Questionable Amusements and Worthy SubstitutesJudy, J. M.
Religion
Questionable Amusements and Worthy Substitutes
Judy, J. M.
Amusements -- Religious aspects -- Methodist Church; Christian ethics
The first and least thing that one can do to destroy drunkenness, is
to be a total abstainer. Beware of the social glass! But quickly one
replies, "Why should there be any social glass?" "Why allow sparkling,
attractive springs of refreshing poison to issue forth in all of our
social centers, and then cry to our sons and daughters, to our brothers
and sisters, Beware?" My friend, we must deal with facts as they are.
There should not be a social glass; but what has that to do with
the fact that the social glass is here? You answer, "Why allow these
fountains of death to exist?" while we cry to our loved ones, "Beware!"
We do not advocate the presence of these fountains; but while we seek
to destroy them beseechingly we cry, "Beware!" The social factor in the
liquor traffic is its Gibraltar of defense. Rare is the young man who
has the intellectual stamina and moral courage to resist the invitations
to take a social drink. And in our frontier and foreign towns many of
our bright and respected girls use the social glass. But in its use is
the beginning of a fateful end. The subtlest thing in this world is sin.
Listen!
"Sin is a monster of so frightful mien;
To be hated needs but to be seen;
But seen too oft, familiar with the face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace."
The subtle thing about it is, that the first embracing of any sin seems
to be but a trifling, an occasional affair. For one who lives in an
ordinary city of a thousand inhabitants or upwards, unless he is an
"out-and-out" Christian and selects only associates like himself, it
becomes a real Embarrassment not to indulge in a social drink. It seems
polite, clever, the kindly thing to do. And the sad fact is, that the
majority of unchristian young people and many older ones do not decline.
To prove this we have but to look at the human wrecks along the shore.
Two young men lived near our home. Their parents were well-to-do. The
family grew tired of the farm and moved to town. The boys fell in with
bad company. They did not decline the social glass. Soon they furnished
other young men with drink from their own pocket. This was fifteen years
ago. To-day one of them is a hardened sinner, violent in his passions
and blasphemous against God. The other one, having spent a term in our
Illinois State University at Champaign, married a beautiful neighbor
girl and moved to Missouri. Here he lived off the money of his father's
estate, practicing his early-learned habits of drinking, gambling, and
loafing. He moved from State to State until, finally left in poverty,
he tended bar in a saloon. While visiting with relatives in his old
neighborhood a few years ago he stole a watch and some money from
his own nephew, and was tried in the courts, and sentenced to the
penitentiary for one year. His wife, having carried the burden of
disgrace and want through all these years, with the seven unfortunate
children were released from him to struggle alone. All this we have seen
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account