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THE CONGRESS OE WOMEN.

men be found so abandoned as to sell it?” “They are not the worst men among us. They only supply a common want of our people, which our laws permit.” “Why do men drink it?” “ Because many of them have an uncontrollable appetite for it; many because it is a mere fashion, a common custom.” “ What, a fashion to drink this dreadful liquid?” “Yes.” “ I do not understand that.” “Nor do I.” “Are men born with this uncontrollable appetite?” “A very few inherit it.” “ How is it formed? ” “ Simply by drinking.” “ Explain this.” “Well, a natural appetite in a healthy nature of this world, when it is fed, lies down like a full animal and goes to sleep until awakened by its own voice. This appetite for drink is created by that which feeds it, and the more it is gratified the more ravenous it becomes. It can never be allayed or gratified, but goes forth roaring and devouring, until the unhappy wretch whom it inhabits perishes.” “ Is there danger that every man who tastes this may thus create that appetite? ” “ Very great danger.” “And yet, among you mortals of this wretched

world, your laws encourage the production and furnishing of this diabolical fluid, and your fashions and customs compel its use.”

Its evil lies in the passion and will of man, and away below the reach of law and written constitutions, but within the grasp of a power that alone can control heart and soul. The evil burns deeper, its fiery breath blasts wider. There seems no power in man’s effort to stay it.

How beautiful the work of woman comes in. God has called you my sisters. Will you heed His voice? Will you stand up and say, as David did, “ I will walk within my house with a perfect heart; I will set no unclean thing before my eyes?” Remember, it is line upon line and precept upon precept. Remember that intemper­ance deprives men of their reason and fosters and encourages all kinds of immorality. It destroys the peace and happiness of millions of families. It takes a boy of beauty and makes him a bloated, loathsome, worthless man. It takes a young girl, lovely and lovable, and makes her a degraded being, at whom passers-by point with the finger of scorn. You remember these lines: “ Hated and shunned, I walk the street, hunting for what? For my prey, ’tis said. I look at it, though, in a different light. For this mighty shame is my daily bread, my food, my shelter, the clothes that I wear. Only for this I might starve or drown. What made me the guilty thing I am— for I was innocent once, you know? It was drink—that horrid word says all. What had I to gain by a moment’s sin to weigh in the scales with my innocent years, my womanly shame, my ruined name, my father’s curses, my mother’s tears? The love of drink. Was it worth it? The price was a soul paid down. Your guilt was heavy, the world will say; and heavy, heavy your doom must be, for to pity and par­don woman’s fall is to set no value on chastity.”

Oh, women, who have suffered as only a woman can suffer, who have felt as only a woman can feel, who have hoped as only a woman can hope, come forth! Come without law! Come without man’s help! Come in defiance of both, and kneel down on the cold, bare stones, if need be, amid hearts harder and colder than marble, and lift your voices and souls in undoubting faith to the God of Heaven, and men will feel their hearts thrill as if under the touch of His finger.

Stay thou, O, Lord! the tide of death!

Rebuke the demon’s blasting breath,

And speed, O speed, on every shore The day when strong drink slays no more.

The clouds and storms of life are lessened by our love of God, and the nearer we live to Him, the lighter our burdens seem. Next to God man believes in the good­ness and purity of woman. He believes that God does and will hear her prayer, and when she comes to Him in his haunts of sin, in her purity and faith, and asks God to touch his heart and change his will and power, God does touch and change him. There is not a living man, save some abnormal or diseased wretch, who can and will hold out against this persistent pleading and imploring. Man may be affronted and