The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-12-22
TEMPERANCE.
Three Topers.

Three Topers.
Three topers went strolling out into the East.
Out into the East as the sun went down.
Each thought Of tho liquor that's brewed
with yeast,
And not Of the wife with the tattsred
gown.
For men must drink, and women must weep,
For there's little to earn and nothing to keep,
When the pot-house bar is groaning.
Three wives sat up in garret bare.
And they Lit their dips as the sun sank low,
And they gazed at the squalor and misery
Till the night-rake comes rolling up stag
g'ring slow.
For men must drink, and women must weep,
And storms are sudden when men drink
And the pot-house bar is groaning
Three bodies lie out on the shining sands
OF the pothouse floor In the morning
light;
And the women are weeping and wringing
their hands,
For thsfe's murder done in drunken fight
For men must drink, and women must weep,
Ohl would that the Temperance pledge they'd
Bid adieu to the bar and its groaning.
Hyde Parker. in the Voice. o
Educating to sobriety.
The question of Scientific Temperance
Instruction is being vigorously forwarded
by the W. c. T. o. Mrs. Mary II. Hunt,
who is National Superintendent Of this
department., has just written an excel
lent essay outlining the purpose and
method of the course of study which de-
signs to give to the young scholars Of
the nation definite knowledge of the ma
ture of alcohol and the whole family OF
nerve-p -poisons. The reasons for total
abstinence derived from this knowledge,
which of course includes an exposition
of the effect of narcotics upon the sys-
TEN, Mrs. Hunt defines as true scientific
temperance. 1t is urged that while there
is already some attention given to this
in our colleges and academies, ninety
five per cent. of public school. children
never get beyond the elementary depart
ments. In order to make this knowledge
general and to reach the masses, the
teaching must be done in the lower or
primary grades. Tho textbooks and
the style of instruction must be suit
able and ineligible to the most
youthful student. The old-time
works on physiology, with their
technical language, are over the heads Of
children, and will never appeal to their
intelligence. Mrs. Hunt says: "Truth
is just as true and just as scientific when
told in easy words as when put into
stilted technicalities the child cannot
understand"
The report of the Committee on Text
Books of the Board of School Trustees
for the District of Columbia in recon-
mending certain books on alcoholic
drinks and narcotics, is quoted from in
this connection. The committee say that
1t was ''the object and intent of the law
of Congress to have these branches of
study taught so as to discourage and
prevent the formation of habits involving
the use of alcohol and narcotics among
the pupils, and not the mere teaching of
physiology"
OF the many salutsry reform methods
which the W. G. T. U. has formulated
and advanced, not one is so ''pure
womanly" as this maternal solicitude for
the young manhood and womanhood of
the country. The possibilities for this
educational work in helping to save the
nation by molding its young minds to
proper understanding of the dangers
of the drinking habit, can only be meas
ured by the exalted citizenship which
will supp!ant the social degradation that
is to-day our shame and our reproach.-
Witness.
The FOuleSt Blot.