The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1868-07-18
VIM Men Like to Drink.
BY HORACE GREELEY.


The Greek root of the word intoxicate mean
poison. Whoever says q man is intoxicated say
he is poisoned. And il is true Give part OF
glass of ordinary spirits to a child three or fou
| years old, and the child is in twenty minutes il
| congesi ion lil and probably dies. II operates
| precisely like stsJ chime, arsenic, or any Other
deadly drug Commence by giving child q
! thimbleiul at time, and gradually increase the
| amount and you may nduIale him so that he
| will swallow as much al time would kill
| him al fist. You may begin with any other
poison and do the same thing. Our ply sical
framework is constructed with reference to this,
to enable ii 10 stand large amount of any dead
y substance. There is nothing peculiar in this
action of alcohol There is nothing in this hut
The universal law that all posons destroy the
susceptibility of the human frame.
Why does a man like to drink liquor Not
because it has good taste, but because it ex-
hilarates bis nervous system. The man takes his
first glass of liquor. 1t goes to his stomach. Now
there is not single human stomach, nor that Of
any animal ever created on this earth, that ever
did or can digest drop ofalcohol. The moment
it falls into the stomach every vital organ recog
nizes the presence OF deadly enemy. 1t is pre-
cisely as if lion were thrown into a cage of
tigers, and every tiger were to recognize the lion
as his deadly enemy. The stomach can not digest
1t, and 1t can not remain. All the organs assist
in throwing it off and the great struggle of every
vital organ to rid the stomach of this poison is
the very thing which the perverted senses recog-
nize as erhileratiOn If a man, standing on the
moon, could have telescope of sufficient power
to enable him to view objects on the earth, and
could have looked upon US during the late civil
war, and have seen, dimly through the glass, the
movements of immense bodies of men, he would
have said, ''This nation has an immense popua-
tion there is tremendous outpouring OF the
people this nation is in state ofextraordinary
prosperity" Precisely so The mans sensoral
the point where the nerves Of some concentrate,
recognizes, in this desperate effort of the vital Or
gans to get rid of an enemy, sense of strength
and exhilaraton in place Of the languor and
feebleness be felt just before But in little while,
when nature has, by all her efforts, disposed of
this poison, the man sinks down to his former
condition, and great deal below it. Nature has
made her superior struggle she has got rid of
the poison but she has tired herself in the effort
The next time Nature makes the same struggle,
but she has not the same strength. The second
glass does not make the man feel so good. The
more a man drinks, the more he has to drink to
attain certain condition. He has to take more
and more. Nature turns constantly to rid herself
of it, but by and by becomes tired out and gives
it up. There are men who are not very percepti-
bly, affected by liquor II does not make them
drink. 1t does not hurt them, they say. But it
does hurt them. | never knew man who drank
good deal without becoming intoxicated, whom
liquor did not kill fast. And for physiological
reasons. If a man will take poison it is better
to get rid of it than to keep it in the system.
Drunkenness is one of Gods infinite mercies,
sent TO help poor, mistaken, human beings to get
rid of the consequences of their niquity.
What we should do depends largely upon what
able to do. 1t is not easy to fly in the face
of public opinion. Laws will, after all, be mainly
reflection of the moral condition of the people.
They will always be little better, but not much
better. you should say that no one in the
country should do bad thing it would be use
less, because human nature, in the development
TO which we have reached, would not sustain
such law. Public sentiment is advancing. 1t
does not allow men to make a parade Of vices
which were once tolerated The time will come
when men will not be licensed TO sell alcoholic
liquors, when grogshops will be where gambling
houses are now, out Of sight