Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1881-06-04
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Hell does not tenn with more
horrors, as far ~ amy definite infors
nation goes, than the brain OF "A
man suffering fr0as dcllrlun tre-
mems. There was a party In New
York City. the other day, who
jumped down chimney TO rescue
what he supposed 10 be maiden
dressed In white, who was crying
to him for help. It takes Il good
deal OF industrious drinking 10
bring man To- state where he will
jump down chimney, aud II Il
Fortunate for domestic peace around
the hearth-stOne that all men with
the fantastic Jennings of n drunken
brain do not precipitaie themselves
into smoke tunnels. The regular
drunkard who can take his level
tumbler of the fluid, does not con-
slider a man as mt all worthy of the
title of a drinker, until he has seen
strange forms in The air, and knows
what is to be near perishing for
square drink. 1t is something OF
joke among the strictly bibulous.
TO the man of healthy instincts it
would seem that one glimpse of the
terrOrs of hell, such as is afforded
to a whisky-sodden brain, when it
cOnjures up to its vision more
snakes than the magicians OF Egypt
created, would be enough.
1t would seem that nature had
set limits to intemperance, and that
one a visitation from the horrible
phantoms of the Seventh He'll
would throw Il man back into the
strictest decorum. But not so. He
isn't satisfied until he jumps down
a chimney or throws himself out of
three-story window. With this
ending of a prolonged spree immi-
nent, the subject of deIirium ire
mems is hardly to be jUked about.
Perhaps no one can conceive of the
terroFs of a drunkard so smitten.
Warren, in his "Leaves from the
Diary of a Physician, has written
probably the most graphic descrip-
ton of case of this peculiar evan
eScent but real insanity. He de-
scribes the end of wealthy sOt, as
he lies in his bed covered by a silk
Ell cOverlet, beneath him the down
of the elder, and about him the
folds of rich curtains, drawn up
there in abject terror day and night,
implOring his attendants 10 save
HIM from monstrOus dragon con-
cealed under the bed!
But the. drunkard will relate his
experiences with a high sense of
humor. 1t was only yesterday that
young man, who will yet be visit
ed, perhaps, by monsters more ter
rible than healthy Imagination can
picture, was. describing with keen
sense of the ridiculous his recent
touch of what he pleasantly and IA
miliarly termed the ''jim-jamS. 1t
was after q week of aSSiduouS pleas
ure-seeking that, on his way home,
he observed a turtle in the gutter.
He thought it strange. A little
further on he saw two or three be-
meath his feet, and stepped aside.
lie finally took a street car to get
out of their way, and when he
reached home turtles were pouring
out of an alley next the house by
the thousands; and followed him in
his wild flight up to his bedroom
windows of his room were kept clos
ed for a week. Another man will
see the walls open and gigantic citi-
zens from some planet, ten times as
big rs our globe, will advance ON
him with saws and red-hOt irons and
speerS as sharp as razOrs 1t would
be a horribly curious history, an
account of the various delusiOns
which have inhabited the brains of
men SO affected by drink. Photo
graphs of some of the bugs and rep
tiles seen by them would be curiOsi-
ties indeed. The microscope has
never revealed in the impurest
drops of water such forms as stay
awhile in the brain of the drunkard
'as foul as Vulcan's stithy,"
But we left our New York man
down a chimney, for which we beg
his pardon, although the fire de-
partment took four hours to get
him out. The quiet family which
first heard the Individual swearing
in choice Hiberian in the chimney
were, of course, alarmed. Nobody
could get at him. 1t was impossi-
BILE to tell whether he was lodged
at the second, third, or fourth floor.
Two or three holes were cut by the
Hook. and Ladder company, and
when he was rescued in the pres
ence of about three hundred people
he was ready for the hospital. He
will possibly look on the affair as IA
mere joke, and when able TO be out
again will resume the thread of his
bibulous career where he left off.
The drunken fool, who prides
himself on his occasional attack of
delirium tremens, is not reclaima-
bic as long as he has a drop of whis-
ky in his blood. The temperance
reformers are at the silliest of pur-
suits in preaching to people in bar
rooms and to men with more or
less than a pint of whisky inside of
them. A man must be perfectly
sober before temperance lecture
will do him the least good.