Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1854-03-08
CHAPTER XXXIV.

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CHAPTER XXXIV. "nII
Hereditary Drunkenness. his
Louis and Jerome, the exile twins, grew !
M to manhood and had done themselves hon. its
or in their respective stations: Louis was ito
promoted to the station of Captain and Je-
rome was ready to enter a medical school for IN
tho completion of his education. al ~
There was a trait in the character OF both in
BOYS that developed itself with their years irl
and that deserves special notice: AS much st
as they had learned to hate Intemperance, it
was found when they grew up that they both q
inherited the propensity to get drunk, and 1T y
seemed to be hereditary. This they strug- s
gled m%anfully against, knowing as they did b
the insidious and destructive tendency of the 81
vice. They seemed to be aware of the dan fl
ger, and believed themselves that it was a n
curse sent upon them and that it was a trai1- g
ty they had inherited from their drunken pa a
rents. An extract from q letter, written, {
by Louis to his brother in Havana will give
a reader an insight into the conditiea Of the '
times:
New ORLEANS, April, 9th.
DEAR BROTHER Since l was with you,
eight weeks ago, / have almost constantly
thought of what you said to me in the Orange
Grove relative to the fears you entertain for
your future. 4, too, have the same demon to
contend with day and night. To use your
own words 81 feel a burning love in my boz
som for the reptile whose fangs instil in eve
nv living artery the mortal poison of tempo
raj and eternal death !" You know how |
hate drunkenness-how / loath it, and yet |
have to struggle against its iHsidiouS temp
t~ations. We have inherited it from our pa
rents, jerome, and this is all we have heired
"a thirst for the soul damning bowl! We
have sucked it from our mothers breast
the first seeds of the vice weinherited through
the natural resources of life, and as we grow
in years the invincible devil winds its cords
: tighter and tighter about US. We scorn the
| vice and yet it nestles in our bosoms. And
e we'll may we scorn it have we not known
what it is to be the children of drunken pa
rents and to be the worlds ~outcasts ? Don't
we know that it ripened a father and mother
} for drunkard's graves Do we not know
that it's infe :tious faint is instilled into our
d very being and will require all oar moral
firmness to e7ade it's sting Of death? 1 dc
lie and you do! L have felt its dire influence
on the deep, threatening immediate destruc
ton to all on the wave, | have laid in M
l. "berth" drunk-have cursed God and pray
ed to diel We are in danger, my brother
n the hereditary disease of drunkenness sleeps
N In our very blood and will require all oul
If energies to steer clear of the deadly break
q ers on which so many have foundered. PRAY
Heaven that we may redeem ourselves.
Your ever faithful brother,
le LOUIS.
The sin of the parents had been visited up
: on the children, and it came near WORKING
their ruin at one time they hung upon the
very precipice of destruction and every mo
ment were threatened with an eternal over
throw. Mr.. Grandon was deeply concerned
for their safety and reasoned with them IN
+ on the folly Of their course and implored them
to return from their dark wanderings. They
: answered him with tears and assured him
d they felt the danger in all it's horrible reali
ties, but did not have the moral courage tc
lie resist Its insidious advances-they told hin
h it was an nheritance-that the curse of theil
parents had descended with them-a mari
n like that set upon Cain was written upor
) them and they were doomed to it's dread re
' ward. Mr.. Grandon wept with them anc
D. prayed that the everhanging calamity mig
he haply be lverted.
n 1t was q trying struggle; they saw thei1
v danger and brought all the moral attribute,
10 OF their nature to bear against it. By a IN
no dlclous course of moral training they at length
puttheirt empter to fight and rapturously nro
y claimed their freedom from they slavery o
the cup; but it was a fierce trial, and, bu
ry tor the blessing OF sceing their danger in time
would have fallen.
at There may be more than one amono m,
ty generous readers who viii object to the ide;
Il of hereditary drunkenness, and brand the in
n cidents just related as the vagaries of an un
?" bridled Imagination and the creative fancie
Il of q Novelist if such there be among thos,
who may do the Author honor by scannin,
Is these pages, it is hoped they will but cast a
of bout and look around them, call upon the re
10 cords OF a faithful memory and see how man
Il there be who have gone down to the dark
ness and gloom of drunkard's graves in tn,
footsteps of forgotten fathers. This rule i
u not absolute in all its bearings for there ar
noble examples on record, and in nv read
tn ers mind now, where some brave boy ha
.e- successfully waged war against the curse O
90 being the child of a drunkard-who battleC
IL with poverty and the worlds opprobriun
ana eventually rose to distinction and emf
=. hence. The idea we wish to advance. in con
IL nection with the exile twins as an example
er is that where the parents are given to drum
kenness, especially when both are addicte,
e. to the vice, there is an inherent tendenc,
implanted in the constitution of the offsprin,
to become drunkards. It may lie latent fo
years, just as do the seeds of consumption
u s~crofula, insanity, &C., but the chances ar
a. against such as are thus unfortunately situa
&c ted for the probabilities are that wheneye
IN sufhclent exciting causes are brought to bea
the latent disease, for it is q disease, no NOR
~ nor less in such cases, arouses its sleepinl
= infection in all its aggravated phases, pro
r. crosses with fearful strides, seizes upon tn,
. vitals Of the man, saps the foundation of tn,
e, life forces, instils its poison into the mora
10 constitution, and renders all that was Lowell,
IN and beautiful there a hideous mass of cor
m ruption and loathsome deformity.
The truths of this theory will find a read,
! adherent in the student who has made Phys
iology a patient study and carefully examin
ed the great phenomena of life. Though tn
Mt ignorant may scott and sneer at the idea o
nd the debasing vice of Intemperance bein,
he transmitted from parents to children, vet tn
bo doctrine is embraced and advocated by tn
most eminent and scientific Psychologists il
AS the world.