Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1875-09-13
WHERE DRUNKENNESS TELLS.

would dash it to the floor and fee from
the temptation with horror. 1t is this
silent but steady weakening of the will
that constitutes the first stage of the
habit. for which the devotee pays in the
end with an agitation, a fearful strug-
gle, and the deepest remorse. He likes
the effect of stimulus on his brain, and
finally stimulus is the condition of the
brains activity. The real temptation
lies in the love of this exalted feeling
which is temporarily produced, more
than In any particular desire to crafty
the appetite but before great while
it becomes necessary to stimulate in or
der to prepare for the exaltation and
make it at all possible. Then it is that
liquor has the man tightly in its fiery
grip, and it is struggle with demon
to become free again. ..
AT this stage and afterward the pas
sion for drink becomes a disease, and
those who follow it are just like so many
hospital patients, taking their potions
with regularity. The question then
comes up, whether persons thus in the
control of artificial stimulants are to be
treated as criminals or as fit subjects for
hospital treatment. The enlightened in
telligence and the larger and tenderer
sympathies of the time discard the for
mer plan, and declare positively for the
latter. 1t is, at any rate, clearly dem
onstrated that the former has failed, and
nothing is left but to try the latter. So
far as the fruits of this experiment are
known, there has been great gain in
the number of reclaimed persons, in COM
parison with those saved by the crimi-
nal method of treatment; enough GER
tainly to encourage further experiment
ing.
But We began with saying that no
man In his right senses would ever drink
the first glass if he could see before him
in its distinct colors the picture which
too often closes the record. That pict-
ure is one of ruined home misery and
wretchedness untold poverty and want
in place of the thrift and abundance
which temperance and industry secure
pallid and wan faces of once loved ones
where in earlier days it was all smiles
and happiness and hope every light
extinguished, every prospect vanished
a less of self-respect at first, culmina.
ting in the loss Of friends and every
thing at last. If the drunkard coulC
but have seen and studied such a pict-
ure when he began his indulgence, cOulC
have foreseen, not only his own degra
dation but the woes he was to call dowI
on other innocent heads, there is no pow
er on earth that could have brought hin
to tamper with what at length took ev
erythlng from him and fling him il
scorn away.
1t is the household that suffers mos
from rum. The immediate victim run
his allotted course, and disappears bu
the wife and children. to say nothing 0
! relatives and friends, are scandalized
disappointed, and disgraced. Alas, N
pen or tongue can begin to sum up tn,
miseries which this habit has visitec
upon human homes. 1t would be vel
to keep the picture of that misery con
+ tinually before the mind. Men need t
be reminded that when they find refec
ton giving way under the assaults Q
this foe of all happiness, it is time 70
them to take warning and fee at ono
from their doom. If preaching is to b
done, let it be done first for the wrecks
and utterly ruined households that ar
to be found all over the land. The cor
temptation of this picture would do NOR
to reform and reclaim the drunkard tina
medical treatment or any form of pur
ishment.
Spiritualism treats this subject froI
an entirely new side, on which it is poi
sible to get clearer view of it than eve
: before. 1t teaches the most importaI
fact, more and higher than any merel
scientific fact, that prenatal tendenci'
are more powerful than acquired app
e tites, and hence that the victim Of drin
s is to be treated from spiritual stan'
S point rather than the physical view a
: together, and much more than from ii
a criminal. Until the whole case is stu,
o led, on all its sides, it is impossible
!, administer to it appropriate treatmen
A The appetite for stimulants is an inhe
e tied appetite, and in the patient it
e usually to be so dealt with. Bars al
e prison-cells will not drive it out fro
3 the nature; for it is part Of that n
t, ture itself This is what neither judg
IF nor philanthrOpists have ever serious
: considered. yet they will have to do
1t before they can make very much hea
5. way with the drunkard.
ne There are times, of course, when {
8. violence that is bred Of intoxicati
VI calls for summary restraint. But it
sc another thing when it comes to the qu'
ie ton of Furnishing the individual wh'
Ie passions drink has infamed to the pit
az where reason is dethroned. II any 9