The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-12-01

North, the love or strong eXcltements.
There is no living in it without an abun-
dance of good food The summers are
hot and drain fearfully the physical vi
tality-the winters are cold and the east
wind penetrating. The senses become
blunted, and stimulants are clutched at
as swift way of bringing up the work
ing powers even with mems tasks, of
beguiling fatigue, of diminishing weak
ness, of enhancing animal pleasure. 1t
is climate which In our northern lati-
tudes arouses the passion for excitement.
Cultivated people find that excitement in
ideas-professional men in profession
business men in business-but thousands
finding no excitement by normal and in
tellectual methods, turn to abnormal ex-
elements. If then it is an outgrowth of
climate itself, that we should crave stim-
ulants in our land, it is plainly the duty
of philanthropists first
To Substitute for Powerful Stimulants
Weaker Ones
1t is for this reason we believe that the
man who introduces the cultivation of
the grape and the use of wine where men
previously used drastic and corroding
whiskeys and brandies, is benefactor,
and we hail with great satisfaction any
token of the initiation of the experiment.
Already California has made her name
famous, and New Jersey is entering the
arena of grape culture with success. But
Virginia, with her beautiful climate, her
long summers, mild winters, equable tenn
perature, is wonderfully adapted to bring
the grape to perfection, and to produce
hn i lNrrr Il L.
date position between the extreme north
ern cold and southern heat, makes her
population peculiarly adapted to use and
popularise wine for America, as France
has done for Europe This work of sub
stltutlon is going on in the northern cities,
and has been incorporated as practical
principle of temperance reform in the es-
tabllshment of numerous coffee houses,
which are doing more to decrease the
evil by supplying wholesome satisfaction
for the craving for excitement, than all
the radical measures ever proposed. Let
this work 60 on. Substitute for the
greater stimulants the less, and for the
less the least, and by and by the intoxi-
cants that consume men will be displaced
by the excitants that build them up.
Before this ls accomplished, however,
supplementary work must be done in
another direction We must not only
provide more wholesome satisfactions for
the human craving for excitation, but we
must
weaken by Every Means the Craving
Itself.
1t is clearly possible to sap the founda-
tions OF this destructive craving in va
riety of ways. If climate has such
powerful inhuence-disarm it by ade-
quate and warm apparel. Let men clothe
themselves warmly, and nurse thereby
the animal heat in winter. An exami-
nation OF our apparel will show that while
liner IN quality, as rule, it is not nearly
so heavy In weight as that of the English,
who have to endure much milder winter
than ours. The extreme heat Of our sum-
mers Detray us into contempt of the
winter, and 1T is an exception to see a
working man In our northern cities ade-
quately clothed against the blasts of win
ter; Men 80 shivering about their tasks,
md are tempted by the cold without to
ire up within.
Feed Men Generously,
and by so much you weaken the craving
Tor unnatural stimulus. am persuaded
that the woman who is herself a master
OF the art of preparing wholesome dishes
tor her husbands table, who prepares
food IN an attractive form so that his ap-
petite Is satisfied in normal way, sends
him forth to his labor doubly armed
against the temptations of drink. She
has anticipated dangerous appetite by
supplying full satisfaction for the natural
appetite. When think of the slattern
women in the world, of the widespread
ignorance Of cookery, of the wretched
messes to which thousands of working
men SIT down in the name of a meal. /
do not wonder that rising up untitled and
going forth, they take the glass as the
readllest means of supplementinp the
craving which has not been satisfied
This IS profound as we'll as com
prehenslye matter, and reaches far down
into the life of the home.
A Bright Home
IS itself a great preventive The woman
who IS neat housekeeper, and loves to
present cleanly and tidy house to her
returning husband, is doing much uncon-
sciouslly to keep her husband and her
sons home Of nights, 1t robs them of
discomfort and the bar-rooro of its ob;of