The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1872-11-26
The Secret Of Alcoholic Power. =

understood why ..men drink Who have
formed an appetite, but why do other
people tamper with il and keep taking
more and more till they too form an ap-
petite2 After all the examples seen of
the horrid results Of drinking, Why is
not the evil permitted to die out With
the dying OF Of the ifreclaimable drunk
ards, no more be made Z Why has not
temperance effort cleaned the whole
thing out years and years ago, as it was
expected to do at frst7 .
In reply, We believe there are many
reasons foralf this. ANY practice which
has SO mighty hold on men would be,
likely to- have, more than one reason for
its power. One Of these reasons is,that
men love excitement which they fnd in
alcoholic drinks Another ID, chat il is'
the customto drink, and the temptation
is before men, constantly, : in various
ways. But the strongest Of all is, that
Hhen men take a little it deceives them.
1t flakes them feel good, and therefore
they believe that,it does them gobd.-'
,"Don'tI knowi1 they say. srCanltA 1
judge by my, fselings7. Isa't lthat the
proper way to Judge p; -
Yes, with some things it is, But not
with alcohol. That is a narcotic That
acts upon the nerves Of feeling, and
puts them out of order so that they DO
not carry, Information correctly, iIt,acts
upon the brain, which takes note Of the
information, ana that does not judge
correctly ] So alcohol decei7es the man
who takes it because it tsrnpefs with his
ordinary avenues Of feeling. The man
deceives himself when he thinks he can
judge of the eGeets of .slcohol, as he
does Of other thinks, by his feelings.
It rouses him mp, but that is dong in
| the course Of expelling the poison. It
gets up 4 'coinmotion in the stomach,
and thus makes him believe that 1t helps
| ldigestioh.a It'takes away the appstfte,,
and thds suggests that il has furnished
food though there IS mot particle Of
noirishdient iiiai Il. H'retsrds the change
Of matter necessary to health, and the
man is told 'that this ID economy Of
force.s 1T changes nutrition into fat,
and st,ffs the skin out with the dead
matter and BE is persuaded that be is
growing robust. aIta straits the LITTLE
blood vessels near the surface, and dis!
coiors the face, ana he Yancies thst He'll
rosy with aheafth. o. al have drank my
allowance of Deer every day for the last
thirty years, hnd IsSss never III better
health than 4 am at tithisss moment, said
one 1of th6ss rosy, fdllo faced men, and
the next day he died I'D isiint or apo
EplexvaA 'ssTfii bsTa9's sffa ''poT -
s5stbets1ts one ssraih Of deception
after ahothef. all the waythrough. 'Frue,
there comes atims when the man knows
,6aih hurts 1hir1l every tirne he takes II,
but tie power iof tie appetite has by
that tine heconie 80 sfeat that he thinks
Ihe caiu8t bfdke Il, ahtie. he is deceived
still ID Inany wsys. lklcoholis a great
tleceiyeri fropn begifiifing to end. Sure.
tly the nat,e atHat Shakespeare would
have called'h by, is The only oHe tha,
fits it. 1t is ft offspring of the Father
of Lies.
1t is evident ahenbthat one thing is
Eindispensibleito success ia fighting this
hydra headed devil; he must be expo,
scd. I Pledging against him. and talk.
ling against bins aud getting up socie.
ties and political combinations against
him all hurt some, for he. likes to be
popular !, bptsthey do hurt, imortally,- Sc
long as the people believe that there il
really a1great deal shat is very good
about him after all. Nothing hurts like
exposure. That is what deceit fears al
ways. All these movements sagaiasl
him are based upon the, conviction ,shal
he is very bad indeed, but show the peo
pie that he is altogatieri bad; and il
would hurt so that he would never re
cover from it. That would be mortal
E-zion's Hsfsla.,a s,u ,g m iii
II