Christopher Smith
speaker
315 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Jul 2026
last heard 20 Jul
Christopher Smith’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.
Appearances
Put the hat over that once manly brow.
Brush the dust from that coat that once covered a generous heart.
Show him the way to the home that once rejoiced at the sound of his footstep, and with gentle words tell his children to stand back as you help him through the hall.
That was a kind husband once, and an indulgent father.
He will kneel with them no more as once he did at family prayers, the little ones with clasped hands looking up into the heavens with thanksgiving for their happy home.
But now at midnight he will drive them from their pillows and curse them down the steps, and howl after them as, unclad, they fly down the street in night garments under the calm starlight.
Who slew that man?
Who blasted that home?
Who plunged those children into worse than orphanage, until the hands are blue with cold, and the cheeks are blazed with fear, and the brow is scarred with bruises, and the eyes are hollow with grief, and
Who made that life a wreck, and filled eternity with the uproar of a doomed spirit?
There are those whose regular business it is to work this death.
They mix a cup that glows and flashes and foams with enchantment.
They call it cognac, or hock, or Heidzik, or Schnapps, or Old Bourbon or brandy or champagne.
But they tell not that in the ruddy glow there is the blood of sacrifice, and in its flash the eye of uncoiled adders, and in the foam the mouth froth of eternal death.
Not knowing what a horrible mixture it is, men take it up and drink it down, the sacrificial blood, the adder's venom, the death froth, and smack their lips and call it a delightful beverage.
Oh, if I had some art by which I could break the charm of the tempter's bowl, and with mailed hand lift out the long serpent of eternal despair, and shake out its coils, and cast it down and crush it to death.
But the enchantment cannot thus be broken.
It hides in the bottom of the bowl, and not until a man is entirely fallen does the monster lift itself up and strike with its terrific fangs, and answer all his implorations for mercy with fiendish hiss.
We must arouse public opinion until city, state, and national officials shall no longer dare to neglect the execution of the law.
We have enough enactments now to revolutionize our cities and strike terror through the drinking houses and gambling dens and houses of sin.
Showing 121–140 of 315 · page 7 of 16
← Previous
Next →