Leading Strings From the Home to the Saloon
MANY a man has been “driven to drink” by the unpleasant and unwholesome atmosphere in his home. Many a son and many a daughter have drifted to ruin because the home was full of criticism, cheap gossip, slackness, and everything else that was unhomelike. Frequently the boy and his companions find it more congenial to play in the barn or the woodshed than in their own home. The ever-sounding, “Don’t do this,” or, “Don’t do that,” creates a yearning in the child’s mind for the time when he will be free from the “home bondage.” Fathers and mothers can do more for the cause of temperance by making home attractive than they can by smashing saloons or pouring liquor into the streets. When the parents cease to take care of their children, the devil will be sure to take care of them; for he is interested in the youth. If you fail to make home attractive, you will pay the penalty in a failure to save your boy or girl. The money which the average drunkard spends each year in the saloon would be amply sufficient to decorate his home, and help make it a little heaven for the wife and mother, and the most attractive spot on earth for his children.— Selected.