Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1888-08-31
w. C. r. U.
[7his Columns Eiitedunderthc Diretlio,
ofthe w. @. 7. Union. Of PerrusJur
1mE EpdcArIoS or UoSscI gNUE

Mn Nas nh intllectnal being long be-
fore he was moral being. To-day our
schools are much more sicce-sful in teach.
ing the thenreins uf geometry than they
are the axiums II the moral law. God
does not seem 10 reveal himself ethically
in way veiy different from that IN Which
he reveals himself physically. liza laws
nre discuverable in either case only by
close observation aud careful investiga
tion. We are alieve morally, as Intellect
mnlly, only upon those puluts upon which
we have given careful thought. Duty il re-.
vealcd only to the student oi duty. Que
can remain indifferent TO the reform Ques-
lions Of the day only by preserving ignor.
ance concerning the details OF the question q
involved. II you keep far enough away
from the "dress reiormers" You can "pooh
pooh |" at their message aud laugh ut
their earnestnes'. Look not Into the as.
riring soul of the mechanic, touch not his
home with sympathetic eye or hand aud
you can easily call the labor unions mean
ingless and their turbulent sgiiations wild
nonsense. But experience shows that the
moment one devotes to these questions
careful study he begins TO see meaning.
| aye, hope and inspiration in this blind di-
vine restlessness OF those who have been
too long contented with mere existence,
This same is true in regard TO temperance
and attendant reforms "l:am temper
ance man but see no harm in glass OF
beer or in keeping little wine Tor ones
friends" says one. Bat suppose you de-
vote six months careful scientific study to
this problem. Ask of the physician and
s,atis,ician, not the fanatic, what of tins
muddy beer-slream that flows through oui
American life. Trace the diseases that
spring therefrom. the torpor engendered
thereby, the money diverted from noblel
channels, the women's lives that are pau
perized, the homes made aoggy and
'beery" by it.
Follow this beer habit into the unsavory
saloons, note the fatty degeneracy In tn,
bloated faces of those who habitually use
it, and then see il you will feel as COM
placent or non-committal as when yo,
know only the gilt edges OF the problem.
The same, we think, is true OF IL
smirchy companion-tobacco. One may
laugh at the cigar, cordone the cigarette
and be Indifferent to the inroads of tobacco
In our homes only by preserving ignor-
ance of the scientific and economic fact
involved. Let one study the ethics o
smoking and the spiritual significance o
the cigarette let him trace the nicotine OF
ils sly, slow though fell journey along tn,
nerves into the brain let the professors o
the Paris University tell him that ihei
smoking students stand lower in thei
scholarships lei the doctors oil the Londor
dispensaries tell him that they cannot ap-
ply leeches TO tobacco using patients be.
cause the blood promptly kills the leech
let the superintendents of smallpox hos.
pitfalls give the increased mortality of thei
tobacco-using patients; lei DIR. Hammond
ex-surgeon OF the United States Army,
most conservative authority. give tn,
pathological effects of tobacco, and ther
see how the indignant conscience protest.
where before it consented.
The finer questions Of morals are no
settled by inspiration but by study. Sci.
ence must needs laborlonsly correct man,
of the false sanctions of historic religion
The supposed revelations of ignorant age
must needs be humanized by the study o
subsequent ages. The moral sense mus
needs be trained, developed, discovered i,
the soul, even rs the mathematic or artis
tic senses are trained, developed or discov-
cred