St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-12-14
A Plain Talk With Young Men
BY THEODORE L. CUYLER, DID.

excellent situation by a two days
"spree," came into my study lately,
and said to me "Doctor, l 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" | re-
piled to him "1'here is no mystery
about your case. You have been tam
pering 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 Il 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
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 a 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.
wish to give half IA dozen common
sense reasons for letting every intoxi-
eating drink (whatever its name) en-
tirely alone. He who never touches
drop will assuredly never become
drunkard. Prevention is easy, is safe,
is sure reformation is difficult, and
with some persons is well nigh impos-
sible. The Jews were commanded to
bat 70 l,n lat
of their dwellings in order to prevent
the children from falling over into the
street. 70 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
a pledge of entire abstinence in early
bOyhood. But for that battlement |
might have been ruined by the drink
ing-usages which were deplOrably
prevalent in my college. "Stick to the
teetotal," said shrewd old kinsman to
me when | started for college and
now after forty years | wish to COM
mend the bridge that carried me safely
over.
Q.) The first argument, my Young
friend, for total abstinence is that no
healthy person needs an alcoholic bev
erage; and even invalids had better be
careful how they tamper with it as
medicine. Sir Henry Thompson and
several other distinguished British ply
sicians have deliberately declared that
"alcOhOlic beverages cannot, in any
sense, be considered necessary for the
maintenance of healthy life that it is
not n food in any true sense of that
term and that the steadiest and best
work is best done without it." Liv-
ingstOne, the heroic explorer of Cen
trail Africa, was both n physician and "A
teetotaler. His testimony was : 81
find that | can stand every hardship
best 10y using water and water only"
| 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 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 IA great deal they cure
but Uery little. Several friends | have
known to be decoyed by them into
drunkenness and disgrace.
g. Therein lies a second reason for
avoiding all iutOxicants. 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 be-
come 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 playing with rattlesnake. Every
alcoholic drink has in it this quality,
that it never satisfies, but awakens a
constant demand for more. A small
glass creates a 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; 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 salts
fed, is the very thing that makes them
so dangerous. This it is which makes
it so difficult to drink wine or brandy
moderately and so easy to fall into
drunkenness. A healthful beverage
satisfies appetite Il hurtful one, like
wine or brandy, stimulates appetite
until it becomes an uncomfortable
frenzy. This regard us the Creators
lar 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 Il sot."
Very true, but every sOt drinks liquors :;
and not one in a million ever expected
| to he 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 example.
| The most deplOrable wrecks are those
of men and women who at the outset
considered themselves perfectly strong
and invulnerable Nothing from the
pen of Dickens can surpass "A heart
rending letter which received from a
cultured gentleman (then i'll an aims
housed 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
property 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 hound makes for hare.
In striking the brain it Overturns the
throne of the reason and turns man