I said, ‘ Willie.’
“ Mother,” he said, ,f will you let and places in which prohibition can
not be secured. The popular con­
me in ?
“ Ay, my lad; you ought never science is not educated up to it.
to have gone away. Come in, come Then take what you can get. Take
in ;” and, she said, “ I had to lend all the popular conscience will
grant, and, meanwhile, thus edu­
him an arm.”
* Don’t take me into the draw- cate. If you can’t get constitution­
ing-rOom ; take me into the kithhen al prohibition, then take legis­
1 feel 'mother, mother,^»- if I were lative. ..If. you can’t ge.t legidaAiy*.
prohibition, then take optional
dying.”
“ No, my lad, you shall not die.” prohibition in cities and towns.
* You will make me a basin of Take laws forbidding sales near
barley broth like you used to mak3 schools; forbidding screens be
hind saloon doors ; restricting the
me ?
number and character of those who
can sign petitions for license; and
imposing heavy taxes upon those
who sell. That is, if total prohibi-
bition as near total as is feasible in
the community, and then see that
these Jess theoretically perfect but
best practicable laws are carried
out.
There is, of course, a great ten-
dency among reformers to neglect
to put in operation the less ideally
complete thing they have, in their
effort for the thing they would pre­
fer. Especially do we regret the
tendency now evident among our
temperance speakers—women,quite
as much as men—to revile all taxa­
tion of liquors and all so-called li­
censing of liquor dealers, as an of­
fense before God, and all the rev­
enues thus obtained aa of the kind,
of which Jeremiah said, " they shall
be ashamed.” But the taxation of
liquors
is the very __________
last which the
_____________
Government s h o uld -Tr t nu ve . W o-
wished they could be taxed out of
the market. • The United States
cannot forbid the manufacture and
sale of liquors. That belongs to>
the states. But it can, for revenue,
tax them just as much as it pleases
and it pleases to tax them very
heavily, so heavily as to raise there­
from sixty million dollars a year.
This heavy taxation of the popular
vice is a judgment that it is a vice.
It is a partial prohibition. It makes
liqiiors just so much more expensive
and difficult to obtain. It prevents
a certain amount of its use, and
it makes the liquor manufacturers
pay for a part of the damages they
do. Whatever doctrinarles may
say as to the shame they feel be­
cause the Government gets these
“ revenues of the wicked/* these
“revenues without right” (for they
are greatly given to misapplying
Scripture), common sense will be
sure to support them.
So with state laws called license
laws. They are not properly li­
cense laws, but partial prohibition
laws. -.-They do not encourage and
specially provide that certain men
shall, for the public good, sell li­
quor. They recognize, rather, that
in the present state of things it is
impossible to prohibit the liquor
traffic utterly, and, in viaw of this
popular hardness of heart, they go
as far as they can to Jj.ni.it the j» le.
They forbid promiscuous selling.
They allow none to sell who do not
pay a tax to the state, to help sup-
|»ort the prisons and poorhouses
which their traffic fills. So far as