The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1875-08-04
RICHMOND,

minds. He opened with the follow
ing sentence: ut was once said there
are as many minds as men, and there
is no end of wrangling." He then
relates his conversation with the
divinity doctor. He first crushes him
to the earth by the statement that the
first miracle of Christ was that of
turning water into wine, and that
Noah after the food planted a vine
before any other act performed after
the landing. He then goes on in the
following manner to further demolish
his clerical antagonist: "Do you re-
member any great poet that ever illus
trated the higher fields of humanity
that did not dignity
THE USE OF WINE
from old Homer down? He did not,
asked, Did you ever know any
great PHILOSOPHER that did not take it
for the exhaltation of his intelligence :?
Do you think, doctor, that a man who
lived upon pork, beef and corn bread
could get up into the superior regions
into the ETHEREAL? No, he must
Take nectar on high Olympus,
And mighty mead in Valhalla.'
I said then again, Doctor, you arc
a scholarly man, of course, a doctor
of divinity, a graduate of Yale; do you
remember Plato's Symposium z
Yes, he remembered that. l referred
him to the occasion where Agatho,
having won the prize of tragedy at the
Olympic games at Corinth. ON coming
back to Athens was feted by the no.
bility and aristocracy of that city, for
it was a proud triumph to Athens to
win the prize of tragedy. They got
together at the house of Ph@drus,
and they said, Now we have been ev-
cry night for these last six nights
drunk; let us be sober tonight, and
we will start theme;;" which they
passed around the table as the sun
goes around, or as they drank their
wine, or as men tell story. They
started theme and the theme was
love. not love in the vulgar sense, but
in its high scnse-loye of all that is
beautiful. After they had gone
nounced his judgment about the true
with drunken body of Athenian
boys with garlands around their heads
to crown Agatho and to crown old
Socrates, and they said to those as
sembled, This will not do; We have
been drinking, and you have not; and
after Alcibiades had made his talk in
pursuance of the argument in which
he undertook to dignity Socrates, as l
remember it, they required (after the
party had agreed to drink, it being
quite late in the evening, and they
had finished their business in the way
of discussion) that Socrates should
drink two measures for every other
mans one, because he was better able
to stand it. And SO, one after an
other, they were laid down upon the
lounges in the Athenian style, all ex-
cept an old physician, named Aristo-
demus, and Plato makes him the
hardest head, except Socrates. He
and Socrates stuck at it until
THE GRAY OF THE MORNING.
and then Socrates took his bath. and
went down to the groves and talked
academic knowledge After citing
this incident, l said to this divine,
DO you remember that Lord Bacon
said that man should get drunk at
least once a month, and that Mon
tague, the Fench philosopher, in
dorsed the proposition These ex-
atlantis, that bring US above the
common measure of the brute, wine
and oil, elevate US, enable us to seize
great facts, inspirations which once
possessed are ours forever; and those
who never go beyond the mere beast
in the high planes of lille and can not
achieve them. l believe in women,
wine, whisky and war" This speech
of McDougall's is classic among the
old habitues Of the Capitol. There
are not many of them, but can repeat
il word for word as McDougall deliv-
cred it. This speech did not save
1.-The Hole in the Wall" Henry
Wilson's resolution was carried, there
being only two dissenting votes, that
of McDougall's and Davis's, of Ken
lucky. Since that time there has
been steady decrease OF these openly
disgraceful scenes in Congress. Mem
bers, when they wish to get drunk, do
so in private, and when they keep
mistresses they do net openly visit
them. Liquor is still sold in the
Capitol Building, but not openly to
strangers. Congressman visiting the
restaurant in the basement of the
Capitol Building have no trouble in
getting what they want. It is gener-
ally served in a cup and saucer, as if
the member had called for a cup of
coffee. However, there is now large
and growing class Of men in Congress
who do not need liquor as stimulant,
and who believe that there are other
amusements better than getting drunk
in company with lewd and dissolute
companions. There has been an i'm
provement in the political society of
the Capital, but it is perhaps needless
to state that there is still yet the
greatest need of further conversion to
steadfast belief in the practical
benefits of morality and decency.