The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-10-05
NOTABLE DRUNRARDS.


chapel. 1t is the intention of the superiutend.
ent that every inmate of the asylum shall
become acquainted with the nature of alcohol,
and with the precise effects oil alcoholic drinks
upon the human system. He means that they
shall comprehend the absurdity of drinking as
clearly as they know its runous consequences.
He accordingly opens this meeting with s hort
lecture upon some one branch oil the subject.
and then invites the patients to illustrate the
point from their own experience At the
meeting which happened 10 attend, the sub
lect of MIR. Days remarks was suggested Gas
1t often is) by an occurrence which had just
taken place at the institution, and had been the
Leading topic OF conversation all that day. AT
the last meeting young man from distant
State, who had been in the Asylum for some
months, and was about to return home, de-
livered an eloquent fare we'll address to his com
panions, urging them to adhere to their resolu-
ton, and protesting his unalterable resolve
never, never, never again to yield to their
SR SlFng snd 1US SSd 9t9
loud voice. He took his departure in the
morning by the Erie Road. aud twelve
hours after be was brought back to the
to the superintendent and TO his friends the
story of his lamentabe fall When the train
detention of three hours at station that offered
little entertainment to impatient travellers.
The returning prodgal paced the platform;
found 1t dull work; heard at a distance tho
sound OF billiard balls; went and played two
games, losing both; returned TO the platform
and resumed his walk; aud there fell into
the train Of thought that led to the
catastrophe. His reflections were like
these:-"How perfect IL my cure! j have not
once thought OF taking q drink. Not even when
saw men drinking at the bar did 1t cross my
least desire for whisky, and have no doubt |
could take that one glass; which Dr. Day keeps
taking about without a wish for a second. In
TACT no man is perfectly cured till he can do
that. have great mind to put 1t to the test.
IL almost seems as If this opportunity OF trying
myself had been created on purpose. Here goes,
fhD lncN Nrlo nE -, Tx
long as live, and take 1t purely as a scientific
experiment" One hour after his frieI d, who
was accompanying him home, found him lying
i'll corner of bar-roon, dead drunk. Hchad
him picked up, and placed in the next train
bound for Binghamton.
This was the text of DR.. Days discourse, and
he employed it in enforcing anew his three car.
dlnal polnts:-1. No hope for au inebriate until
he thoroughly distr1sts the strength of his
own resolution. 2, NJ hope for an inebriate
except in total abstinence as long as he lives,
both in sickness and IN health. 3. Little hope
for an inebIlate unless he avoids, on system aud
on prncipie, tue occasions OF temptation, the
places where liquor is sold. aud the persoGs VINO
will urge 1t upon him. Physicians, he said,
advised his hearers to AVOID the tinctures
prepared with alcohol, which had often
awakened the long-dormant appetite. During
my stay at Binghamton, a clergyman resident
in the town, and recently an inmate OF the
Asylum, had slight indspositon resulting
from riding home from meeting ten miles in
the rain. One of the physicians of the place,
who knew his history, knew that he had been
an inebriate OF the mo 1t pronounced type Quart
of liquor day, prescribed a powerful dose of
brandy and laudanum. III dare not take it,
temptation behind him. "If ! had
taken it," said he 10 me, 81 should
have been drunk to-day.n The case too, re-
CURED nothing but rest, rice, and an easy book.
No medicine was necessary. DR.. Day has had
under his care man VINO, after being con-
frmed drnnkard, had been a teetotaler for eigh-
hpl h., haat aI,,ea NaIrn
wine for the purpose OF Fastening slow conva-
lescence. His appetite resumed its old ascend
ancy, and, alter drinking furlously for year,
he was brought to the Asylum in delirium tire
mems. DR.. Day expressed a strong hope and
belief that the returned inmate mentioned
above had now actually taken his last glass of
and was in much more hopeful condition than
he had been before his lapse. The Doctor
secuted the idea that man who has the
misfortune to break his resolution should
fall at least ouce, before the last rag of self
confidence is torn from them; and he had had
patients who, after coming back to him in
Boston four times, had conquered, and had
lived sobelly for years, and were stiLl living
Ioberly.
When the superintendent had finished his
remarks, he called upon his hearers TO speak.
Several Of them did so. One young gentleman,
made his farewell speech. He thanked his
companions for the torbearance they had
shown him during the first weeks of
was peevish, discontented rebellious and had
no hope of ever being able to conquer his pro-
pensity, so often had he tried and failed. He
would have left the asylum in those days. II he
had had the money to pay his fare on the cars.
He felt the Importance of what DR.. Day had al
vanced respecting the occasions OF temptation,
and especially what he had said about physi-
cians' prescriptions, which he knew had led
men to drink. 'It," he added, II can
not live without alcohol, I would rather
anN
struggle all my life; don't think the
time will ever come when it will be safe for me
to daily with temptation, and feel the neces.
sity offolowing DR.. Days advice on this pont.n
He spoke ia a simple, earnest, and manly man
ner. He was followed by another inmate, a
robust, cspable-looking nan of thirty-hve, who
also spoke with drectness and simplicity. He
hoped that fear would help him to abstain.
If he could only keep sober, he had the best
he saw nothing before him but infamy and de.
etruetop. He spoke modestly and anXiously,
evidently teellEg that IL was more than matter
OF life and death with him. When he had con-
oluded, young gentleman rose and delivered
fluent, howery address upon temperance-just
such discourse as might precede lapse into
drinking.
On Monday evening OF every week the Lite
rary Society of the Institution holds its meeting,
when essays are read and lectures delivered.
The course OF lectures delivered last winter are
highly spoken of by those who heard them, and
they were all written by inmates of the Asylum.
Among the subjects treated were:-Columbus,
STUDY Of Character Goldsmith; The Tele-
Early English Rovelists; The Age, and the Men
for the Age; Geology; The Passions, with
Poetical Illustrations; The Inebriate Asy-
lum under the Regime of Coercion. 1t
visitors contribute something to the pleasure of
the evening. Mrs. Stowe, the newspapers inform