THIS is a Temperance lesson, full of meaning for these days. Don't
fail to keep this Red Light of Danger burning. This lesson will be a
signal of fire. Pour out on a plate a small quantity of denatured
alcohol, and say "it looks like water." Shake the bottle--but it is
not pure, heaven-sent water, but a deadly poison. Read to them
Proverbs 23:31; 20:1. These are warnings from heaven against this
deadly poison. These words are like matches from God to light the red
lamp of danger. Alcohol is a deadly thing. God says so. Tell them that
it is the greatest idol in all the world. Millions worship it, for
every drinker of this red poison bows to this idol whenever he drinks.
Strike a match and set fire to it, and as it blazes forth say "I will
now burn the idol, because it is a burning idol, like the great Moloch
about which we read in the Old Testament, within whose blazing arms
little children were cast and burned to death. So this fiery idol
destroys millions. The Indians call it "fire-water" because it burns
the throat. This is the reason if you take one drink you want another.
Alcohol absorbs all the moisture of the throat and creates a thirst
which alcohol alone will quench; so it keeps on burning until it burns
up the stomach, the lungs, the heart, the brain, and yet men continue
to drink this fire of death.
Once upon a time there was a little monkey that was owned by the
keeper of a county tavern. Frequently he gave it a little taste of
this fire-water which caused him to jump about in great glee. This
pleased the bad men of the barroom greatly. One day a man lit a match
and set fire to the spoonful, and when the monkey saw it he fled in
terror and never touched it again. This was monkey sense; this was
better than man sense, for man knows it will burn, and yet returns to
it again. He needs a few monkey lessons. To deepen the impressions of
this lesson, you can take the white of an egg, a substance which
resembles the brain of a human being, place it in a cup and pour upon
it a small quantity of alcohol; then stir it with a spoon and it will
congeal as if it had been cooked. Take this out of the cup and it will
be solid like a boiled egg. This will illustrate the effect of alcohol
on the human brain. This is a lesson which burns itself into the
memory of the children for all time. This will hang up the 18th
amendment on nails of fire in the memory of the little folks and other
folks also. May the whole world soon go into this sort of fire
business.
=CHAPTER VI
EARS OPENED TO GOD'S CALL=
_Object: A Blackboard_