a statement to the
men who run the trains on its lines which includes these words:
'Taking one drink of intoxicating liquor is like running passed the
red light. It is unsafe. The possible line between safety and danger
in the use of alcoholic drink is dangerously unstable. _Safety_
lies back of _total abstinence_. The normal man has no legitimate
use for alcohol as a beverage, and he has no right to render himself
abnormal by its use when lives are dependent upon his efficiency.
None but normal men should run railway trains. The traveling public
has unqualified right to demand and expect none less safe.' This
statement deals, not with the moral side, but with the fact that a man
who drinks unfits himself for any position of responsibility,
especially if entrusted with human life.
"This key also locks and bars the way to a life of purity and
honor. Says the chaplain of the Ohio penitentiary, Dr. Starr: "The
records show that 1,250 persons have been received into this
institution during eighteen months; of these, 930 acknowledged
themselves to have been intemperate.' And the Massachusetts Bureau of
Labor adds the statement that of 27,000 crimes committed in that
state, eight out of every ten were due to intemperate habits, or
occurred while the criminal was under the influence of liquor.
"We need not go further to show that this key is truly the key to
failure--failure in the attempt to attain to anything pure, right and
honorable.
"No one knows this better than the manufacturer of strong drink. 'The
handwriting is on the wall,' says T.M. Gilmore, president of the Model
License League. 'Our trade today is on trial before the bar of public
sentiment, and unless it can be successfully defended before that bar,
I want to see it go down forever.'
"In no better way can we help to bring this victorious end than by
lending our every influence to cause the world to turn to the true
Christian life, for then follows 'love out of a pure heart and a good
conscience and faith unfeigned.' Paul does not say, 'Shun that which
is evil;' he says _abhor_ it. May this ever be our attitude
toward this giant evil."
A BUSY LIFE
--Pluck and Luck
--Industry
A Plucky American Boy Whom the Whole World Delights to Honor.
THE LESSON--That pluck and perseverance and a "Try--Try--Again"
Spirit can laugh at obstacles and change them into stepping
stones.
The following talk may suggest to many of the younger hearers th
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