The Fiery Stream | AdventAI

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 18, 1865

The Fiery Stream.

For several days last week tens of thousands of dying and dead fish, of all sizes and kinds, floated down the waters of the Miami river and canal. Much attention was attracted, and curiosity awakened as to the cause of the destruction. Fish berries and a variety of other probable causes were suggested. In a day or two, however, it was understood that a large distillery had been consumed by fire some twenty or thirty miles up the river, and that some hundreds of barrels of whisky had found their way into the water. The alcoholic fire which proves so destructive to men, proved no less so to the fish, though in a very diluted condition. The poisonous influence extended many miles. We saw many fine, large fish coming up to the surface of the water, reeling about like drunken men, and finally yielding themselves up to the destroyer. It made us feel sad to look upon so great a destruction of happy animal life, but we had no regrets to waste over the loss of property involved, for it was intended that this same whisky should destroy men. In a thousand channels this wasting fire is flowing every day, and the young men, the middle aged and the old, the strong and the noble, the generous and brave, are carried down beneath the deadly tide.—Dayton Paper.