Polynesian., 1858-08-14

the question highly offensive, but restrained my
self, and answered thus i
Rum I take to be the name which unwashed
morasts apply alike to the product distilled from
molasses and the noblest juices of the vineyard.
Burgundy in all its sunset glow " is rum. Cham
pagne, " the foaming wine of Eastern France" is
rum. Hook, which our friend, the Poet, speaks of
as
' The Rhine's breastmilk, gushing cold and bright
Pale as the moon, and maddening her light
is rum. Sir, repudiate the nathsome vulgarism
as an insult to the first miracle wrought by the
Founder of our religion! | address myself to the
company.-l believe in temperance, nay, almost in
abstinence, as a rule for healthy people. l trust
that practise both But let me tell you there
are companies of men of genius into which
sometimes CO. where the atmosphere of intellect
and sentiment is so much more stimulating than
alcohol, that, if thought fit to take wine, it would
be to keep me sober.
Among the gentlemen that have known. few,
If any, were ruined By drinking. Nv few drunken
acquaintance were generally ruined before they
became drunkards. The habit of drinking is often
vice, no doubt,-sOmetimes a misfortune.-as
when an almost irresistible hereditary propensity
exists TO indulge In it,-but oftenest of all spH-
iShmenf.
Empty heads, heads without ideas in whole
some variety and sufficient number TO furnish food
for the mental clockwork k,-ill-regulated heads
where the faculties are not under the control Of
the will,-these are the ones that hold the brains
which their owners are so apt to tamper with, by
introducing the appliances have been talking
about. Now, when gentlemans brain is empty
or lil-regulated, 1t IS, TO great extent, his own
fault and so It Is simple retribution, that, while
he lies slothfuly sleeping or amlessIy dreaming,
the fatal habit settles on him like vampire, and
sucks his blood, tanning him all the while with its
hot wings into deeper slumber or idler dreams!
| ,oF harI rlolh ~, 81,
to the neglected poor, who have had no chance to
fill their heads with wholesome ideas, and to be
taught the lesson of self-government. / trust the
tariff of Heaven has an dd TGLOrem scale for them
and all of u.s.
But TO come back to poets and artists If they
really are more prone to the abuse Of stimnlants
and fear that this is true,-the reason of it is
only too clear. A man abandons himsellto TO fine
frenzy, and the power which flows through him, as
once explained to you, makes him the medium of
great poem or great picture. The creative
tlon is not voluntary at all, but automatic can
only put the mind into the proper attitude, and
wait for the wind, that blows where it lIsteth, to
breathe over il. Thus the true state of creative
genius is allied to recerie, or dreaming. Ii mind
and body were both healthy, and had food enough
and fair play, | doubt whether any men would be
more temperate than the imaginative classes. But
body and mind oIlen hag,-perhaps they i'll
made TO begin with, underfed with bread or ideas,
overworked, or abus ID in some way. The auto
matte action, by which genius wrought its wonders,
fails. There Is only one Thing which rouse
the machine; not will,-that cannot reach it
nothing but ruinous agent, which hurries the
wheels awhile and soon eats out the heart of the
mechanism. The dreaming faculties are always
the dangerous ones, because their mode of action
can be inflated by artificial excitement; the rea-
soning ones are safe, because they imply contin-
ued voluntary effort.
think you will find it true, that, before any
vice can fasten on a man, body, mind, or moral ma
ture must be debIlitated. The mosses and fungi
gather sickly trees, not thriving ones; and the
odious parasites which fasten on the human frame
choose that which is already enfeebled. Mr..
Walker, the Hygeian humorist declared that he
had such a healthy skin II impossible for any
impurIly to stuck TO II, and maintained that il
an absurdity to wash tace which was of necessity
always clean. | don't know how much fancy there
was in this; but there is no fancy in saying that
the lasstude of tired-out operatives, and the Ian
guor of imaginative natures in their periods Of
collapse, and the vacuity of minds unframed TO la
Dor ano discipline, ht the soul and body for the
termination of the seeds of intemperance.
Whenever the wandering demon of Drunken
ness finds ship adrlft,-nO steady wind in its
sails, no thoughtful pilot directing its course,-he
steps board, takes the helm, aud steers straight
for the maestrOm.-AtiaHtic Monthly.