The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-11-17
CORRESPONDS ENCE.
Letter from Philadelphia.
PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 18th, 1850.

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 18th, 1880.
Messrs Editors Conferences are the
order, was almost tempted to say the
afliction of the day. We have had the
Pan-Presbyterian, and the Episcopal, and
now we have the
Temp rance Conference
which began yesterday in the Chambers
Presbyterian church of which Rev. J. NJ.
P. Otis is the able and popular pastor.
The papers have been admirable, and we
have the greatest sympathy with any
wise effort which is put forth for the re-
formation ofinebriates, but we have some
times thought that the drunkard is more
sinned against than SHINING The field
of intemperance is broad one covering
the whole aspect of life. 1t is not simply
against the one species of indulgence that
we are to make war, but against every
form of indulgence. The drunkards is
not the only intemperance we have to
fear. 1t is true his indulgence is a fear
full one-"a a chasm of war "a dark abyss
of wretchedness. He is worthy, not only
of our deepest commiseration, but of our
most strenuous effort. Charity should
flow like river for him. Pity sh uld
become a fountain of tears and the
Church especially should petition and
stretch out hands Of entreaty, and labor
for this prodigal. She should loathe and
frown upon the whole system of drunk
ard making as upon the very spawn of
Satan breeding nothing but wretched-
ness and woe.
But we need to recollect that the name
Intemperance is Legion.
That Of drink is but one form of this
giant evil. There are other species of in
temperate indulgence, such as that of ap-
petite that carries more victims from the
earth than drunkenness, and spreads a
wider devastation. We have thirty nine
lashes for the poor drunkard but not one
for ourselves. We have thousand and
one good-for-nothing practices while he
has just one of which we complain.
have often thought if I was drunkard
would speak to the good people who lee
ture so much about his devil and so little
about their own. l would tell them
about their stimulants milder in charac-
ter-yet stimulants-of their peppers and
condiments of their sodas and potaphyl-
len, Of their greases and indigestible fix
ings, Of their hot rolls and heavy rolls, of
their tables that groan and stomachs that
groan more, Of the animals not only that
they eat but that they make of them
selves, of the gouts and rheumatisms, fe-
vers and scrofulas, tumors and cancers,
dyspepsias and arrangement, and thou
sand and one miserable diseases they pro-
duce by their miserable intemperance.
If they should tell me of my wretched
physical condition, I would read them a
lecture on the long list of ailments that
infect their own bodies as an offset
should have wide field to lay open be-
fore them, wide as the whole passional
and mental nature; so that if they had
any sensitiveness they would blush to
think that they had stigmatized the
drunkard so much and themselves so lit
tie. This, however, would not excuse my
1ntemperance. 1t would only be another
proof that misery loves company. It is
evident, however, that it is a much more
comprehensive and deeply rooted evil
than we for the most part suppose.
There is no doubt that
Drunkenness is the Special Vice of the
Anglo-Sazon Race.
What do the old Chroniclers tells us we're
the distinctive marks of the primitive
Anglo-Saxon? They say that he was a
carnivorous, war-like, drinking savage.
Huge, white bodies, cool-blooded, with
fierce blue eyes, reddish haxen hair. raw
enous stomachs filed with meat and
cheese, heated by strong drinks, prone to
drunkenness" These were the features
which the Roman historians discovered
IN the progenitors Of our race. Up to
the 10th century, says an old historian,
drunkenness was the recreation of ali