The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1883-12-20

fcctly strong and invulnerable.
Nothing from the pen of Dick
ems can surpa>s a heartrending letter
which | received from q cultured gen
tlcman (thcn in an alms-house) who de-
clarcd that he traced all the misery of
his life directly to the "first glass he
ever drank at the N House, in the
capitol of Ohio" With whatever
"odds" in your favor, will you run the
fearful hazard? Then stop before you
begin!
a third reason why alcoholic drinks
are dangerous is that it is the peculiar
property of alcohol to strike directly to
the train. Some drugs have an affinity
for the heart; others Tor the spine. The
glass of brandy aims for the brain, as q
hound makes for hare. In striking
the brain it Overturns the throne of the
reason and turns man into a maniac.
Like the shot in naval battle, which
hits between wind and water" the
alcoholic death-shot strikes where body
and mind meet, and sends both to the
bottom. No brain is proof against it.
The mightiest man intellectually
whom | ever saw in America | once saw
pijiably drunk! Alcohol is no respectcr
of persons: the giant and the idiot are
struck down alike by its stiletto. You
might as we'll put the pistol TO your
brain and make swift, sure work with
il as TO poison your brain by the slower
and equally deadly process of the bottle.
Nine whine hundredths of all the sui
cides in the land began with thought
les glass. stop, my friend, before you
begin!
All intoxicating drinks are more dan
gerous in this country than in almost
any other from the nervous tempera-
mcnt of our people. Our climate is
stimulating, and American life, in al
most every direction, runs at n high
rate of speed. Youth is commonly
stronger al the engine than it is at the
brakes. This is pre-eminentlv true of
our young men. One unanswe.able
proof OF the difficulty of stopping the
drink habit is found in the fact that SO
very few are actually reformed. Not
One-tenth of those who enslave them
selves to the bottle ever break loose,
even though they cry out in their sober
moments: Would to God that might
never taste another drop" There was
a touching pathos in the speech of one
of our boys in blue to the Police
Magistrate after he was arrested for
drunkenness. He held up whisky
flask and said; Your Honor, the only
enemy that ever conquered me is hatr'
Yet he admitted that enemy himself
and could not dislodge it.
| might multiply arguments in favor
of total abstinence as the only certain
safeguard. The grace of God is pow
erless if you voluntarily yield to temp
tation. 1t is defiance to the Almighty
for you to leap into the rapids and eX-
pect HIM to save YOU from the cataract.
No small part of my own life has been
spent in bOotless efforts to save those
who were in the swift and treacherous
current: The remainder of it shall be
spent in endeavoring to prevent young
men from cmbarking on the stream
which is all music and mirth at the
starting-point, and all damnation at the
bottom. Tons of arguments and ap-
pcalS have been printed on this vital
question. "How to save young men
from strong drink" but they may all
be condensed into one line-St2p before
y0u begin Theodore L. Cuyler, d. d..
IN n. Y. independent.