The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-12-31
temperance.
Social Wine-Drinking.

Iell INTO conversation, the other day,
with young man on the use of wine.
" WISH" said he, very earnestly,
" that every grog-shop, and bar, and
drinking-saloon could be gotten out of
the way. think the American habit
of stand-up drinking is an abomination;
| wish we could get rid of it, But
am not a prohibitionist; / do not be-
lieve in the wholesale prohibition of all
sale of wine and beer. And | am nota
total abstinence man. / do not ordi-
narily drink wine. If / had home of
my own i should not ordinarily put it
on my own table. But if / am in COM
pany where it is used, at a reception,
or wedding-party, or private dinner
party, or at the house of friend who
uses it, | see no harm in taking a glass
of claret with the others; and / gener-
ally do" l could not use the stock
arguments of the temperance writer's
and orators in our conversation, because
| do not believe that they are true. |
could not tell him that alcohol is always
and everywhere poison; for if he had
asked me if | knew that there was
alcohol in yeast bread, should have
acknowledged that / did; and if he
then had further asked me if ! thought
yeast bread was poisonous, | should
have answered, No! | suppose my
friend represents large class of young
men-men who cannot properly be
called moderate drinkers, but only
occasional drinkers; men on whom the
ordinary arguments of temperance lee
turers and addresses are Ineffective
This paper is addressed primarily to
them. / agree with them in thinking
that the indiscriminate prohibition of
all use of wines is likely to do more
harm than good, because founded on a
substantial error; that we must learn
to draw line between the legitimate
and the illegitimate use of wine; that
all use is not illegitimate; and that it is
against the illegitimate use that we are
to guard ourselves and our children
and society. My friend draws this line
between ordinary and occasional use;
he does not use it ordinarily; he uses it
on special occasions, and these occasions
of pleasant social fellowship. 1t is a
common line; but | am sure it is not
true, or wise, or safe one. And | am
sure that it is not the line which the
Bible draws. For, whatever perplexity
may attach to Bible teaching respect
ing wine, its general testimony is clear,
strong, and emphatic against social
wine-drinking. / do not forget that
Christ made wine at a wedding; but
still the general current of Bible testi-
mony is against the use of wine in So
cial good-fellowship: BE not among
wine-topers; among sqanderers of their
own flesh. Who has woe?
Who has wretchedness? Who has causes
of strife? Who has complaining? Who
has wounds without cause? Who has
fierceness of eyes? They who are
late over wine they who go in
for being curious in mixed drink
Look not upon the wine because
it is red; because it shows its bead
in the cup; because it goes right
well. Woe to them who early in the
morning run after strong drink; who
late at night infame themselves with
wine, and the Tyre and the harp and
the tabret and the pipe and wine COM
pose their feasts. Woe to him that
giveth his neighbor drink; that puttest
thy bottle to him, and makes him
drunken also" These exhortations
are all directed against social wine
drinking; against wine as a means of
social good-fellowship. In truth, most
of wine-drinking come from two
kinds; wine-drinking for excitement
and wine-drinking for fellowship. l
suppose if l were to say that large
proportion of drinkers drink to get
drunk, l should be accused of libeling
my fellow-men; but it is true. They
do not mean to get very drunk; they no
longer are actuated by the eighteenth
century signs of London: I'VE will
make you drunk for a penny, and dead
drunk for two pence, and give you straw
to lie on" But they drink for the ex-
element. They want the stimulant
They like the feeling of fiery glow in
the blood, and the quickened pulse,
and the heated brain, and the Embossed
tongue. Men talk about not drinking
wine as beverage. Men rarely do drink
wine as beverage-as they drink milk,
or raspberry shrub, or lemonade. They
drink it as a stimulant. And the first
glass drank as stimulant-eXcept when
the diseased system requires it and the
physician prescribes it's Il first step
toward drunkenness. A great many
take that step who never take the sec
ond; but it is a step of danger, and
therefore a step of sin. On all
drunkenness the Bible puts the stamp
of divine condemnation. 1t is atlame
with Gods wrath against it. implicitly,
if not explicitly, it condemns all drink
ing for the excitement which the drink
furnishes. And yet that excitement
in Bible lands and times, with the
strong drinks of our age and country
utterly unknown, was comparatively
harmless beside the evils of modern
inebriation, From its mildest forms
in the loosened tongues at an evening
party, to its grossest forms in beastly
excess and brutal crime, it is shame
and sin. Drunkenness is never jest
to be laughed at; never peccadillo to
be lightly passed over; never mere
misfortune to be pityingly condoned.
Drunkenness is to be pitied only as all
wickedness is to be pitied. The drunk
ard is no victim" to be petted and
coddled, and put into the pulpit or on
to the platform before the mud of the
gutter is fairly cleansed from his gar
ments. | know of two young men who
ended their college course in drunken
debauch, making the quiet village ring
with their bacchanalian rowdyism, who,
within three months after they were re-
| laaSod from the lockun had entered a