The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1878-07-27
Rarity Of Drunkenness in Wine-drinking
Oountries-The Sabbath.

There are two articles on the first page
Of this issue to which we invite special at
tention. One is an article on the rarity
ofdrunkcnness in wine-drinking countries,
BY Rev. DR.. Prime, which would, logical
IL. seem to inculcate the drinking of wine.
But we feel sure that that was not the
writer's purpose. We gather from it that
It is better to drink wine as beverage than
whiskey or other strong drinks. But, why
drink at all Why spend your money for
that which is not meat? The same ques-
ton win apply with equal force to smokers
and chewers Of tobacco. Drinking is an
idle habit, not at al necessary for ones
comfort or health. Custom has so fast
ened itself upon some men that they must
be swigging. II is not natural, but ac-
quired, just as the habit of chewing and
smoking is. No child but makes a wry
face the first time il tastes either alcoholic
stimulus, or tobacco. This shows that the
use Of it does violence to nature. It is
distasteful or repugnant to the child. But,
by perseverance, that natural repugnance
is overcome and an artificial appetite for
stimulating beverages and for the narcotic
weed IS formed In some parts Of the
continent Of Europe good drinking-water
Is not to be had, notably in Holland and
some parts Of Germany. In such places
the drinking Of beer or light wines is, in
some degree, need, but even there drink
ing is carried to excess. There is no ne
cessity for this excess; men only drink be-
cause they have formed the habit of drink
ing, or contracted liking for stimulating
beverages. Here, except in a few popu-
lous cities, and In the delta of the Missis-
sippi and other like places, good pure water
abounds everywhere, and men need neither
beer nor light wines as beverage. True,
these beverages will not madden and de-
stroy their devotees like whisky and other
strong drinks; but they win intexicate, if
enough be taken, and If it were not for
their exhilarating properties they would
not be used to anything like the extent to
which they now are. There can be no
question, we think, that the use of light
wines and beer is preferable to the use Of
whisky But there is no necessity for
the use Of either. 1t were better to let
them alone, as beverage, altogether.
The other article is on the sanctity of
the Sabbath. Our fellow citizens of for
eign birth, particularly the Germans and
the French, would do away with the sacred
character and the religious observance of
the day and turn it into a day of amuse-
ment and hilarity, devoted less, if at all, to
the solemn services Of the sanctuary than
to the beer-garden, the pipe, the dulcet
sounds of music and the pleasures of the
voluptuary; as fit were all oflife, the sum-
mum Jonum Of human existence, to smoke
the pipe, empty the beer tankard, and
listen 10 the strains Of some orchestra. Of
such it may with too much truth be said
-"God is not 10 all their thoughts, or,
if lie be in their thoughts at all, it is not
in the sense of reverence. These are sub
jeets for the sober reflection Of thoughtful
minds. subjects fraught with good or i'll to
the whole body polite, as they may ultimate
y be determined for or against the sanctity
of the Sabbath. Let not the divine in
junction be forgetten-"R Remember the
Sabbath day to keep it holy" Mans
highest pleasure depends upon obedience
to the divine law.