Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-06-02

OF lame
Mr.. Hendee-I move the previous ques
tion on the adoption of the resolution
The previous question was seconded ant
the main question ordered; and under thu
operation thereof the concurr ent resolution
was unanimously adopted.
TEMPERANCE COLUMN.
| lCoNrRIBurED BY THE wosES's TEMPERANCE USIoN
THEN AND NOW.
Personal experience is often costly
thing. and is apt to come too late. A glance
back into the history of the past will often
help us more than we anticipated in un-
derstanding the problems of the present
hour. The common experience of our race
IS dear-bought treasure which We cannot
too highly value
Probably no beverage ever invented by
man Is able to impart half the pure enjoy
ment that cup of cold water can give to
one who is really thirsty. Who that re-
members his childhood cannot recall the
moment of supreme enjoyment when his
lips met the cool stream, how he returned
to it again and again with such sense of
satisfaction and delight as no other draught
has ever been able to afford? For all this,
men have seldom been satisfied with water
as their sole beverage. Manifold forms of
drink, some of them harmless. some more
or less Injurious, ,-sowe, alas : of most IA
tally poisonous qualities, have been in use
by the various races of men from time i'm
memorial.
Some of the earliest records OF human
history are contained in the Bible. Beyer-
ages Of several kinds are alluded to in its
pages, as If in common use among the peO-
pie Of the various countries there mention
ed. On inquiry We learn that some of these
drinks were intoxicating. while some Of
them were not 50. ald We find very good
reason to believe that the more harmless
drinks were in common use, and were the
most highly esteemed. One Of these was
made by boiling the juice of the grape till
it was as thick as honey. Ii was then seal
ed up in leathern bottles, and put aside for
future use. When used it was diluted with
many parts of water The wines of Area
dia, 50 says Aristotle, were SO thick that
they had to be scraped from the bottles. and
were then diluted with twenty Parts of
water. This beverage was in use, not only
in Palestine, but in Greece ard Italy. An
other favorite drink was the fresh juice OF
the grape newly pressed from the cluster,
and for this purpose great pains were taken
" PACStlNC luC utCdy III CDOl
storehOuses. where they could be kept, by
some art unknown to Us. for a long time.
This last was kingly beverage in Egypt
in the time of Joseph, as We learn from
the story of Pharoah's chief butler and
baker. These unintoxicating drinks were
called wines as well a. those which were
fermented.
The people Of southern lands crave cool
ing and refreshing drinks. rather than
those which are hot ana exciting, and so
we find that those rich syrups, a VIC should
call them, made Of the juice of fruit, were
in great request, as they seem to be even in
the present day, especially among the Mo-
hamnedans, whose religion strictly forbids
the use of intoxicating liquors. But
drunkenness existed, notwithstanding. Fer
mented drinks were known IN the earliest
times, and to how great an extent they
were in use we cannot tell. The Bible con-
tains an abundance Of warnings against
them. We are told plainly enough that
wine and new wine" take away the
heart, that at the last it biteth like a ser
pent and stingeth like an adder, and some
of the curses pronounced upon desperately
wicked men borrow their most terrible
imagery from the effects of the intoxicating
cup. The New Testament contains the
fearful warning that no druukard shall in
herit the kingdom OF God.
But when we hear strong drink spoken
OF IN the Bible, We know that very differ
ent thing is mean. from the strong liquors
OF the present day. The process by which
these are made had not then been discover
ed. The strongest wines that can be OBJ
tainei by mere fermentation - has at the
most some eleven per cent OF absolute alcO-
hOl." " This is as high proportion OF a.
cohol as can be produced by the Latural
fermentation of the grape juice. and, there
fore, it becomes the standard of the hig hest
strength of natural wines All alcohol
contained in wines beyond this proportion
must have been produced by distillation as
spirit, and have then been added to the
wine in that state" Even till very recent
times the popular beverages were such as
would now be generally esteemed weak and
poor. by men IN the habit OF usiag wine
at all. The chemist Newman. who * Is
teemed careful and competent analyst,
made out a list of the wines IN use during
the last century, in which the strength of
many of them Is given. The Burgundy.
for example, contained only ) per cent. OF
alcohol. and was weaker than the stronger
beers Of the present day. Sherry contain
cd not more than y per cent. of alcohol,
and the strongest wine quoted had only
more alcohol than the sherry. The latter,
under the name of sack. was Falststf's ia
vorIte drink, and he was displeased at find
ing lime in It. This was said to occasion
the gout, but worse things than lime are
put in nowadays.
Adulteration in the sense in which We
now know it was impossible in ancient
times, for the worst substances used for this
purpose were then unknown, while the idea
uf using them, to make money, IN this way,
out of the vital forces of deceived aud
cheated men, seems to have waited the
nineteenth century for its development. We
have something to be proud OF IN this our
centennial year, but some things, too, to
make Us bow our heads in bitter shame
Many were the evils which sprsng from the
misuse of fermented liquors, previous to
the century which Is now closing. but they
were as nothing compared with what has
resulted from the introduction CT ardent
spirits into common use which took place
in the latter part of the las. century, a
change for which. it Is to be feared, our
own country must bear a heavy share OF the
responsibility. Ii is the state Of things
which has thus been brought about that
has pressed the necessity of reform upon
the minds Of thong htiul persons who love
! their country and their race who, while
they behold the present misery OF millions
Of our fellOw-belngs. oceasloned by this
deadly curse. seem to see all the iairest
hopes ot the future obscured and over
whelmed by the dark fold, of its doom. 1t
is this state of things. new in the world :
history, that has rendered the use of even
the mildest intoxicants no longer sale, sup
posing that il ever was, for vast number
of men who inherit. or have acquired as
the effect of these inhIming drinks, a taste
which can easily become an uncomfortable
appetite, and which, when sleeping. needs
only the slightest suggestion to rouse it into
full and resistless strength. Ii is this which
renders it impossible. or next to impossible,
| to know what one is drinking, and so
makes all that can be said of the harmless
nature of pure wines inapplicable to the
state Of the case. especially in our own
country. 1t is this that makes it question
able whether. even if such wines were with
in the reach of few, and those few were
sure Of using them with safety, they ought
not to abstain from their use. knowing how
great is the force of example. and that its
effect will be, in this case, to encourage in
others the use OF what is Inquestionably
pernicious Every hope of uplifting the
moral sense of ignorant men, till they are
fit to take possession of the high inheri-
tance God has prepared for all; every en-
prise in behalf of the poor, the wretched,
the inheritors Of the evil of past genera
| tions, finds itself face to face with this ter
rible barrier to improvement. Can any one
who processes to love God and their neigh
Dor hold back their hands from fighting
for the defeat and overthrow of this enc
my of the race, with all the energy with
which men defend themselves and others
from the destruction of property. liberty
and life?
1t is thus that truly benevolent persons
must now look upon the question. and II
is thus that they will look upon it more
and more, as the iacts become more and
more evident. For the Christian heart
wherever it beats, is merciful and SELF
forgetting. IL is friendly TO the light, snc
when that light is found, there is a readi
ness to act by It, The cause of human