Licensed Bird of Prey

A stern temperance allegory shows a respectable family standing outside their home while a massive vulture perches above them, dressed in formal clothing and marked with a LICENSE badge. Beside the bird, a warning sign declares, “This bird of prey must not be molested. U.S.” The tree bears the word SALOON, and the nest holds destructive offspring labeled murder, corruption, and lust. In the distance, factories and smokestacks suggest the modern city where vice has been legally protected and socially tolerated.

The work presents the saloon as a predatory power threatening the household, children, and moral life of the community. Its message fits Christian temperance teaching: intoxication is not treated as private amusement, but as a spiritual and social danger that multiplies violence, impurity, and injustice. The image is well suited for ministry materials on sobriety, family protection, moral reform, social holiness, and the biblical warning against drunkenness.