Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-11-15
runowIsG AWAY MONEY.

Throwing; away MONEY.
The case of the young Englishman,
named Ernest Benzon, who squandered
twelve hundred and fifty thousand
dollars in less than twoyears, has called
attention anew to the unhappy lot of a
Young man who has much money and
little character.
"Why do they throw their money
away so recklessl7?" asks writer on
the subject in the New York Times.
The desire TO spend appears to rage
in them like kind of madness. Is it
madness?
Probably, in most instances, it is
merely the madness Of continuous semi
intoxication. Young men of the Ben
zon species generally take, at an early
age, while they are mere school-boys,
to the smoking ofcigarettes. This alone
impairs the tender brain of a child
sufficiently to pervert his judgment and
lessen his small power of self-control.
He soon begins to drink the milder in
toxicating drinks, which increase the
mischief, until, by the time he is of
legal age, he is never perfectly himself.
There are men who have made an ex-
haustive study of the effects of alcohol
upon the brain, and, through the brain,
upon the character. For the most part
they agree that alcohol perverts the
Judgment, lessons self-control and
strengthens desire. They also agree
that the younger the brain the more
marked and deadly the effect, both
physically and morally.
One of our noted millionaires told a
company of business men some time ago
why he became a tee-totaller. The
reason was, he said, because after drink
ing he was too apt to say Yes, and be-
fore drinking he was too apt to say
No.
This was only another way of saying
that the alcohol perverted his judg-
ment, and caused him to make unwise
decisions. Before his drink, he refused
sound and safe proposals; after drink
ing, he accepted rash and foolish ones.
Our young men nowadays read the
English novels in great numbers, and in
fer from them that the free und frequent
imbibing of wine and beer is just as
natural and regular as the eating of
bread and meat. 1t is a mistake, and
the world is gradually finding it out.
The best English people are denying
their children beer and wine, and a
considerable number of the students OF
the universities neither give nor attend
wine parties. The rule gains every
where: Nourish abundantly; stimulate
as little as possible.
We often see, here at home, a large
estate divided equally among brothers
and sisters, all of whom are about
euqually uniformed. The brothers fire.
quently prove to be of the Benzon
variety, and their money is soon gone.
The girls, not so we'll fitted for the
management of property as their
brothers, often waste their income, but
seldom encroach seriously upon their
capital. The reason generally is this !:
The boys drink; the girls do not.
The old saying, that fool and his
money are soon parted, is sometimes
quoted with an emphatic addition,
And the sooner the better!" This
might be true if the fool would throw
his money into the sea, instead of cor
rupting with it wide circle of COM
panions, and giving an exaggerated i'm
portance to the purveyors Of low
pleasure.
AS things are in the world, which so
needs noble men of leisure, Benzon is
at once private shame and public
calamity Youths Companion.