The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-10-17
TEMPERANCE READING.
INDECENCY,


The Responsiveness of Drunkenness A
Vivid Picture of an Intoxicated Man.
lntemperance is indecent, an asser-
ton that no person will attempt to de-
NY 1t is not within common expert
ence ever to see on the streets as indie
cent sight as a drunken man. If he
is clearly he is still indecent, and pitia-
bic because of his indecency. Ii he is
not cle@nly-and the rule is that he is
not-he is still more indecent He reels
over the pavement, colliding with men,
women and children, feared by the
timid as if he were a wild beast, de-
spised by the ma ority of those who
witness the exhibition, as if he were
anything but a man and stunned by all
as if he were a leper. He deliberately
clouds and poisonS his intellect, makes
himself an irresponsible idiot, and
makes public exhibition of himself
that is rcpulsive in the extreme. If
that same man should see a hand dis
tigur no a beautiful and costly picture
his whole soul would be aroused Ifhe
should see a rough foot pressed upon q
b autiful flower he would demonstrate:
and yet he sruthlcsSly diSfgures the
brightest and best thing in the world,
the human intellect, and fairly stamps
it in the mud. 1t is an act that is so in
decent as seldom to find a parallel
even among acts that we usually term
indecent But the indecency of intoXi-
cation IS always apparent enough with
out attaching an unusual meaning to
the term. A drunken man is literally
repulsive. He is not only offensive
to the eye, but he is offensive to
the nostrils. The perfume of rum and
old cigars the usual fragrance that
comes from drunken man-is more
than an ordinary sense of smell can
bear and the average drunken man is
a positive and unqualified nuisance. far
surprising any cesspool that may of
fend the smell, for the cesspool can
be avoided, but the drunken man can
not always be. Now except man be
almost beyond hope, he will recoil from
this description of himself, and yet it is
n true description of the drunkard,
whether he is dressed in rags or broad
cloth; and the reason that many a man
who gets drunk occasionally does not
| break the habit is that when he is
sober nobody tells him what he was
when he was drunk. A mans drunk
enneSs is something that he does not
care much to talk about, and his friends
do not care to breach the sub ect. So
there are men who 90 through life. get
ting drunk now and then, and never
know what d agreeable nuisance they
make of themselves. 1t is true, they
see others, and know what they are,
but drinking man is always sufficient
ly elt-Opinionated to believe that he
never acts 50 badly as other drunkards
do. As a kind friend to the occasional
drunkard, therefore, the Western R3lrul
has deemed it its duty to softly whisper
to him that when drunk he is a very
bad nuisance and thoroughly indecent,
in proof of which we appeal to every
man or woman who has ever seen him
drunk.
But it is at home where the exhibition
of indecency is the greatest. The wife
and children may say nothing about it,
and probably will not 1t is too har-
rowing a subject for them to discuss,
but the drinking husband and father,
who goes home intoxicated, may rest
| assured that he makes an exhibition of
| indecency that shocks his loved ones
far beyond the power of language to de-
scribe. If there is any living man that
can conceive of more indecent act
than for husband TO 90 home to his
wife or father to 90 home to his chill
dren in 4 drunken, helpless or partially
helpless, irresponsible condition. we are
at a loss to know what it could be.
The child of father who is worthy to
be father is never so happy as when
he hears the football of the parent upon
the threshold of home. A father ought
to be ashamed of himself, who has not
the love and confidence of his child
Then what must be said of a father who
goes into the presence of his child in q
condition that makes him less desirable
as a companion and less protection to
the child than the dog that lies on the
mat on the step? Is it not the very
height of indecency, to call it by no
worse name?-H Western RruL