The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-04-05
Eating and Dinners.

In the Herald of Health Rev. Mr.. Froth-
ingham. has on article entitled "Eating
and Drinking Damnation," from which we
make few extracts:
I" If the statistics of gluttonY had been
rs carefully looked up as the statlstlos OF
drunkenness have been, there would, no
doubt, be fearful tale to tell on that site:
The evils Of excessive and uaregulated
b eating are US enormous as those OF excessive
and unregulated drinking, though, appear
ing in different form, they make lees I'm
preston on society. An enormous burden
of debt is pressing upon our people, relief
from which would give az impp lse to every
working faculty and every Industrial IN
terest and sum of money equal to three
6fths Of the whole of is is annually spent
by the people in way that cripples those
faculties, diminishes the working power
in the community, and aggravates
every depressing and disabling influence.
In the manufacture Of the stimulants thus
consumed there are used $4,000 900 worth
of grains. all brimful of divine benignity,
rich with material for happiness, teeming
with future comfort, increase, and nobility,
big with the coming civilization Of man
kind. So much nourishing force of blood
made cause Of corruption in the blood
Is not that drinking damnation To the
value of the food products add the labor
that is withdrawn from useful channels,
and practically wasted in the manufacture
of this desolating power, and we have ST.
250, 100000 per year-a sum sufficient to
pay the whole interest bearing portion Of
the public debt. Is not that drinking dam
nationf Consider that this immense con-
sumption is consumption not Of values
only, but Of that which creates values, Of
muscle, tissue, nerve, and brain; consider
that these drinking habits tend steadily,
Invariably, inevitably, to blunt sensibility,
deaden conscience, paralyzs affection and
will /; that they mean waste Of time, effort,
and opportunity, can We express too
strongly the conviction that something
very like damnetion results from them
The dinner-table is in the way of
reform. It is wound about with such
meshes Of ceremony and etiquette, it is 80
associated with manners, there goes along
with it such mass Of opinion on all sub
Jects affecting society, it is the rendezvous
for 30 much oonvertionality Of mind and
feeling, that to break away from it is task
the strongest shrink from, and to remember
that the soul sits down at it requires an
effort OF imagination too severe for ordinary
men and women to make; but if it could
be made, such weight would be added to the
Self-respect Of the better classes and the
worst-the better classes would be inspired
with such earnestness, the worst would be
shamed into such moderation; the better
classes would become 80 alive to their du-
ties, the worse would become SO alive to
their interests such an amount Of right
mindedness and sound heartedness would
be generated that kind of salvation would
begin to dawn on the spot-the salvation Of
personal health and wealth, domestic peace,
parental nurture, filial education, of social
quietude and peace, honest dealing, pure
speech, gentle manners, and that reign of
law which promises better age. The de-
pressing thought is that our unconscious
nanlts undermine our humanity. The
stimulating thought is, that by change in
THESE habits we might effect radical change
IN the social constitution.
Inc bearing Of these daily habits on
social ethics is very wide. They all 90 to-
gstaer. Eating and drinking work in COM
y pany with dress, and find in dress q yalua-
Die auxiliary. The social aspects of ccs-
tune the spiritual bearing of apparel, pre-
sent material sufficient alone for q lone
aeasise: 1t is NO light consideration. that
o. clothing, seeing that on it depend the
freedom OF our breathing, the ereotness Of
our bearing, the liberty Of our physical
achon, and through them the comfort NJ onr
naa tae eyenness Of our tempers, the chs.
ao s.s 70 VI ths society We cultivate, and the
cost OF the interests we pursue. We ;m rre
giue ,hst the world is kept back bv some
name!sss' invisible, intangible monster Of