The Hickman courier., 1872-09-28
The wine Question in society.

anu uaLIOutl IllG. II - uOt ShdlGCA
iStically American, for the same may
be said with greater emphasis of the
social and national life OF Great Brit
ain; but it is one Of those things
about which there is no .oubt. Chol-
era and smallpox bring smaller fatali-
ty, and almost infinitely smaller sor
row. There are fathers and mothers.
and sisters aud wives, and innocent and
wondering children, within every cir
Gle that embraces hundred lives, who
grieye to day over some hopeless vic
tim of the seductive destroyer. In the
city aud in the North, East,
South, and West-there are men and
women who cannot be trusted with
wine in their hands-men and women
who are conscious, too, that they are 60
ing to destruction. and who have ceas-
ed to fight an appetite that has the
power to transform every soul aud eve.
~ home II occupies into hell. Oh,
the wild prayers for help that 90 up
from a hundred thousand despairiug
slaves Of strong drink TO day? Oh,
the shame, the appointment, the
fear, the disgust, the awful pity, the
mad protests that rise from hundred
thousand homes And still the smoke
of the everlasting torment rises, and
still we discuss the wine question,
aud the grape culture, aud live on
as if we had DO share in the RESPONSE
bility for so much sin, aud shame, and
suffering
Society bids US furnish wine at our
feasts, and we furnish it just as geuer-
ously as if we did not know that i Ger
tain percentage Of all the men who
drink it will die miserable drunkards,
and ipfiet lives Of pitiful suffering upon
those who are closely associated with
them. There are literally hundreds Of
thousands Of people in polite life in
America who would not dare TO give
dinner, or party, without wine, not
withstanding the fact that, 10 many
instances, they can select the very guests
who will drink too much ou every oc
casion that gives them an opportunity.
There are old men and women who IN
vite young men to their feasts, whom
they know eannot drink the wine they
propose to furnish without danger to
themselves aud disgrace to their COM
panions and friends. They do this
sadly, often, but under the eompulsions
of social usage. Now, we understand
the power of this influence and every
sensitive man must feel it keenly. Wine
has stood so long as an emblem aud
representative of good cheer aud gen
erous hospitality, that it seems stingy
to shut it away from our festivities, and
deny it to our guests. Then again, II
is so generally offered at the tables of
our friends, and it is so difficult, ap-
parently, for those who are accustomed
to it to make a dinner without it, that
we hesitate to offer water 10 them. 1t
has niggardly-almost an unfriendly
seeming; yet what shall man do
who wishes to throw what influence he
has on the side of temperance?
The question is not new. 1t has
been up for an answer every year and
every moment since men thought or
talked about temperance at all. We
know of but one answer to make to it.
A man cannot, without stultifying aud
morally debasing himself, fight iu pub
lie that which he tolerates in private.
We have beard Of such thugs as wri-
ting temperance addresses with demi
john under the table; and society has
learned, by heart, the old talk against
drinking too much-'the excess Of
the same, you know by those who
have the power of drinking little, but
who would sooner part with their right
eye than lose that little. \ man who
talks temperance with a wine-glass in
his hand is simply trying to brace him
self so that he eau hold it without
shame. We do not deny that many
men have self control or that they can
drink wine through life without suffer
ing, to themselves or others. 1t may
seem hard that they should be deprived
of comfort or a pleasure because
others are less fortunate in their tenn
perameut or their power of will. But
the question is whether man is willing
to sell his power to do good to great
multitude fer q glass OF wine at dinner.
That is the question in its plainest
terms. If he is, then he has very little
beDevolence, or a very Inadequate APP
prehension Of the evils of intemperance.
What we need in ous metropolitan
society is a declaration of independ-
ence. There are a great many good
men and women in New York who
lament the drinking habits of society
most sincerely. Let these all declare
that they will minister no longer at the
social altars of the great destroyer.
Let them declare that the indiscriminate
offer Of wine at dinner aud social as
semblies is not only criminal, but vul-
gar, as it undoubtedly is. Let them
declare that for the sake of the young.
the weak, and the vicious-for the sake
of personal character, and family peace,
and social purity, and national strength
they will discard wine from their
feasts from this time forth and forever,
aud the work will be done. Let them
declare that it shall be vulgar, as it un-
deniably is, for man to quarrel with
his dinner because his host fails to fur
nish wine. This can be done LOW, and
it needs to be done, for it is becoming
every day more difficult to do it. The
habit of wine-drinking at dinner
is quite prevalent already. European
travel is doing much to make it uni,
versal; and if we 60 on extending it
at the present rate, we shall soon arrive
at the European Indifference to the
whole subject. There are many clergy
men in New York who have wine upon
their tables. and who furnish it to their
guests. We keep no mans conscience,
but we are compelled to say that they
sell influence at a shamefully cheap
rate. What can they do in the great
fight with this tremendous evil? They