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About the Author Ken Mccutchan is a life-long resident of Vanderburgh County, |
The Temperance Lesson Kenneth McCutchan "Oh, my brothers," cried the preacher, "You have seen what whiskey has done to this most lowly of God's creatures" | Indiana, descended from pioneer families that entered the area in the early 1800s. He is veteran of WWII, having served with Army Corps of Engineers in both North Africa and Europe. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Composition and Modern Language from the University of Evansville, a certificate in French Language and Culture from the Sorbonne in Paris, and an Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree from the University of Southern Indiana. His other books include: The Adventures of Isaac Knight, From then Til Now, Saundersville, An English Settlement, At The Bend in the River, and Dearest Lizzie. Mr. Mccutchan's books may be purchased at Willard Library in Evansville, IN. | The packet boats that plied the Ohio River carried all kinds of freight and human cargo. There were the elegantly dressed ladies and gentle-men of quality who used the steamboats as a mode of trans-portation for both business and pleasure. There were the gamblers, regular passengers, who made and lost fortunes at the gaming tables. There were the itinerant artists who moved from town to town seeking commissions to paint portraits,also disembarked at every whistle-stop to hawk their patent remedies, and likewise, overzealous evangelists bent upon saving souls from hell-fire and damnation by attempting to drive the devil out of the dens of vice and iniquity that they believed ran rampant in every small river town and community. A tale was told about one such traveling preacher, a tall, thin, horse-faced man in black, who came off a boat at the wharf at Evansville and promptly made his way to the front of one of the several saloons on Water Street. With open Bible he began to exhort the passers-by against the evils of demon rum. His voice was harsh and loud, and after a few minutes he had fathered a sizable crowd of the curious around him. As his outcries became more fervent. he called upon God to deliver these poor sinners from the depths of hell into which they would surely fall if they did not forsake the evil drink. "Oh, my brothers," he cried,';let me show you by example what it will do to you.'' There upon he took from his bag a jar half-full of wiskey and a box of live earthworms. "Observe!" he shouted as he dropped a wiggling worm into the jar. The worm, of course. immediately stretched out limp and died. "Oh, my brothers.'' cried the preacher, "you have seen what whiskey has done to this most lowly Of God's creatures. Think -- think, my brothers -- think then upon what whiskey will do to you."There was a moment of silence. broken by a boozy voice from the crowd. "Well, I reckon, Parson, it ought to keep me from havin' worms." |
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