Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-05-18

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Gigantic intellects that could overcome
every other bad habit have been flung of
this and kept down. Some one is seeking
! to persuade man from the habit. The re-
ply was: ASK me to do anything under
the canopy of heaven but this. This l can
not give up and won't give up, though it
take seven years of my life.
] must have word also with all those of
my friends, whom it does not hurt who can
stop any time they want to and who can
smoke most expensive cigars. My Chris
tan brother, what is your influence in the
matter? How much eau you afford to deny
yourself for the good Of others? 1t was q
great mystery to many people why Gov
ernor Briggs, of Massachusetts,, wore q
cravat but no collar. Some people thought
it was an absurd eccentricitY. Oh, mol
This was the secret: Many years before,
he was talking with an inebriate, and telling
him that his habit was unnecessary, and the
inebriate retorted upon him and said: I'VE
do q great many things that are not neces.
sary. 1t is not necessary for you to wear
that collar" WELL" said Governor
Briggs, 81 will never wear a collar again if
you won't drink" Agreed" said the inc
briate. Governor Briggs never wore col.
lar. They both kept their bargain for
twenty years. They kept it to the death.
That is the reason Governor Briggs did not
wear collar. That is the gospel Of the
Son of God. Selfdenisl for the good and
the rescue OF others.
take step further. In all ages the
world has sought out some flower or herb or
weed to stimulate its lethargy, or compose
its grief. A drug called nepenthe was
widely used among the an
cient Greeks and the ancient
Egyptians for narcotic purposes. The The
ban women knew how to compound it. You
had but to chew the leaves aud your sad
ness was whelmed with hilarity. But
nepenthe passed out from the consideration
OF the world. Next came hasheesh, which
is made from Indian hemp. 1t is manufac-
tured from the flowers at the top or work
men in leather clothing walk through the
fields of hemp and the exudation from the
hemp adheres to the leathern garments and
then this exudation is scraped of and pre-
pared with aromatics and becomes an intor-
icant for the people. Whole nations have
been stimulated, narcotized and made i'm.
becile with this accursed hasheesh. The
visions kindled by that drug are said to be
gorgeous and magnificent beyond all de-
scription; but it finally takes down body,
mind and soul in horrible death.
= | knew one of the most brilliant men OF
bis day. Whether he appeared in magazine
or in book or in newspaper column, he was
an enchantment He could in the course
of ah hours conversation produce more
wit and strange information than any man
l ever talked with; but he chewed hasheesh.
He did so first as a matter OF curiosity. to
see whether the powers ascribed to it really
belonged to it. He put his hand into
The Cockatrice's Den
to see whether it would bite, and he found
out to his complete undoing. His father,
who was minister of the gospel prayed Tor
him and counselled him, and obtained for
him the best medical prescription OF the
best physicians in New York, Philadelphia,
Pars London, Edinburg and Berlin. He
said he could not stop. A large circle OF
frieI ds put their wits together to try to res
cue him but he went on down. First his
body gave way in pangs and convulsions OF
suffering; then his mind gave way and he
became raving maniac then his immor.
tai soul went, disappearing God, into star
less eternity. He was only about 30 years
of age. Behold the ravages of the Persian
and Egyptian weed called hasheesh.
Opium
demands emphatic recognition. 1t is made,
as you know, from the white poppy. 1t Is
not new discovery. We read OF it three
hundred years before Christ but it was not
until the seventeenth century that it began
its death march, passing out from the me.
dicinal and curative, and by smoking and
mastication becoming the scourge OF ma
tons. In the year 1861 there were I'M
ported into this country lO7,OO5 pounds OF
opium and in 1880, 533, 900 pounds Of OPT.
um. 1t is estimated that in the year 1876
there were in this country 225,OOO opium
consumers but | saw q statistic more re-
cent that said there ore probably now IN
the United States at least 100000 opium
consumers. The tact is appalling. DO
not think that they are merely barbarIc IA
natics who 20 down under that stroke.
Read the great De Quincey's Confessions
of an Opium Eater" he says for the first
ten years it gave him the Joys Of Paradise
but it takes his powerful pen to describe
The horrors consequent samuel Taylor
Coleridge, after conquering the world by his
pen was conquered by opium. The most
magnetic and brilliant lawyer OF this centu
~ fell victim to its stroke, and there are
thousands of men and women-but more
women than men-who are being bound,
body, mind and soul to this terrific habit.
There is
Great Mystery
about some families. You do not know why
they do not get OF. The opium habit is so
stealthy, 80 deceitful and 80 deathtul. You
can cure q hundred drunkards easier than
YOU can cure one opium-eater. / have heard
Of cases of reformation but never saw any.
hone there are cases Of genuine refor.
nation. | have seen men who for forty
wears had been the victims Of strong drink
thoroughly reformed; but the opium'eaters
that have seen go on and down. lne't
CIV in their last hour Of life is not for God
nor for PRAYER, nor for the Bible but for
opium. Perhaps there are only two persons
outside the household who know what Is the
matter-the physician and the pastor;
the physician called in for
physical relief the pastor called
in for spiritual relief; but they both
fail. The physician acknowledges ms de-
feat. The minister of religion acknowledges
bis defeat for it seems as if the Lord does
not answer prayers for opium eaters. o,
| man! o, womanl Are you tsmPering
with this habit? Have you Just begun !
Are you for the Arrangement OF physical
distresses and mental trouble making this
regular resource. ! beg you
Stop.
| The ecstssies at the start will not pay Tor
the horror at the last The paradise Is fol-
lowed too scon BY the pandemonium. Nor,
pbia is blessing from God for the reliei Of
sudden pang or acute dementia, out was
never intended for prolonged use. And,
What is the peculiar sadness Of it. is, it
oo,,o, n naopIe in their weak moments