Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-12-12
A POOR SUBSTITUTE.
BY REV. JOHN HALL, D. D.


dozen friends for the night. But he was
not disconnected He knew his men. He
replied by inquiring how much whisky
was in the house. The reply was salts
factory. every well," said he, "you
find plenty of whisky, and they'll find
beds for themselves" But the dirty floor
of that Highland Castle Rack rent is a
poor substitute for clean bed. Drunken
men, however, are not fastidious. 1t is
afterward that rheumatism, rags and
wretchedness recall the sacrifices made at
the shrine of Bacchus.
But drink is made to do osubstitutionary
duty in more ways than this, and with
results no better in the end. I believe,
meant to display your silver or your fur
niture, nor to gain place in society; but
to make persons cat home" and to in
crease their enjoyment. l do not count
that hospitality which consists in forcing
ceremoniOus and costly waste of time on
persons who have other and more agreea-
BILE things to do, or in inviting those whom
one wishes to invite in return. But it is
mockery of hospitality, in parlor or in
dining room, to make wine the substitute
for better things, as solid and nutritious
food and rational conversation. How
ever it may be in America, in older lands
+ it is so easy to get wine and cake for a
lunch that the temptation to it is irresisti-
BILE by housekeepers; and l know, of my
own knowledge, ministers and medical
men thus launched into drunkenness and
professional ruin. If you are to be hos
pitable, dear ladies, give what will nour-
ish and strengthen, not what Sir Ashley
Cooper pronounced synonymous with
poisons.
1 am in favor of good fellowship and
flow of soul. 1t is delightful when con-
geniai persons meet together on equal
terms, without embarrassment, without
care-not hungry, nor thirsty, nor over
dressed-to unbosom themselves in per-
feet mutual confidence Let the wit spar
kle, and the crowding "reminiscences run
on, and the brow of care relax, and the
sunshine of human gladness fill the place;
but who says that champagne bottles and
flow of wine are an equivalent for these?
Men without taste or manners, who can
not talk or think, can drink; and, when
drink has opened their mouths and loos-
ened their tongues, they can speak, and
think themselves witty, and their compan-
ions, in the same condition with them
selves, share in the delusion. Who has
had the misfortune to be beside group
of men in this vinous elevation? Does
he not remember the poor old jokes, the
threadbare and incoherent wit, the coarse
mirth, the maudlin sentimentality? You
wonder how man can descend to it, till
you remember he is half drunk-taste
and perception and nice sense of proprie-
ty clean gone; and you wonder how they
can laugh and enjoy him, till you recol-
lect they are in the same condition. Ar
dent spirits are poor substitute for good
spirits, and flow of champagne for flow
of soul.
.Men need some stimulus. They are
often overworked, tired, and run down. !"
We know it; but drink is a poor substi-
tute for what they want. When the horse
finds himself in front of an overload, and
you whip him till, with desperate, strain
ing plunges, he moves it, you have stim-
ulated him; but, as Professor Miller long
ago pointed out, you have not strength
ened him. Whip-cord is a poor substi-
tute for corn.
But to take it so is no more gross de-
lusion than many men and many women
practice. They are tired, bored, worn
out, unequal to another pull; and they
stimulate, and pull through. What they
wanted was strength or rest what they
get is unhealthy and unnatural forcing of
jaded system, which will take uncon.
scious revenge and demand more stimulus
next time. The man who refreshes him.
self with beer or ale cheats himself, if
DIR. Lees statement be true, that two
pound brown loaf has more nourishment
in it than S65 gallons of ale. He pay his
money for lager beer (Which is now sug.
gestively and correctly written up ''bier'')
and in his drink, according to Professor
Chandler, of Columbia College, he has
ninety parts of dirty water, five parts oil
Intoxicating alcohol, and five of Juice OF
rotten barley and hops. The brewers
pride themselves on using up $4,000, ,O0C
bushels of barley for beer, and giving SC
much employment to farmers and labor
ers. But, to square the account, they
withdraw 23,000000 bushels of grain
from the baker, enhance the cost of bread,
and keep the loaf they have raised in
price from the families of those who
drink their beer.
Drink is one one of the poorest substi-
tutes for languid body, colorless
cheek, or an eye that "fires not, wins
not" sparkles not as it was wont to do.
Men and women delude themselves when
they resort to it. could name the lady
whose doctor ordered her glass of port
wine when she ''felt sinking;" and the
sinking came regularly every day, and
then twice day, and then needed more
than glass, until the doctor had to be
consulted as to how to save the drunken
mother of seven children under ten years
OF age. And he was Christian man,
and owned with keen regret that he had
made dreadful mistake, and was bound,
II possible, to save her. So he banished
the port wine from her house and his pre-
scrlptlons. A sound-minded medical man
tells me that one should not sweepingly
condemn medical use of alcohol, as in
certain cases of bleeding to death and
bites of rattlesnakes it is the main and.
indeed, only reliance. Let US, therefore.
hold that dispensation is given for ali
such cases, including the rattlesnake suf-
ferers; and let us be thankful that rattle
snakes are rapidly decreasing in the
country.
The income from drink is a poor substi-
tute for healthy revenue to the country.
do not mean that it should not be tax
ed l would lay on it up to the point
where experience shows the premium on
smuggling sends men into that business,
But would not regard the enormous
amount that this flows into the national
golfers as sign of prosperity. Suppose
we taxed the heirs of all suicides, murder
ers and murdered, convicts and roues, and
held up 500, ,000,0 600 as the net result, what
sane man would rejoice and wish for
more of the money? But this is lust
what is done in another form "WHy,'
says the exultant Brewers Congress in
New York, last May, "there is affair pros
pect that we shall pay the greatest Dor
ton of the expenses Of the Government.
/. All! but they swell the expenses in tn,
process. What of the 10000 arrests fol
intoxication and disorderly conduct il
New York City in twelve months? of tn,
police, the prisons, the punishment
What of the S2,000,000 ayear required b.
the Commissioners of Charities and Cor
reetions? And what of the untold miser,
of ruined homes, characters, means
souls? What of thirty-thrse per cent. O
all deaths in New York traceable to alco
holic drink, according to DR.. Willard Par
kerr
The United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland spent over five hundred mil
lions OF dollars in gold on drinks in 1871
If the Alabama" bill sobered England il
one sense, she would save the amount il
ten days. Seven years saving would pa,