The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1891-12-18
ISDECENT.
The responsiveness of Drunkenness.
vivid Picture of an Intoxicated Nan

vivid Picture of an Intoxicated Nan
Ia.emperAnce is Indecent, Al assertion
that no person y i'll aitempt 20 deny. Il i
not a itlia common experience ever to see
On the streets as Indecent a sight as a
drankea mar. Il he is eleaaly he is still
Indecent. aud pitizbIe because of his inGe-
celcY. If be is not cleanly-and the rule
Is that lie is not-he is still more indecent.
He reels over The pavement, colliding with
men. women and children, feared by the
timid as if be were q Wild beast, despised
bv the majority of those 40 witness the
exhibition, as if lie were anything but a
man and stunned By all as if he we're a
leper. He deliberately clouds and pOisons
his intellect, make1 himself an irrrespon-
.ible idiot. and makes a public exhibition
Of himself that is Tepulsiye in the exlreESe
If that same man should see a hand dis
igufiug q beautiful and costly picture bis
whole soul would be aroused. If be
should see a rough foot pressed upon .
beautiful flower he would demonstrate:
and yet he ruthlessly disfgsres the bright
est and best thing in the world. the human
intellect, and fairly stamps it in the mud.
Il Is an act that is SO indecent as seldom to
fad a parallel even among acts that We
usually term indecent. But the indecencs
Of intoxieation is always apparent enough
without attaching an unusual meaning to
the term. 4 drunken man is literally re-
pulsiye. He is not only ofsnsive to the
eye, bat he is offensive 70 the nostrils.
Tie perfume of rum and old eigars-the
usual fragrance that comes from a drunken
| mats more than an ordinary sense oil
smell can bear, and the average drunken
man is a positive and unqualified us
ance, far surprising any eesspool that may
| offend the smell, for the eesspool can
be avoided. but the drunken man can
| not always be. Now except a man be al
most beyond nope, be will recoil from this
| description Of himself. and yet it IS a true
| description of the d~runkard, whether lie is
/ dressed in rags or broadcloth; and the rea-
son that many a man who gets drunk &C.
casionally does not break the habit. is that
when he is sober nobody tells him What he
gas " hen lie was drunk. A mans drunk
enuess is something that he does not care
much t. talk about, and his friends do not
care to breach the subject. So there are
men who 90 through life, getting drunk
now aud then, and never know what a dis
graceful nuisance they make Of themselves.
L istrue, they see Others, and know what
they are, but ? drinking man is always
sufficiently self-opinionated to believe that
ne never acts 50 badly as other drunkards
do As a kind friend to the occasional
drunkard, therefore, the Western Raral
Ii deemed it its duty to softly whisper to
him that when drunk he is a very bad
nuisance and thoroughly indecent, in proof
of which We appeal to every man or wo-
man who has eEer seen him drunk.
But it is at home where the exhibition
of iudecency is the greatest. The wife
and children may say nothing about it,
and probably will not. 1t is too harrow
ing a subject for them to discuss, but
the drinking husband and father, who
goes home intoxic ated, may rest assured
that lie makes an exhibition of indecency
that shocks his loved ones far beyond the
power of language to describe. II there i:
any living man that can conceive of a more
indecent act than for a husband 20 &c
home TO his life or a father to go home to
his children in a drunken, helpless or par
tally helpless, irresponsible condition, We
are at a loss to know what it could be.
The childof a father who is worthy to be
a father is never so happy as when be
hears the football OF the parent upon the
threshold Of home. A father ought to bt
ashamed 81 himself, who has Lot the love
and confidence of his child. Then what
must be said of a father who goes into the
presence Of his child in a condition that
makes him less desirable as a companion
and less a protection to the child than tht
dog that lies on the mat On the step? |,
it not the very height of indecency, to cal
it by no worse l a ne?- Western Rural.