Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1874-03-04
The Decisions OF Drink.


clared that he who is deceived by win,
the mocker, and strobg drink, the raging
is not wise. The decisions of dIiak al
as old as drink itself, and are as prevaler
now as 10 Solomon's time. There are me
who honestly believe that alcoholic driD
is good for them; yet there is not one c
them who would touch il except as pre-
scribed medicine il it were not for it
pleasant taste. Dc delusion touching it
healthfulness grows out Of the desire {,
jus ify an appetite which may either b.
natural or acquired. Ifa man likes whis
ky or wine, he likes to think that it i
good for him, and he will thkc some pain.
TO prove that il is so, both to himself ant
others.
Now, alcohol is pure stinulont. There
is not so much nutriment in it as there is
in chip. 1t never added anything to the
permanent forces of life, AID never can add
anything. Its momentary intensi6cation
Of force is permanent abstraction of force
from the drinkers capital stock All ar
tiicial exc:tants bring exhaustion The
physicians know this, and the simplest
mans reason is quite capable of compre-
hending it. If any man supposes that
daily drink, even in small quantities, is
conductive 10 his health, he is jeluded.
lfhe possesses 20 sluggish temperament,
he may be able to carry his burden with
out much apparent harm, but burden it is,
AMI burden it will always be.
After man has continued Moderate
drinking long enough, then comesa change
"a demand for more drink. The old
quantity docs not suffice. The powers
which have been insensibly undermined,
clamor, under the pressure Of business, for
Increased stimulation. 1t is applied, and
the machine starts off grandIy; the man
feels strong, his form grows portly, and he
works under constant pressure Now he
Is in condition of great danger. but the
delusion is upon him thas he is in no dan.
ger at all. At last, however, drink be-
gins to take the place of food. His APP
petite grows feeble and ftfuI. He lives
on his drink, and, Of course, there is but
one end to this-viz death it may come
suddenly, though the collapse of all his
powers, or through paralysis. or it may
come slowly through atrophy and enact
alton. His friends see that he is killing
himself but he cannot see it at all. He (
walks ina delusion from his early manhood '
to his death. h
A few weeks ago one of our city ply. i
sicians publicly read paper on the drink. +
ing habits of women. 1t was thoughtful
paper, based on competent knowledge
of facts. 1t ought to have been of great
use to those women of the city who are h
exposed to the dangers it portrayed, and q
to those who have acquired the p
habits it condemned. Soon afterward v
here appeared in the columns of daily S:
paper protest from writer who ought e.
% be good deal more intelligent than he b
$, against the doctors conclusions. The "
health and physique of the beer. drinking g,
were placed owe. against n,
he health and physique of the water. 9,
thinking American woman, to the disad- T.,
'antage Of the latter. The man is deluded. b,
t is not year since Sir Henry Thomp.
on, one of the most eminent medical men
England,--a man VIGOROUSLY bvyoud -
he reach of any purely Christian cousid- ~
rations, declared against the becr-drink. ~
ns of England on strictly sanitary grounds. :"
)ur litteratcur declares that the English. -.
oman can outwalk her American sister =. =.
hat depends entirely upon the period of :,
fe when the task is undertaken. The - .
ipical Englishwoman who has stood By :.
he beer diet until she is more than forty '"
ears old, is too fat to walk anywhere
aSliy out of doors, or gracefully within. :,
Durlrg our late civil war this matter =
drinking for bealth's sake was thor. - >,
nghly tried. A stock of experience aud -
observation was acquired that ought to :.
ave lasted for century. Again and :,
gam, thousands and thousands Of times, r
as it proved that the man who drank =
othing was the better man. Hc endured ~
lorc, he fought better, he came out of the "
ar healthier than the man who drank.
'otbing is more easily demoEstrable than ~
'at the liquor used BY the two armies, '
mong officers aud men alike, was an un. "
'Itigated curse to them. 1t disturbed -
ne brains Initiated the councils of the Of
GERS, and dcbilitated and demoralized the W
len. Yet all the time the delusioD among VI
Ulcers and men was, that there we're both -
onfort and help in whiskey. &c
The dculsions of drink are numbcrless.
ut there is one of them which stands in /,
ne way of reform SO decidedly that 1t !,
alls for decided treatment. We alludc o