Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-03-13
NO DRINK In ARABIA.
TOTAL ABSTINENCE PRAC-
TICEp FOR CENTURIES.
Arabia Has No Drunkards-A Country
Where the Poorest Tiller of the sou
Maintains His flicnltY as Man.

1nclcnUS lhu u IlIOStI " w uiiS "
feet that "milk is the wine OF youth anu
wine the mi k OF old age" That absurd
adagc has been made the test of num"!-
Gus dissertations in defense 81 Inc oia
world drink habits. "America." said
those apologsts, sis a young country.
offering its inhabitants sufficient excite
mcnt in the form of adventures in the
struggle with the pcrlS of the wilder
ness and of manifold inducements 10
activity and enterprise. The older civ
ili2cd nations. on the other hand, need
an artificial stimulus to prevent the
stagnation of their vital spirits.
Such sophists ought to visit Arabia.
the ancient home of total abstinence.
The Mohammedaas date the triumph OF
their religion from the year ca, though
the complete eonN erson OF the Arabian
peninsula was not accomplished before
the END OF the seventh century. But
under the Califate of Omar prohibition
OF Intoxicating beverages was enforced
throughout the Moslem dominionS. and
since that time the followers of lsian,
with the rarest exceptions, have remained
total abstainers in all continents and all
climcs. 1t would be a mistake to sup
pose that the Mohammedan Scriptures
nterjlict wine alone and permit other
nuXious stimulants. Wine-drinlling, in
deed, had become Il synonym Of the poison
habit, but the precepts OF the Koran arc
comprehensive enough to answer all the
practical purposes of Temperance:
"Avo.d Drunkenncss:a "Renouncc the
Vice of IntoXication. The Wahabites,
or Monammedan Protestants, as they
haze been called on account of their re-
form doctrines. make, indeed, the Koran
their warrant for prohibiting coffee and
1obacco. as we'll as wine and brandy, and
tho opium excuses of the modern Turks
have never been sanctioned by the strict
eXpoundcrs of their faith. In that part
of Araby known as Arabia Felix (the hill
country in the south of the peninsula)
grapes flourish in hundreds of gardens,
but the crop is gathered exclusively for
the sake of the raisns, and the natives
actually dispense with all fluid stimulants
except coffee; yet the effects of that alb
stemiousness can by nomeans be traced
in their lack of mental energy. "What
struck me most in the character of the
nation" says the traveller. Burkhardt,
who visited every part of the peninsula,
"is the dignlticd bearing of their poor
and the vivacty of their old men. Pa
triarchs OF sixty or seventy years will
enter with unaffected pleasure into the
spirit of the liveliest conversation: will
handy repartces with Il precocious
youngster. or shake with laughter at
the recital of a practical joke. So uni
versal is that disposition among the
graybcards both OF the wcll-to do class
es and the poorest that ! cannot help
thinking the lack OF mental buoyance
among the aged persons of our own ma
ton must be due to some cause besides
the depressing influence OF long contin-
ucd drudgcry."
Can there be much doubt that that
"othcr cause" is the lethargizing after
effect of hahitual intoNicaton? Vino
and brandy Stimulate, o" rather irritatc,
but eventually blunt the mental ener-
GIGS, and the Arabs escape that cause
OF vital exhaustion in spite Of their tor
rid climate, and in spite OF their rather
far-going habit of early marriage. In
the nomad camps of Yemen boys of -
years are frequently married to girls of
10, and young fellows Of 20 may thus be
burdcncd with all the cares of RESPONSE
bility for the support OF a numerous
family, for polygamy, toe, is practiccd
now and then. War, fearful drouths.
and famine add their share to the sor-
rows of existence, but temperance
stceled health bears up against ali that,
and an Arab sheik at so years is, to all
purposes, younger than q French mar
quis at so. Wrestling matches and
horse races are amuSemcnts shared by
al the adult males of an Arab tribe.
with the exception Of cripplcs, sickness
being SO rare that it is almost limited to
indigestions contracted by the eating of
unWholeSOme substances in time of
famine. On the flight before a PURSE
ing enemy the Arabs of the desert brave
with impunity almost indescribable
fatigues, thinking nothing of bestrid-
ing trotting dromedary for twenty
consecutive hours, or of travelling for
days in the teeth OF binding sand
storm
Nor does poverty daunt the spirit of
that pluclly race. "The natives of Araby
have no prolctariat," says Baron Won
Wrede; "no lower classes in our mob
and-rabble sense of the word The
poorest tiller of the soil maintains his
dignity as a man. declines to cringc be-
fore superior wealth or power, and never
loses sight OF the rules OF decorum in the
presence of guest. The wealthy sheiks
OF Hadramant, with all their ovcrbearing
treatment of mental foreigners, at once
drop their hectoring manner on ap-
preaching fellow countryman. They
know that a negro will put up with
kicks for the sake OF bread, and u
Frankish peddler with tauuts for the
sake of profit; but they also know that
the sclf-respect Of an Arab is poverty
proof"
In the pursuit of science Arabia has
remained behind the countries of tho
civilized North, but in Il land of deserts
the development OF educational nstitu-
lions is hardly fair test of mental en-
.crgy. Science, like art is more or less
q prodnc, of leisure which again pre-
snpposes Il surplus OF wealth In their
prosperous colonies, in Syria, Northern
Hindostan and Egypt. the Arabs cuti-
waited science with a zeal not surpassed
by any nation of classic antiquity, or by
the Greeks alone, and during the long
night of the Middle Ages the Arab
portion OF Spain was an intcilcutua!
Goshen, strangely contrasting with the
barbariSln and the grass ignorance of
the surrounding countries. During the
long period from the esd Of the eighth
to the middle Of the thirteenth century.
when every sovereign OF hristian Spain
was at dasgers drawn with his Moorish
uaiishEnrs thu fn, rr