p. 501 | RUM VS. REPUTATION

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 11, 1880

RUM VS. REPUTATION

At a social meeting a few evenings since, the cause of intoxication, among other subjects, was the theme of conversation. A gentleman stated that when a young man, he was in the habit of enjoying himself with his friends over a social bottle, until father Taylor cursed him with a clap of thunder!

"Walking, or rather rolling through the streets one day," he continued, "I hailed the old salt, singing out, How d'do, my old boy. Father Taylor stopped short, and seizing me by the coat-collar with both hands, looked me sternly in the face—I shall never forget the look—and then demanded in a voice of thunder—Young man, is rum of more value to you than your reputation? Go home and get sober; the very dogs in the street shun you with disgust! I went home overwhelmed with shame, and though ten years have elapsed since that time, nothing that could intoxicate has passed my lips, nor shall I ever forget that my reputation is of more value than all the rum in the world."