Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1868-05-15
For the Bellows Falls Times.
Does Strong Drink lnjurc the
Health I?


The tippler answers, no; but his own
features give the lie to his words. Is
red and bloated face indicative of good
health? Do infamed eyes, parched lips,
and foul breath suggest purity of blood,
correct circulation, and sound digestion ?
Intemperance, in itself, is disease, and
the parent Of hundreds of other diseases.
Alcohol penetrates every part of the
body, burning and paralyzing the differ
ent organs, and producing corruption and
pain. The liver, stepped in the fiery
fluid, refuses to perform its natural func-
tions indigestion, fermentation, and
acidity rob the system of nutrition, irri-
tate the vital organs, fill the stomach with
air and the head with fumes, and render
the patient, when not in liquor" mo-
rose and petulent The skin assumes
flushed, CLASSY appearance, and the appe-
tite becomes uncertain and feeble. The
effects of intemperance upon the nervous
and muscular system are terrible, and
quickly apparent. Stimulation, beyond
the point prescribed by nature, is follow
ed by reaction. A state of intoxication
is "a state of exhileration, but when the
strength of the liquor becomes exhaust
ed and the subject awakes from his de-
bauch, he is tortured by nervous head
ache, his limbs are feeble, his step totter
ing, and his hand trembles so that he can
scarcely raise glass to his lips. Then
he takes little brandy to steady his
nerves and remove the pain from his
head. Hallucinated man Each indul-
gence renders his physical arrangement
greater than the last, and consequently
he must drink deeper and deeper to re-
establish his nervous equilibrium. He
continually grows weaker and weaker,
his muscular system becomes more and
more dependent upon stimulants, until at
last alcohol becomes necessary to his
very existence What is the end of such
=
a man? His brain becomes more and
more affected, until finally his reason is
dethroned and he falls victim to that
most terrible, most loathesome disease
delirium tremens.
Reader, did you ever witness 4 case o
delirium tremens? Did you ever see I
rum-bloated and rum-corrupted MAI
writhing in agonies so frightful, SO hell
ish as to cause the beholder to trembl,
with awe-to cause the cheeks Of stron,
men to blanch and their " blood to rul
cold?" Language is too feeble TO pictur
the horrors of this awful disease 1t
victims,
Wreck'd dosponding thought
From wave to wave of fanced misery
At random drives her helm of reason lost.
his brain is in a wildness Of fancied woe
and terrors he imagincs shapes NOR
hideous and hateful than are portrayet
in Dante's "Inferno; he is subject t
tortures more horrible than was Tanta
lus; Now he displays strength almost su
perhuman, anon he sinks down exhaust
ed he battles with imaginary fiends h
shrieks with pain and terror, he laugh
and mocks at his foes, he struggles t
free himself from fancied fetters, h
foams at the mouth, he curses, he dashe
himself upon the floor, he glares at hi
attendants, he gnashes his teeth with MAJ
fury, he rolls in agony Internal. At las
death releases him. Reader, would yo1
die in the fearful deliriums of this dis
ease? Then forever shun those disgustin
excuses which alone produce it.
Young men, if you would escape tn
rayages of disease, be temperate; if yor
would live long and happily, be temper
ate; if you would retain your intellect
ual powers while life lasts, be temperate
| if you would die honored and loved b
your fellow men, be temperate.
DtNNELLE.