The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1890-12-19
PLEDGE YOURSELF.
An Important Safeguard and "a Protective
Agent in Time of Temptation.

An Important Safeguard and Protective
Agent in Time of Temptation.
Among the agencies employed for tho
promotion of the Temperance reform,
from almost its earliest inception, the
| pledge has been pre-eminent for eff
ficiency and power. The first consider
alton in relation to the use of intoxi-
cants is personal. Is abstinence an in
diyidual duty? Are Intoxicating bev-
erages, used in moderation" harmful?
Eminent specialists who have made
most thorough investigation of the al
Cohol question as experts are agreed
that alcohol has no food value; that its
| presence in the human system, even in
small quantities. is an irritant poison,
and that the best work Is best done
without it The verdict of science
against alcohol in its relations to
health and longevity is fully corrob-
GRATED by the practical, economic re-
suits of life insurance. No insurance
company will take drunkards because
of the eXtra-hazardous risk; insurance
in separate sections by the same COM
pany of abStainers and abs tainers
has demonstrated conclusively the
larger death rate among abs tain
ers nearly equal each year to the
stables. of expectancy" while on the
part of abstainers the actual death rate
has been uniformly much below the
expected" deaths. The Insurance
Guardian, referring recently to this
subject, quotes a contemporary as say
| al. ,Np1,, F,o Al,
chronic drinking of even small quanti-
ties of alcoholic beverages tends most
materially to increase the risk by short
ening life and by weakening the consti-
tuition, so that even a trivial illness
may at once kill or forever damage the
health;" and itself adds: This witness
is true, and even the most prejudiced
are gradually arriving at the same con-
clusion, being unable to resist the ever
accumulating evidence" Apart from
other and overwhelming moral consider
ations, advocates of the total abstinence
pledge may rely with utmost confidence
upon the correctness and wisdom of
their position, as confirmed by scientific
research and by the actual demonstra-
tion of life insurance experience. The
human body is the living temple of an
immortal soul. AS such it should be
kept free from alcoholic faint OF this
the total abstinence pledge, conscien-
tiously observed, is a guarantee.
The pledge is an important safeguard,
especially for the young and for those
who have fallen under bondage to alb
normal alcoholic appetite. Three young
! 80
tertainment where wines and other
liquors were served. Importuned to
drink one, a pledged atstainer, resisted
and declined; the other two, unplodged,
| yielded, and one, bright, promising
young man, and q member of a popular
| Sabbath school, was led home at late
hour, by his abstaining friend, in q
state OF maudlin inebriety, to a widowed
mother and sisters, who were on his ac-
count plunged into deep distress. Not
| long ago beautiful young girl, resi-
dent of Brooklyn, accepted an invita-
ton from young man, trusted as her
friend, to visit New York, and to call at
a house in an uptown street, where he
assumed to have acquaintance and
friends. There was nothing in the ex-
terror to indicate improperly or danger.
! Once within the house she was invited,
and most approximately urged, to take
wine, and, if not wine, then beer. AS
Sabbath school girl she was subscribed
to the total abstinence pledge, to which
she resolutely adhered, and in this hour
Of grave peril she knew not of, it was
her timely shield, and she left the
| =, - "a
later that the house to which
she had been beguiled with
evil purposes was one of those whose
open door is the portal to moral ruin.
Alike tc the young and inexperienced,
and to those who have already formed
the alcoholic appetite and would escape
from its tolls, the total abstinence
pledge is a symbol of safety and deliv-
erance.
! With the absorbed interest in recent
years in Temperance legislation and
politics, the pledge has not had every
where the attention its Importance de-
mands AS Father Mathew, its great
apostle. came to fully realize, it must
needs be supplemented by effective leg
islation to do its perfect work for the
community. but it's relation to the per-
manent progress of the Temperance re-
form is funda mental. There are multi
tides of young men and young women
to whom it has never been presented.
1t is invaluable as an aid in rescue work
among the incorporate and the tempt
ed, but it. has still larger preventive
value among the young Every Chris
| okt, Sal
Army, shouli make it condition Of