The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-04-18
DRINK AND GENIUS.

The Failures of the Gifted from Jntein-
perancc-Bad Habits Generally Formed
in Youth.
A poor, ragged drunkard at the bar
of a police court, sad sight as it is,
needs no explanation; every spectator
perceives that he is man in ruins. He
was born; he was an innocent child,
the pride and darling of his parents; he
became man, with the hopes and the
ambitions of man. Yielding to in
sidious temptation, he lost power over
himself, and sank rapidly to be the
wreck we see him now, the scott of the
thoughtles7, the hame of his family, an
object Of adherence to himself The
tragedy is all too obvious, and, alas.
how common!
There is another intemperance which
can not be described in the police report
by those horrible words, "a simple
drunk" The police do not see it. or,
if they do, they call a carriage and
carry it home. 1t does not wear ragged
clothes, nor reel along the highway.
Kings palaces conceal it; venerable
colleges cast over it the austere mantle
of gray antiquity; distinguished clubs
give it scope and privacy. Il blights
the very flower Of our race, and few
ever know the worm in the bud that
does the mischief?
I'VE love to decorate our vices with fine
names
When a great genius deteriorates in
its prime, and fails. just when naturally
it should shine its brightest and do its
best, we do not like to attribute the
premature observation to cause so
commonplace as the indulgence of a
morbid appetite for strong drink. We
would gladly decorate it with finer
name.
A scene in London was described to
me VIII lie ago by late valued con-
tributor to this periodical. 1t occurred
about three 0 clock in the morning at q
dinner-party Of some of the brightest
spirits OF our time. The king of the
feast was the first of living writer's in
his kind Of literature, and his name is
honored now, wherever the English
language IS read, and far beyond its
realm. He was a man in the prime of
his years, but in the wane of his pow
erS, for he marred hw admirable talents,
he duled his finer sense, he obscured
the light within him, by gluttony and
wine bibbng.
Il am cursed with an appetite he
would say, when leave the dinner
table, it is with feeling that | would
like to begin and do it all over again. "
He sat upright at the table at three
o'clock in the morning, for he had n
popularity OF constltut on which as he
said, made his legs drunk long before
his head was touched. He was still
talking gaily, if not brilliantly, though
he could not move from his chair His
carriage was announced. 1t was his
own carriage for he was then at the
summit of prosperity. His two men
servants, who knew well what they had
to do, for they had had much practice
in doing it, came upstairs into the
dining-room with his hat and shawl.
They drew back his chair, put on his
hat, lifted his giant form in their arms,
and carried him down to the carriage
door. His American friend followed,
dumb with establishment Astounded
as he was, he could not help remarking
the familiar deXter.ty with which the
two servants performed their part.
There, on the sidewalk, the brilliant
and famous author, the pride of his
country, fell upon the neck of his
friend, hug Lcd, kissed and blubbered
over him, and refused to get into his
carriage. After awhile, however part
ly by humorjng him, partly by force,
the men lifted and pushed him in. On
reuching his home similar scene oc-
CURED, and the day had begun to
dawn before the two servants succeeded
in getting him up stairs to his own
room. a few months after, he died
suddenly of a disease caused and nour-
ished by such excuses.
That such man, so gifted and so
wel-disposed to use his gifts for the
public good, should pass away, in mis-
prime was melancholy event indeed;
but it was not the worst consequence of
his bad habits. They marred and low
eLet all his writings, even the best, and
his powers diminished as his fame in
creased We find that his works writ
ten at forty-live were less vigorous, less
genial and less true, than those written
at thirty-livc, and his last production
shows scarcely CLEAN of his former
power.
The reason of this is now well known.
Several men Of science have pursued
courses of experiment with u view to
ascertain the precise working of alco-
hole drinks in the human system.
There was an English DIR. Percy who
injected two ounces and half of alco-
hol into the stomach of dog The
animal dropped dead; whereupon, the