Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1870-01-25
WHOLE NUMBER 692.

with beer. 1t is not small matter,
but a great and weighty considera-
tion-the cost of these drinks in mere
money.
The teetotalers have always under
rated the difficulty of the task they
have undertaken, and misconceived its
nature. 1t is not the great toe that
most requires treatment when a man
has the gout, although it is the great
toe that makes him roar. When we
look about us, and consider the pres
ent physical life of man, we are obllg-
ed to conclude that the whole head Is
sick, and the whole heart is faint
Drinking is but symptom which re-
veals the malady. Perhaps, if we
were all to stop our guzzling sudden
ly, without discontinuing our other
bad habits, we should rather lose by
it than gain. Alcohol supports us
doing wrong! 1t prevents our imme-
diate destruction. The thing for US
to do Is, to strike at the causes of
drinking, to cease the bad breathing,
the bad eating. the bad reading, the
bad feeling and bad thinking, which,
in a sense, necessitate bad drinking.
The Human Race is now on trial
for its life One hundred and four
years ago last April, James Watt, a
poor Scotch mechanic, while taking
his walk on Glasgow Green, conceiy-
ed the idea which has made steam
mans submissive and untiring slave.
Steam enables the fifteen millions of
adults in Great Britain and Ireland
to produce more commodities than the
whole population of the earth could
produce without its assistance. Steam,
plus the virgin soil of two new conti-
neats, has placed the means of self
destruction within the reach of hun
dreds Of millions of human beings
whose ancestors were almost as safe
10 their ignorance and poverty as the
beasts they attended. At the same
time, the steam-engine is an infuriate
propogator; and myriad creatures of
its prOducing-creatures of eager de-
sires, thin brains, excessive vanity,
and small selfcontrol-seem formed
to bend the neck to the destructive
tyranny of fashion, and yield helpless
ly to the more destructive tyranny of
habit. The steam-engine gives them
a great variety Of the means of self
extirpation-air-tig tight houses, labor
saving machines, luxurious food, stim-
ulating drinks, highly-wrought novels,
aud many others. Let all women for
the next century but wear such re-
straining clothes as are now usual,
and it is doubtful if the race could ev-
er recover from the effects it is doubt
full if there could ever again be full
orbed, bouncing baby. Wherever we
look we see the human race dwind-
ling. The English aristocracy used
to be thought al exception, but Miss
Nightingale says not. She tells US
that the great houses Of England coz
tain great-grandmothers possessing
constitutions without a flaw, grand
mothers but slightly impaired, moth,
ers who are often ailing and never
strong, daughters who are miserable
and hopeless invalids. And tne
Steam-engine ha 5 placed efficient
means Of selfdestruction within reach
of the kitchen, the stable, the farm,
and the shop; and those means of
self-destruction are all but UNIVERSAL
ty used.
Perhaps man has nearly run his
course in this world, and is about to
disappear, like the mammoth, and
give place to some nobler kind of
creature who will manage the estate
better than the present occupant
Certainly we cannot boast of having
done very well with it, nor could we
complain if we should receive notice
to quit. Perhaps James Watt came
into the world to extinguish his spe-
cies. If so, 1t is well. Let US go on,
eating, drinking, smoking, over-work-
ing, idling, men killing themselves to
buy clothes for their wives, wives kill,
ing themselves by wearing them, chill
dren petted and candied into imbecil-
ity and diptheria.
F Still, probably the instinct of self
preservation will assert itself in time,
and an antidote to the steam-engine
will be found before it has impaired
the whole race beyond recovery. To
have discovered the truth with regard
to the effects of alcohol upon the sys-
TEN was of itself no slight triumph OF
the selfpreserving principle. 1t is
probable that the truly helpful men Of
the next hundred years will occupy
themselves very much with the phys.
ical welfare of the race, without which
no other welfare is possible.