Which Was the Brute? by D. T. Taylor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 22, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 16.

Which Was the Brute?

By D. T. Taylor

A SAD yet amusing sight was witnessed in a street at Reno, Nevada, one day during the summer of 1878. Had the reader been present, he would have beheld a well-dressed man in a state of intoxication, stupidly staggering along the side-walk, reeling hither and thither under the poor guidance of a brain completely unbalanced by strong drink. This creature was made in God's image, and had no moral right thus to benumb his faculties, and poison his system.

At the heels of the poor besotted drunkard could be seen a little shaggy terrier, that trotted in the wake of his master, with every apparent evidence of shame! shame for the human brute. There was shame manifested in his eye, and head, and tail; shame in every motion. The poor dog kept close to the drunkard, following his staggering and crooked steps, but with a downcast look and dangling tail, apparently so much ashamed that he would not look any sober passer-by in the face.

The brute was ashamed of the man! Yes. Once in a while the man would stop, clutch hold of a fence railing, and, stupidly looking at the earth, would stand and sway to and fro.

This would seem to increase the misery of the dog, which, with a countenance filled with concern, would sit down on his haunches, trembling, and casting sneaking glances to the right and left to see if any one was observing the shameful condition of his master. This is no fancy picture, but a simple fact, as reported in public prints.

We have no language vigorous enough with which to denounce the infamous traffic in intoxicating and poisonous beverages, in this civilized and enlightened age; no words in human speech to adequately depict the burning shame of official authorities that license their open sale, and of the vast multitudes of persons of both sexes and all classes, who boldly persist in the sin of drunkenness. The Reno terrier evinced more shame than these. A survey of the scorched, arid, dark, and deadly domain of liquor making and liquor drinking, fills us with astonishment, alarm, sorrow, and indignation. God will assuredly visit the nations for these things, and if there be not speedy repentance and reform, his visitation will be in wrath that will know "no remedy." 2 Chron. 36: 16.—D. T. Taylor.