The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1883-12-19
Temperance.
Stop Before You Begin I
A rLAIx TALK WITH Iouso nEs.

rLAr TALK WITH rouNo MEN.
A young man, who had just lost an en-.
celent situation by two days "spree,"
came into my study lately, and said 10
me: doctor, cannot understand how it
is that should have made such fool of
myself and thrown away my chance for
living. This is almost killing my little
wife," replied to him: There is no
mystery about your case. You have been
tampering with drink long while, trying
to jump half way down Niagara. You
ought to have stopped before you began.
1t would not have cost you one-hundredth
part as much effort to have signed total
abstinence pledge several years ago as it
will now to break loose from this terrible
habit" entreated my friend to grapple
his weakness to Gods strength he signed
a pledge of entire abstinence, and went
away with the desperate look of man
who is pulling for life in the rapids, in
full sight of the cataract.
That young man is 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 yet flung themselves into
the rapids. l wish to give half dozen
common-sense reasons for letting every
Intoxicating drink (whatever its name)
entirely alone. He who never touches
drop will assuredly never become drunk
ard. Prevention is easy, is safe, is sure;
reformation is difficult, and with some
persons is wellnigh impossible. The
Jews were commanded to build battle
ments around the fat roofs of their dwell
ings 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 life2 l am always thankful
that l took a pledge of entire abstinence
in early boybood. But for that battle
ment l might have been ruined by the
drinking usages which were deplorably
prevalent in my college. "Stick 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.
The first argument, my young friend,
for total abstinence is that no healthy
person needs an alcoholic beverage and
they tamper with it as medicine. Sir
Henry Thompson and several other dis
tinguished British physicians have DELHI
erately declared that "alcoht lie beverages
cannot, in any sense, be considered neces-
sary for the maintenance of healthy life Il;
that it is not food in any true sense of
that term ; and that the steadiest and best
work is best done without it." Living
stone, the heroic explorer of Central Al.
RIGA, was both physician and a teeto-
taller. His testimony was III find that
can stand every hardship best by using
water and water only" entreat you not
to fall into the delusion that you can do
any honest work the better by firing up
your nerves with alcohol. If you do you
will have to increase 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
may cover up great deal they cure but
very little. Several friends have known
to be decoyed by them into drunkenness
and disgrace.
Therein lies second reason for avoid
ing all intoxicants. They are deceitful.
Not only the sting Of the serpent, 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 80 tortured with the
adder's bite, never dreamed at the outset
that he was playing with rattlesnske.
Every alcoholic drink has in it this quail
ty, that it never satisfies, but awakens a
constant demand for more. A small glass
creates 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 beet do not
breed excess; one glass of milk does not
arouse a 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 30 dangerous.
This it is which makes it 80 difficult to
drink wine or brandy moderately and so
easy to fall into drunkenness. A health.
full beverage satisfies appetite; hurtful
one, like wine or brandy, stimulates ap-
petite until it becomes an uncomfortable
frenzy. This regard as the Creators
law against alcohol; and when you take
your first social glass you begin to play
with deadly serpent. You may say
"Every one who drinks liquors does not
become a sot." Very true, but every sot
drinks liquors; and not one in million
ever expected to become sot when he
began with his champagne or his sherry
cobbler." Will you run the risk ?
would not. The two reasons why am a
teetotaler are that dare not trust myself,
and dare not tempt others by my exam.
pie. The most deplorable wrecks are
those of men or women who at the outset
considered themselves perfectly strong
and invulnerable. Nothing from the pen
of Dickens can surpass heart-rending
letter which / received from a cultured
gentleman Chen in an almshouse), who
declared that he traced all the misery OF
his life directly to the " first glass he ever
drank at the N house, in the capital of
Ohio" First glasses have peopled hell
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 prop.
erty of alcohol to strike directly to the
brain. Some drugs have an affinity for
the heart; others for the spine. The
glass of brandy aims for the brain. as a