Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1874-04-16
See What a Drunkard may Become
BY UNCLE DAVID.

gNever talk to a man who is
drunk; it will be of no use; you will
be sure to get abuse for your reward;
nor can you reasonably hope, while
he is in that state, to do him any
good"
So it has been often said. Such,
indeed, is the common opinion, and
thus the poor drupkard is allowed to
pass on unreproved and unadvised.
He is pitied, perhaps despised, but
he is left to perish! Yet, while under
the power of liquor, the drunkard is
often capable of thought-of refec
tion--of feeling.
There are seasons when he is mis-
cradle in his cups; when liquor fails
to drown his consciousness of degra-
dalton and misery; when he deeply
feels his debased and outcast cOndi-
ton; when word of kindness, show
ing him that he is not wholly aban-
doned by the decent and the good
that he is still with them an object
of sympathy and regard--might find
a way to his heart and awaken a rec
objection Of better days.
A drunkard often persists in his
intemperance against the strong re-
monstfances of conscience, and even
OF sincere desire to reform, because
he despairs Of recovering his former
Status in society. His mind is de-
pressed, his energies are paratyzed;
he has, perhaps, to struggle unaided
against the temptations that assail
him; the meshes in which he is en-
tangled are too strong for him to
break through by his own efforts
he needs help.
That help may be variously afford
Ell. \ word of faithful but affection
ate warning; kind remonstrance;
reference to former and better days,
or to a suffering wife and furnishing
children, promise Of assistance as
an encouragement to reform; nay,
al invitation to the house of God,
may prove effectual to break the
snare, and to arouse dormant ener-
gies into action. "But, SURELY it
may be said, itwould be most inn.
proper, absolutely preposterous, to
invite man under the influence of
liquor to a place Of Worship" Let
the following case be the answer:
Joseph b. was a Sheffield grind
er. He had fallen into gross intern
perance. He was not ofthat ignorant
and debased class, alas! too numerous
in our large towns, who, neglected
in early life by those who ought to
have been their guides and instruc-
tors, grow up without any kind of
education, without knowing any one
religious truth; and associating only
with the lowest, most vulgar, and
debased of society, seem entirely
lost to all moral feeling, and even to
all sense of decency and propriety.
On the contrary, Joseph had been
early trained in the knowledge Of
Divine truth; but the evil examples
OF his associates at the grinding
wheel had gradually drawn him into
habits of vice and dissipation. When
a man falls under the influence Of
strong drink he cannot stop at any
marked spot and say, "fhus far |
viii go no further;' his Is sure to be
adown-hill course, where each step
gives impetus TO the. next and that
to the next, until all power of resist
ance is lost.
So 1t was with poor Joseph. He
went on from bad to worse, until one
fatal passion seemed to absorb every
thought and feeling-an intense,
burning, craving after intoxicating
liquor. Intemperance always entails
poverty and wretchednees. Joseph's
dwelling soon presented an example.
Ills poor wife was half-famished and
nearly heart-broken; his children
We're totally neglected; one article of
furniture after another was sold for
drink, until little remained beyond
Two wretched pallets, table, and