The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-12-15
STOP BEFORE YOU BEGIN.
A Plain talk with Young Men.

excellent situation by q two-days' |
"spree, came into my study lately and I
said to me: doctor, can not under !
stand how it is that should have made |
such fool of myself and thrown away
my chance for a living. This is almost
killing my little wife, | replied to
him: ~'' There is no mystery about your
case. You have been tampering with
drink a long while, trying to Jump half
way down Niagara. You ought to have
stopped before you began. It would
not have cost you one -hundredth part as
much effort to have signed total alb
stinence pledge several years ago rs it
will now to break loose from this terri
BILE habit" | cntreated my friend to
grapple his weakness to Gods strength;
he signed pledge of entire abstinence,
and went away with the desperate look
of a man who is pulling for life in the
rapids. in full sight of the cataract
That young man is'a fair representa-
tive of sadly numerous class who
clock the stable door after the horse is
stolen" He may possibly be saved,
but SO as by fire My plain talk to-day
is with those who have not vet flung
themselves into the rapids | wish to
give half dozen common-senser reasons
for letting every intoxicating drink
(whatever its name) entirely alone. He
who never touches drop will assured
ly never become drunkard. Proven
ton is easy, is safe, is sure; reforma-
ton is difficult, and with some persons
is well-nigh impossible. The Jews were
commanded to build battlements around
the flat roofs of their dwellings in order
to prevent the children from falling
over into the street. To put up the
parapet cost but little; but the want of
it might cost broken bones; and alas!
what human power could recall dead
darling to life? am always thankful
that | took Il pledge of entire abstinence
in early boyhood. But for that battle
ment might have been ruined by the
drinking-usages which were deplorably
prevalent in my college. tStick to the
teetotal' said shrewd old kinsman to
me when l started for college; and now
after forty years | wish to commend the
bridge that carried me safely over.
o. The first argument, my young
friend. for total abstinence is that
no healthy person needs an alcoholic
beverage; and even invalids had
better be careful how they
tamper with it as q medicine. Sir Hen
~ Thompson and several other distin-
guished British physicians have DELHI
erately declared that ''alcoholic bever-
ages cSn not, in any sense, be considered
necessary for the maintenance of healthy
life; that it is not food in any true
sense of that term, and that the steadi-
est and best work is best done without
it." Livingstone, the heroic explorer of
Central Africa, was both a physician
and a teetotaler. His testimony was:
Il find that can stand every hardship
best by using water, and water only.n
| entreat you not to fall into the delu-
sion that you can do any honest work
the better by firing up your nerves with
alcohol. If you 90 YOU will have to in
crease the fuel constantly in order to
produce the effect. Solid food and sound
sleep are all you require. Even as
tonic medicine wine and Bourbon NAV
cover up a great deal; they cure hit
rery Hthe. Several friends have known
to be decoyed by them into drunkenness
and disgrace.
(2.) Therein lies a second reason for
avoiding all intoxicants. They are de-
ceitlul. Notlonly the sting of the SER
pent. but the subtlety'of the serpent is
in them. The deception lies in the fact
that the habit of drinking will become
confirmed before you suspect it, That
young man who came into my study, so
tortured with the adder's bite, never
dreamed at the outset that he was play
ing with rattlesnake Every alcoholic
drink has in it this quality, that it never
satisfies, but awakens a constant desire
for more. A small glass creates q
thirst for larger; one draught only
whets the appetite for a second. This
is not the case with any wholesome food
or beverage. Bread and beef do not
breed excess; oneeylass of milk does not
arouse morbid thirst for two the next
time. But this horse-leech quality in
alcoholic liquors, which cries give,
give and is never satisfied, is the very
thing that makes them SO dangerous.
This it is which makes ii SO difficult to
drink wine or brandy, moderately and
SO easy to fall. into drunkenness A
heahhtul beverage satisfies Appetite a
hurtiul one, like vine or brandy, slim
ulates appetite untilit becomes an un-
controllable. frenzy. This | regard as
the Creators law against alcohol; and
when you take your first social glass
you begin to play with deadly SER
pent.
iou may say: Every one who
drinks liquors does not become sot"
very true' but every sot drinks liquors;
ana NOT one in a million ever expected
70 become a sot when he began with his
champagne or his sherry. cobbler."
VIII you run the risk? / would not.
Ahe TWO reasons Why | am teetotaler
IRE that care Rot trust myself, and |
9 GA not tempt others by my example.
Inc most deplorable wrecks are those
t aen or women who at the
outse' considered themselves per-
,ectiy strong and invulnerable.
N0tlInG