All eyes were fixed upon the stage as the portly Dr. Strauss arose to speak. His voice at first was slow and deep, and in all he was the personification of dignity. The first part of his lecture was a very convincing argument in favor of what is called the “_Normal Use of Malt Liquors_.” He declared that moderate drinking could have no evil effect on the action of the heart, except in rare cases. To prove his general statement and to win the confidence of his hearers, he quoted over forty printed and written extracts from eminent physicians of the world.
After this general survey of his argument, he entered into details and illustrated the second division of his lecture by the use of pictorial charts. In this manner the construction and action of the heart were concretely shown.
In the third division of the lecture the Prince of Darkness showed his skill in manipulating the utterances of the speaker. By a second series of illustrated charts the lecturer intended to show how alcoholic beverages, in coursing through the human system, benefited the heart rather than injured it. In trying to establish this point he used the subtlest sophistry of Satan.
Through the three divisions of the discourse I heard vigorous applause, and when, in the smooth language of his final climax, he uttered the last word and was returning to his seat, there was a deafening roar from all parts of the vast hall. To the mind of Miss Church-Member the argument of Dr. Strauss was unanswerable, and consequently she was obliged to revise her radical opinions on the temperance question; and not only she, but a host of others from the ranks of the Christian church were influenced similarly.
After leaving this hall the happy pair spent a long time in passing through some of the other buildings of the group. _Miss Church-Member was so filled with the doctrines of the Devil that she thought of going as a missionary to the pilgrims of the Narrow Way._
During their visit at the Temperance College Mr. World conducted his ever-faithful friend through some of the fashionable temperance-saloons connected with the institution.
Miss Church-Member would not have entered and much less indulged in the questionable beverages, had she not been so strongly influenced by the prolonged visit at the section of the group devoted to the study of “_Temperate and Intemperate Drinks._”
I was sorely vexed at the operations of this whole college and, looking at Blackana, I said impatiently:
“How can your comrades find delight in such an impish work—covering truth and scattering hellish sophistry abroad?”
“Delight?” repeated Blackana. “This world is but the Devil’s Heaven, and those in his kingdom find chiefest delight in thorns, and not in flowers; in spinning sophistry, and not in dead things like truth and logic.”