The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-05-13
THE DAILY STAR
BROOKLYN LETTER.

caify in Ihc Sch0Ols-Au Imports
ant Gntnering at the Rouse Of
Rev. Dr. Theodore g.. tuyier-A
Paper Read by the EmInent 0csi-
list, DIR. Agnew : Philharmonic
Society and Mr.. Thee. l.. Thonas-
Brooklyn Gone wild over Two
shows.
Special Correspondence of the Star
BROOKLYN, N. Y, May 10, 1880.
About the most hackneyed subject on
earth is temperance, and the mere men-
tipn of it is apt to repel many good and
we'll meaning persons in whose minds 1t
iaassociated with q certain class Of long
haired and spawned extremists, and with
protracted fanatical addresses delivered
at most inopportune times. Personally
! Lam thoroughly and heartily in sympa-
thy with the temperance movement,
and 1 recognize the good that the great
body of temperance workers have collsc-
lively done; but ! fear that many per-
sons have traded in it just as many have
traded in religion, either for the purpose
of airing their own opinions and self
righteousness, or for the purpose of CIV
ing Vent to their spleen in wholesale de-
nuneiatiou OF those whose habits of liv-
ing are not in accord with their indivld-
ual notions and practices.
1t is this latter class of reformers who
have invested the temperance ques-
ton with terrors for people who aim TO
do their own thinking, and sometimes
prefer not to be driven into doing even
thai which their consciences affirm to be
right.
There is no one, however, who regards
drunkenness as a desirable condition; no
one, indeed, who does not regard. it as
evil and perilous. But between sobriety
and drunkenness there seems such long
distance that the respectable citizen, re-
lying upon his ability to curb his appe-
tite at the proper point is apt to consid-
er thai he is exempt from the. restraints
of temperance, especially as he realizes
that within the "giddy verge" there
are delights which, while they last, even
though followed by reactions, are of the
most exhilarating character. So it has
been that while denunciation has re-
pelled all classes in the community, EN-,
piricism, almost the only other formida-
BILE weapon the temperance worker has
been able to WELD, has failed o. eetfaotY
upon many, and the wonder is that
without other means the reform has
spread as it has.
But at last temperance has obtained
science as an ally, and the movement in
behalf is taking form that must sooner
or later be felt in every part of the coun-
thy.
Science declares that alcohol as a hey-
erage is deleterious; that it is in no sense
f0od and with these declarations as au-
thority, temperance workers are renew
ing their warfare on intemperance with
fresh ZEAL The method adopted to dis
seminate the new doctrine is to place
scientific text book on temperance in the
hands of every school boy and sehooi,
girl in the country, 50 Tar as boards Of
education, boards OF trustees and school
principals can be prevailed upon to fall
in with the idea. 1t is being triel in
Great Britain, and last Thursday eve
1issg the nreHninaryy stesr sttsr in the same
direction in this country was taken at an
influential meeting held at the residence
of Rev. DIR. Theodore L. Cuyler, and at
tended among Others by Rev. Henry
Ward Beecher, Hon. A. A. Low, Mr.. A. s.
Barnes, the prominent New York pub
Usher; Mr.. Carter, Of the publishing
house Of Carter Brothers, and a number
Of prominent physicians, among them
DR.. Joseph G. Hatchison and DR.. ]. G.
johnson, Judge G.. G. Reynolds was
expected to be present, but was absent
III Cincinnati as delegate to the Quad
rennial Conference of the M. E. Church.
The subject was introduced by the
famous American oculist, DR.. Cornelius
r. Agnew, who read a synopsis prepared
by him of the textbook, "The Tenn
perance Lesson Book-A Series of Short
Eessons on Alcohol and its Action OH the
Body, Designed for Reading in Schools
and Families by Benjamin Ward Rich
ardson, MA, MD, LID, FRS"
This work has been printed from the
English edition by the National Tenn
perance Society and Publication House
Of New York City. Let me give you a
short extract from DR.. Agnew's intro
duction: Benjamin Ward Richardson,
MD; LID, Fellow of the Royal Col
lege of Physicians of England, author of
the Cantor Lectures on Alcohol of a
volume on the Diseases of Modern Life,
and more recently OF the Temperance
Lesson Book has done more, perhaps,
than any other man in Great Britain to
diffuse correct ideas regarding the use
and abuse Of alcoholic stimulants. lie
has helped to Lift one of the most inn
portant subjects in the entire range of
educational themes above the level of
sensationalism, aud to give it scientific
precision which has quenched the crit
icisms Of many opponents. and filled the
ranks of the temperance advocates with
recruits from all ranks of life, and