p. 122 | A TEMPERANCE DRINK by Christian at Work

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 26, 1892

A TEMPERANCE DRINK.

By Christian at Work

THOSE who are fond of expatiating upon the merits of lager beer as a "temperance drink, would have had a beautiful illustration of their theory presented to them if they had been with the writer of this paragraph not long ago as he stood early one morning watching the proceedings in the Tombs Police Court, in this city. The police had raided a "stale beer dive" on Mulberry Street the night before, and had brought their "catch" into court. There were between thirty and forty prisoners in the gang, nearly all middle-aged women. And such hideous-looking creatures—shoeless, hatless, ragged, filthy, haggard, and woebegone! Some of them had evidently been fighting, for their faces were marked with great blotches of dried blood. As their names were called, they shuffled up one by one before the bar in a listless, stupid way, apparently caring little what fate was in store for them. They had no defense to offer to the charges brought against them, and were hustled along before the judge as fast as he could pronounce sentence—from thirty days to three months each "on the island." And yet these poor wretches had been subsisting upon the dregs of beer, the "leavings" in the beer kegs found along the street. On the theory that beer is a healthful beverage, these "leavings" ought to be the very elixir of life, the quintessence of all that is healthful, nutritious, and wholesome in the product of the brewery. But what were the facts in this case?—Christian at Work.