Litchfield enquirer., 1878-06-13
Cure: Prevention.


 so ably enforced by Father Walsh in his Fri day evenings lecture, is vital one The method which prevailed throughout Christen- dom till the last half century was that of per- hitting indulgence in alcoholic liquors, en- deavoring to check intemperance by appeals to the individual drunkard, but attempting no change in the drinking habits of the communi- ty. Drunkenness proved, however, vice pe- culiarly difficult of cure. Many men were so constituted that they could not withstand it's insidous and deadly attacks. When their ap- petite was aroused it became practically un- controllable. A very large proportion of all classes of community were seriously inj ured by habits of indulgence. To these habits most of the wretchedness, the poverty and the crime which afflicted society were fairly attributa- ble.
 The cure of drunkenness proving practically impossible, society began at last to consider the necessity of it's prevention. Hitherto tenn perance in the use of alcoholic liquors had been held to be the limit of mans duty Now, the question arose whether any indulgence in these liquors by the community was not dangerous; whether the standard of duty should not be advanced from mere temperance to the higher ground of total abstinence. The attempt to enforce this new duty on society began about fifty years since. It was successful with the bulk of New England middleclass society; but the self-indulgent conservatism of our up- per classes, and the blunted moral perceptions of our lower classes refused to accept it. Hence when the rule of total abstinence was finally formulated into prohibitory law, it was found that there was class above the law, and class below the law; and that the moral influ- ence of the one, and the political influence of 1 other, combined to make prohibition failure. There the matter rested till after the fever of civil war and of reconstruction had subsided. Then the conviction that had lain latent in the minds of thoughtful men became again active, and another grand effort was made to bring our moral standards up to the mark of total absti | hence. It experiences the same forms Of op- position which met the former effort. Wealth, fashion, and high social position incline people to hostility. Likewise the lowest grades of society find it hard to give up almost 1 the only form of pleasurable excitement known to them. Our observation leads US to believe however that the present movement | .- A ~Il - -. of the work necessary to any reform movement of the kind was thoroughly and permanently done by our fathers. Good men of all shades | of boI;a op1 of oil 1oo social position, are mere inclined to give total abstinence a fair hearing now, than were the same denominations and social grades forty years ago. Fewer prominent men hold fast to habits of indulgence now than then. Further more the poorer people are taking hold of the present movement with an earnestness that is peculiarly gratifying. All that seems neces- sary is an intelligent perseverance to make suc- cess sure and complete.
 Unfortunately many who rejoice in the re- l form new going on fail to understand the true scope and meaning of total abstinence. It differs from mere temperance chiefly in this that whereas the latter scarcely makes any re- l quirement of most, the former offers everyone something to do. Temperance busies itself | only with the reform of the inebriate while to- l tai abstinence prevents the disease by provid- ing that no one shall be exposed to its infec- | tion. The sneers we often hear about banding l together women and children-the indisputa- 1 bly, temperate and the habtually abstinent-in | temperance societies, are occasioned by ignor- ance of the true design of those associations. They propose not merely the cure but the pre- vention of intemperance. They mean to re- form what drunkards they cana doubtful though not a hopeless work. They mean fur ther to cut off the supply of drunkards by making society at large total abstinent-a this is method that cannot fail if society can only be prevailed upon to give it fair trial.
 Hence it is important that women should take the pledge so that alcohol may be ban ished from the household, and from social gatherings. It is important that children should sign so that the seeds of appetite i'm planted in the breasts of many, may never sprout. Ii is important, also that temperate men, and those who but seldom indulge, should make the step forward to the tenabe ground of total abstinence. Their example may never have influenced the drunkard of to-day, but it surely helps to make the drunkard of to-mor- row. They give permanence and respectabili- ty to habits which must be abandoned if we are really to conquer the demon of intemper- ance. They refuse to give up slight indul- gence which profits them none, and pleasures them little, for the sake of that large pro- portion of their fellow-men on whom this in. dulgence brings destruction. We wonder when we hear of people protesting against vaccination. It seems but a slight sacrifice tc make for sef-protecton, and for the protec tion of society. How much more do we ask of the public, to step the worse infection of in temperance? Habits of total abstinence cos us little when we have no habits of indulgence to overcome. Once generally adopted, as a part of the duty of the good citizen, and tn, scourge of intemperance will be as effectively checked as was the scourge of pestilence by ] the discovery of Jenner.
 Rev. w. H. H. Murray has plan for the Church of the Future, that is attracting con- siderable attention. It is to start under the