The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1868-04-09
Why Men Like 10 Drink.

E Inc dreek rOOb OF the WOTO lnIOAl-
cato means poison. Whoever says a
man is intoxicated. says he is poisoneo.
And 1t is trua. Give u part of . glass
of ordinary spirits 10 a child of three
or four years old, and the child IS in
twenty minutes in q congestion fit and
probably dies. 1t operates precisely
like strychnlne, arsenic. or any other
deadly drug. Commence by giving q
ohlld q thimbleful at q time, and grad
ually increase the amount, and you
may indurate him so that he will swal-
low as much at q time as would kill
him at FIRST. You may begin with any
other poison and do the same thing
Our physical framework is construct.
cd with reference to tins to enable IL
to stand q large amount of any deadly
substance. There is nothing peculiar
in this action of alcohol. There IL no
thing in this but the universal law that
all poisons destroy the susceptibility
Of III human frame.
p Why docs q mar like to drink lIq-
uor? Not because it has a good taste,
but because it exhilerates his nervous
system. The man takes his first glass
OF liquor. 1t goes to his stomach
Now there IS not a single human sto-
mach nor that of any animal ever Gre
ated on this earth, that ever did or can
digest a drop oialcohol. The moment
it falls into The stomach every vital or.
gans recognizes the presence of a
deadly enemy. 1t is precisely as If u
lion were thrown into a cage of tigers,
and every tiger were to recognize the
lion as his deadly enemy, The stom-
ach a GO digest it and it can not ro-
main. All the organs assist IN throw
1t off, and tina: great struggle Of every
vital organ to rid the stomach of this
poison is the very thing which the
perverted senses recognize as exhilera.
tioni Ifa man, standing ON the moon,
could have n telescope ofsuficientpow-
or to enable him to view objects on the
earth, and could have looked upon US
during the late evil war, and have
seen, dimly through the glass, the
movements of immense bodies of men,
he would have said, "This nation has
an immense population there's a tire
mendous %outpouring Of the people /;
this nation is in a state Of ex.raUrdina-
ny prosperity Precisely 80 the mans
%sensorlal, the point whore the nerves
OF sense concentrate, recognizes, in this
desperate effort Of the vital organs 10
get rid of an enemy, q sense ofstrength
and exhileration in place OF tue Ian
gour and f%eebleness he felt just before.
But in a little while, when nature has,
by all her efforts, disposed of this pos
son, the mar sinks down to his former
condition, and a great deal below it.
Nature has made her superior strug-
gle; 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 nan feel so good. The moro
u man drinks, the moro he has to
drink to attain q certain condition.
He has to take moro and more. Ma
ture turns constantly to rid herself of
it, and by and by becomes tired out
and gives 1t up. There are men who
are not very ~perceptibly affected by
liquor. 1t does not mako them drunk.
1t does not hurt them they say. But
it does hurt them. l never knew a
man who drank o good deal without
becoming intoxicated, whom liquor did
not kill fast. And for physiological
reasons. If o man will take poison, it
ia better to get rid of it than to keep
it in tho system. Drunkenness is one
of Gods infinite mercies, sent to help
poor, mistaken human beings 20 get
r,d Of the consequences OF their iniqui.
ty. iv
What we should do depends largely
upon what we are able to do. 1t is not
easy tC fly in the face ofpublic opinion.
Law will, after all, be maluly a refec-
tion of the moral condition of the peo-
pie. They will always be a little bet
ter, but not much better. If you
should say that no one in the country
should do n bad thing, it would be
useless, because human nature Q, in the
development to which we have reach
cd, would not sustain such o law
Public sentiment ID 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 gamb.
Lighthouses are now, out Of sight
Hor0co GreoIu