Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1880-02-19
TEMPERANCE COLUMN.
Or. Holland on Temperance Ednca-
tiOms


tiOms
The recent vote of the Board of Edu-
cation in New York City by which Dr..
Richardson's Temperance Lesson
Book" was adopted as a textbook,
which the city teachers are at liberty
to use, calls forth an excellent article
on Temperance Education" in Serb
uer's for February. Among other good
things the writer says:
"It lis cruel thing to send boy out
into the world untaught that alcohol in
any form is fire and viii certainly burn
him if he puts it into his stomach. 1t
is a cruel thing to educate boy in such
a way that he has no adequate idea Of
the dangers that beset his path. 1t is
a mean thing to send boy out to take
his place in society, without under
standing the relations of temperance to
his own safety and prosperity, and to
the safety and prosperity of society.
Of course, the great barrier between
the youth and correct knowledge-the
great mystifer and misleader-is re-
spectacle society. This is practically
saying to the young, pretty universally,
that wine is good thing. Fine din
ners are never given without it, and
good men and women drink it daily.
They do not get drunk, they may be
conscientious and religious, and many
of them not only do not regard wine
drinking as harmful, but as positively
beneficial. The boy and the young
man see all this, and think, naturally,
that those who have experience ia drink
should know better about its results
than those who let drink alone.
Snow, what we want to do in our
schools is to do away with the force of
a pernicious example, and lOng-cher-
ished error, by making the children
thoroughly intelligent on this subject of
alcohol. They should be taught the
natural effect of alcohol upon the pro-
cesses of animal life. t1ss.l They
should be taught that it can add moth
ing whatever to the vital forces or to the
vital tissues-that it never enters into
the elementso of structure, and that, in
the healthy organism, it is always a
burden or a disturbing force. (2nd.)
They should be taught that it invari-
ably disturbs the operation Of the brain,
and that the mind can getnothing from
alcohol of help that is to be relied upon.
3D. They should be taught that alco-
hol inflames the baser passions, blunts
the sensibilities, and debases the feel
ings. (4th.) They should be taught
that an appetite for drink is certainly
developed by those who use it, which
is dangerous to life, destructive of
health of body and peace of mind, and
in millions of instances rufhOus to for
tune and to all the high interests of
soul. (5th.), They should be taught
that the crime and paupeEism of sOci-
ETY. flow as naturally FROM alcohol as
any effect whatever naturally flows
from its competent cause. t6th.) They
should be taught that drink is the
responsible cause Of most of the prov
erty and want of the world. So long
as six hundred million dollars are an
nually spent for drink in this country,
every ounce Of which was made by the
destruction of bread, and not one ounce
of which has ever entered into the sum
of national wealth, having nothing to
show for its,cost but diseased stOmachs,
degraded homes, destroyed industry,
increased paupeFism, and aggravated
crime. these boys should understand
Jhe facts and be able to act upon them
In their first responsible conduct.
thereafter no textbook on either
or political economy should
be adopted in any school in the country
that does not competently treat Of the
alcohol question"
We must wonder little that suCha
utterances as these have not come be-,-
fore, but they have come at last. Lets
us thank God and take courage.
o. II Uto.+o, +bo oIoouanA