The Talk.

“The thing I am going to speak about today is not a pleasant one.  The fact is that nothing good can be said about it, for it deals with sorrow and death.  You may wonder, then, why we do not speak of something bright and happy; and I answer that if you learn the lesson about this thing of sorrow and death, your lives will escape its influence and you will be many more times likely to be happy; and if you do not learn the lesson, you may suffer distress and anguish all the years of your later life.  This thing is known as a great evil power.  Sometimes we hear of it coming into the home and making a brute out of a loving husband.  Where there was happiness and joy there is now sorrow and despair. [Place the word Sorrow on the drawing paper.  When adding the succeeding words, be sure to place them exactly as indicated in Fig. 43.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 43]

“Again, this evil power creeps into a home and fastens itself upon a young man who had before him every promise of a bright, successful life.  So relentless is it that the young man, in despair, takes his own life. [Add the word Death.]

“Again, we see a man, successful in business, with no seeming obstacle in the way of greater achievement, when, one day, we find his doors are closed.  This evil power has come upon him and he is a bankrupt and a failure. [Add the word Failure.]

“Again, we hear of a man who has been a leader among men—­a brilliant lawyer, a keen thinker—­taken from his place and confined in a hospital for the insane.  The same evil power has done this. [Add the word Insanity.]

“Again, we know of a young man who was strong and robust, a splendid specimen of physical manhood; now he has lost his health and strength.  The same evil power has come upon him and has placed him on a bed of sickness from which he cannot rise. [Add the word Sickness.]

“Again, how often do we hear that a man, respected and honored, has in a moment of passion, taken the life of another man, just because this evil power came in and caused him to do it. [Add the word Murder.]

“But more common than all the other terrible things which this great evil power does is the bringing of wretchedness and want to the wives and the children of the men who are its victims.  These innocent ones suffer for the common comforts of life, food and clothing.  This we call poverty. [Add the word Poverty.  This completes Fig. 43.]

“Many more words could be added to this list, representing the misfortunes which come to the victims of this great evil power.  In every instance it deceived its victims into believing it was harmless—­that in accepting it there was no danger or risk.

“What is this great evil power? [With red chalk draw the heavy line, completing Fig. 44, to bring out the word Whiskey.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 44]