Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-12-20
William Howltt's four Doctors.

am temperate because I have seen
and felt the good policy Of it. As a
literary man, If had fallen ia with or
dinary literary habits / should not
have been sitting here to write about
the advantage OF temperance.
II l had lived as the majority of
literary men Of this age, rs a man
about town." If | had lived in town,
and kept the usual late hours, and
passed evening after evening in hot,
crowded rooms, breathing the deadly
poison of physical etifuVia, gas, and
air deprived Of its ozone; if l had sat
over the bottle at suppers, foolishly
called dinners; and, in short, had
'Jollihed AS my literary c0nte.npor-
aries call it-I should have been gone
thirty years ago.
As it is l have seen numbers of
literary men, much younger than N.Y.
self, dying off like rotten sheep
some Of them in their very early
youth, few Of them becoming old.
They have acquired great regulations;
for, if you take notice, they who col
lect about the press, and jolIify with
one another, and cry up one another
as prOdigies, are the men who become
most popular; and " verify they have
their reward"
They reap much money and much
temporary fame; but at what price do
they purchase it? At the cost of
bodily as well as mental comfort: at
the cost of life itself.
For my part, seeing the victims to
" fast life" daily falling around me,
l have willingly abandoned the
temporary advantages of life, and
preferred less popularity, less gains,
the enjoyment OF a sound mind in a
sound body, the blessings of quiet
domestic life, and more restricted,
but not less enjoyable circle Of society.
l am now fast approaching my
'ventieth year. cannot, indeed.
say that l have reached this period,
active and vigorous as l am without
the assistance of doctors. l have had
the constant attendance of these four
famous ones: Temperance, Exercise.
Good Air, and Good Hours.
And now a word on work. Those
who imagine that l only wag a goose
quill mistake a little. In that DEPART
ment, indeed, L have perhaps done as
much work as any man living. Often,
IN early years, l labOred assiduously
sixteen hours day. l never omit
walking three or four miles, or more.
in all weathers. l worked hard in
my garden, and could tire down a
tOlerable man at that sort of THING.
During my two years travel in Aus
tralla, when about sixty, l walked Of
ten under a burning sun of one hun
dred and twenty or one hundred and
thirty degrees at noon, my twenty
miles day for days and weeks TO-
gether; worked at digging gold in a
great heat, and against young. active
men, my twelve hours a day, some
times standing in a brook, / waded
through rivers-fOF neither man nor
nature had made many bridges-and
let my clothes dry upon my back:
washed my own linen, and made and
baked my own bread before I ate it:
slept occasionally under the forest
tree; and through it all was hearty as
a roach.
And how did I mango all this, not
only with ease, but with enjoyment?
simply because 1 avoided spirituous
liquors as [ would the poison of an
asp. The horrors which | saw there
from the drinking of spirits We're
TO make man of the least
sense sober. The extent to which
spirit drinking was carried may be
judged OF by the unexampIed fact
that one year during my stay, nine
hundred thousand pounds were paid
Tor duty on spirits alone, and that for
a population of only two hundred and
fifty thousand souls! Well, then. I
think I have claim to recommend
to my fellow wOrkmen abstinence
from beer, spirits and tobacco, They
are all pOlsOnerS of the blood; thew are
all burnt offerings unto death; they
are destrOyer5 OF the bottom of our
pockets; and what is worse, destrovers
Of the peace Of families, the constitu-
tons OF men, the domestic comfort
and virtues es women, the physical
stamina and the very life of children.
Ihey Slay the morals Of society, the in
Jellects and souls of men. AS read
daily the police reports and the pro-
ceedIngs OF our criminal courts, L trace
the wide spread pesdlence of spirits,
Deer, and tobacco, in almost every out |
rage and misery.
All IneSe lnHam0 or DeelOud the in
tellect; they originate robbery of
masters, and robbery of all kinds.
They strip their practicers of health,
clothes, morals, and sanity; they con-
vert them into madmen and devils.
They fire the brain with frensy. and
arm the hand with bludgeons and
knives against their own wives and
children. The great bulk of the crimes
and calamities Of society flow from the
tap ana spig0t!
BY this indplgence--surely themost
Of infatUations--an absurd
appetite set on fire of he'll" the
people encourage the government to
piunder them most cruelty in the
shape OF excise duties. To furnish the
government with this duty, our work. |
ng millions abandon every duty of
their own. They set up over them
selves a most terrible tyranny. They
keep open ginshops at every corner,
even on Sunday evenings, when book |
shops and simple refreshment rooms
ire not allowed to be open.