The freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1886-18??, 1888-08-15
BY MISS FLORENCE SLACK.

Dear SISTERS OF the Wh1te Ra000n Army
and Friends.
l shall introduce my subject by
saying; there is no safety but in
abstinence, entire, perpetual abstin-
ence. II a man begins to partake
of this curse, he knows not where
it will end.
There is violation Of the moral
law in the beginning Of this prac.
tice. Every man is bound by his
duty to God, himself and his fellows,
to be satisfied with the amount of
enjoyment which he can obtain by
the proper qualification of the appe-
tites and passions which God has
given him. He has no right to
covet more. The pleasures of drink
ing, are guilty ones, and the profits
of furnishing it are guilty profits
that will not benefit their posses
sors. Of all the devices of Satan
and his followers to lead men to
perdition, the drinking OF intoxi-
eating liquor is the most fatal.
Says DR.. Alden, of Mass, "On
every organ they touch, ardent
spirits operate as poison. No
where in the human body are they
found Judgement, until the vital
powers are 80 far Frustrated that
they cannot be removed. They are
hurried from one organ to another,
marking their course with irregu-
larity of action and disturbance of
function, until at last they are
taken W by the scavengers of the sys-
tenn and unceremoniously excluded.
When through the decay of organic
vigor this process ceases, the work
Of destruction is drawing to close
and the last glimmerings of life are
soon extinguished, To a man in
health there is no such thing as
temperate use of spirits. In any
quantity they are an enemy to the
human system. Their influence
upon the physical organs is unfav-
orable to health. They produce
weakness not strength; sickness,
not health death, not life."
Does healthy person need al
cohol? No more than he needs
arsenic, corrosive sublimate, or op-
ium. Yet he takes it. And before
a fourth of his natural life is over
he goes down to drunkard's grave.
Now the question comes, Why
does the drinking of alcohol cause
death? Were the body transparent
and we could see the effects of strong
drink as we see the color of mems
faces, every man might answer this
question for himself. He would
have the proof before his own eyes
that alcohol is a poison, and that
the drinking Of it is a violation OF
the physical and moral law. There
is no nourisment in it. The diges-
tive organs turn it not into blood,
flesh, bones, or anything by which
the human body is nourished,
strengthened, supported. When
alcohol is swallowed it goes into
the stomach, and when it touches
that delicate organ, it irritates the
surfaces and produces a tingling
sensation. This sensation is note
of alarm, warning to the system
that the enemy has invaded it..
The heart, that great sentinel,
starts up anew, and throws addi-
tional forces on the invaded spot in
order to protect it. The blood
rushes with greater force into thote
little vessels of the body, till, by
and by, if the process be continued,
they become enlarged, and fin
ally all the inner surface of the
stomach becomes liberated and in
capable of retaining anything. In
the language of DR.. Mussey, "Not
a blood vessel, however minute,
not thread of nerve in the whole
animal economy escapes it's infu-
ence." There is one thing l want
you to do, and that is to warn
every mother never TO give drop
of it to her child. I might go on
and give number of illustrations,
but 1t is useless; you see them con-
stantly before you 10 your every
day life.
Strong drink also causes men to
lose their reason. 1t is the greatest