The Idaho world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1864-1918, 1874-01-01
SOCIAL INFLUENCES A CURE FOR INTEM-
PERANCE.

lperance. Ii we would reform the errlng. W.
must make their lives in the course we mari
out for them endurable, if not attractive
They must be allowed to pass the unoccupied
hours between dark and bed. time in the midst
of the purifying influences of the domestic cir
cle In other words, society must become less
exclusive. Social excusiveness in this country
is beyond question, one of the most fruitful
causes of saloon-going; and whoever goes ia
saloons will be tempted, and, in most cases,
will yield to the temptation to drink. The
only absolute safety is in staying out Of the
reach of temptation; but this will not happen
until sufficient entertainment is provided away
from saloons Some people must have compa.
n.y. We are one of those We have wandered
about the streets for hours until wearied and
offered; and it was not always the best. Many
others do the same thing, What is the rene.
dy! Good company. How is that good COM
pany to be provided! BY throwing open the
when admitted into the society of respectable
people, know how to behave, and will behave,
decently while there The "Washingtonian
Home" an institution established in the city
of Boston, about fifteen years ago, for the treat
ment of inebriates, at once adopted the social
plan; and in its 18th annual report the most
glowing and encouraging accounts of its sue
cess are given Patients received at the Home
are required to pledge their honor to abstain
from drink while there. and no restraint or
surveillance is attemPted to be exercised over
them. On the contrary, they are desired 70
exercise perfect freedom in all their actions
but the single one of drinking. "Gradually
their old haunts of vice. and their old
habit of ntoxication grow obnoxious, hate
full, to them as gradually the good habit re-
places the bad one" A love of pure and good
society takes hold of them; their pride is re-
vived, and whether they really have the respect
of those they associate with or not, they be
lieve they have, and the deusion is as effective
as If il were a reality They would not surren-
der it for anything. once the idea is fully fixed
not only To surrender the society they have
learned 10 love, and whose esteem they fear Ia
lose; but would also be- IN give up their good
opinions of themselves And soto employ
the language of the repor. as nearly as We can
recollect 1.-THE restored will, before head
strong in the wrong direction becomes inics-
l. 81 -: T. a.
thinking with new mind; feeling with n new
heart it often happens that those who have
been the most hopeessy incorrlgible. become
the most immovable in n course of sobriety.
The Home" has not succeeded 10 every in
stance: neither is it probable that any other
would which could be devised. until we learn
to know, intuitively. the feelings. nature aud
thoughts; Ia understand the reasons which
govern; to appreciate the disappontments suf.
fercd. feel the weight Of the burdens borne, |
and to mitigate the asperties of the broken
life cast upon our care But il the report re-
fcrred to be true. and we believe it to be. it |
has succeeded in n very large majority Of the
cases treated, and has demonstrated the great |
beneficial, effects Of good society upon the ine-
brlatc. and its ncalcu!able utility in the cause
of temperance.
We believe, firmly, in the entire possibility
Of reforming every fallen human being if only
the proper means be employed; aud we be-
lieve the social, the only thoroughly effective
and unfailing means of putting n stop to
drunkenness. Some may object that many
men Of families 90 out from home at night and
get drunk, preferrlng strong drink to the so
ciety Of their wives and children. We know
that such men exist, and in considerable num-
bers: but we know, too, that they descended
from fathers and grandfathers who took delight
in drunken bouts, in which each strove to out
drink the other, and believe much Of the mania
Of the present generation to be inherited
Again, many man INDUCES his appetite before
getting married to such an extent that the pas
sion for strong drink becomes disease with
him; and we could bring up facts in support of
both these positions, but the space allotted this
article will not permit When temperance be.
comes honorable and intemperance dishonora-
Bile; when sober men are elected to office and
drunken ones rejected, az is not the case now
when sobriety shall be respected and incbria.
tion not; when governments no longer specu-
late OIL the weaknesses and miseries Of the
governed; when distiers shall be unknown in
the land, and the sale of Intoxicating drinks
shall be prohibited, and temperance officers en-
Orce the law when unyp rsaI fatal ahsti nence