The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1884-07-03
A Falk to Young Men Strong Drink
BY REV. X. S. BARRETT.

and what is our duty i'll regard tc
it.
Let us begin at the bottom. Sol
oman said, Look not upon the wine
when it is red - Wine was the on
ly liquor in his day. For 3,00C
years wine and Leer were the only
liquors. Distilled liquor dates from
the eleventh century. An alchemist
of those davs said, "Distilled liquor
is a divincly-revealed beverage des-
tined to revive the energy of modern
decrepitude" Bat his antieipations
have been sadly belied. The al
chemy Of the dark ages hatched
this venomous serpent out Of the
egg, but who shall ever put it back
into the egg again,
Strong drink is of many kinds
There is ,rtae, which is the terment-
cd or rotted Juice Of fruit. There is
beer, which is made of malt and
hops, roots and herbs. There are
"biUerS," which are made of every
thing. There j. rum, an East In
dian spirit, made OF refuse sugar
aud moIasses. There is gla. a con-
traction Of Geneva, and it is made
of the oil of turpcntine, cedar ber
riGs and potash. There is bran, ~,
which is distilled from wine and
cider and favored with burnt sugar,
hence its name. brandy means
burnt. And then there is whiSky.
WHISKY is a Saxon word ard means
"water of life which is certainly a
misnomer. Would not water of
death" be better? Now what men
want in all these liquors is o1cohoH
Alcohol is poison, and therefore,
everything that contains it is dan
gerous. | do not say that poiSons
are not sometimes useful. The
most careful physicians administer
laudanum, morphine, strychninc
and arsenic. And even st. Paul
wrote to Timothy, who had long
been sick, that he must take little
wine. But all poisons are danger
Ous. And medical professors warn
their students to be careful how
they administer alcohol. And some
60 50 far as to say that it is a queS-
tion whether the evil effects Of its
use do not co1ntcrbalance the good
effects.
Men are heoinning to realize thai
Health IS the greatest Of al earthly
that it is better than
wealth or fame. AMI so when tie
medical faculty boldly declares that
alcohol is an enemy of health. il
gives us new hope for our race.
What is feared is the alcohol habit.
And if man forms that habit, he
may at first go to the alcohol
through the circuit0us route of
wine and beer, but he will soon
learn the short cut through whisky
and rum! A beer-drinking people
bequeath to posterity rum drinking
as England shows.
Merry England has become drunken
England. And wine-drinking
people will be succeeded by a
brandy drinking people, as may be
seen from France, where it appears,
from recent statistics, there are
more drunkards than in America.
We know that we have to pay ey
cry month the heavy e@pense of
try ing drunken and drinking men.
We have to build jails and asylums
and prisons. We have to ray for
the support of 10000 lunatics, who
were made lunatics by drink, and
for 5000 criminals who were made
by drink, and for 100000
paupers who were made paupers by
drink! Have sober men, then, no
interest in a question which costs
them SO much ? Have l no voice
in matter whice levies a tax upon
my purse year by year?
Men drink for many reasons;
some drink to aid their digestion.
But in the long run alcoho. does not
help digestion. lfyou pat an oys-
ter, which when raw is very digesti-
Bile, into q glass Of alcohol it will
ohrivel up and become as hard as
leather. Alcohol makes food indi
gcstible and hardens the liver itself.
Men say we drink because it is cold.
But strong drink does not help men
endure continued cold! That has
been proved in the Arctic eXplora
tions. IL does not enable men to
endure fatigue, that has been proved
in the war. 1t does not help men
endure heat, that has been proved
by the sunstroke report. 1t does
not maize men tat, but bloats them
1t does not make them healthy. 1t
dres not strengthen the constitu
tion, but weakens it. The history
of all epidemics shows that it les
sens the power to resist diseases,
and contributes to their fatality by
the ability to overcome
them. some persons imagine that
drink gives new strength and life
and courage and flow of spirits, in
tellect and wit. And 50 it does for
awhile, and that is its great injury.
1t uses mp the reserce force of
health and brain which God has
given for the cmergencies Of life.
Drink creates nothing; no heat,
or lif.a mr. xyit ar ptranOt IN or cour-