The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1892-01-01
THE BORN ~DRUNKARD.
children Pay for the Drink.
Ing Sin of their Parents.

hB SIN VI ahhNsh
1t is a singular fact that while most per-
sons will admit the law of heredity, in
other cases the majority Indignantly deny
"the born drnukafd."
A child may inherit a pug nose, two COL
ored hair ard gray eyes. a mole on one
cheek, or a mark on its back. 1t may in
herit it's fathers traits of character, good
or bad; its mothers ascerbity Of DISPOSE
ton: but neither can transmit their love of
strong drink-their depraved appetites.
Singular reasoning, isn'tit? Parents con-
fidently assert whele their children get
this and that trait of character or com
mendable virtue; but habits of intemper-
ance they acquire.
They cannot seem to see, or will not adj
nit that drunkenness can be transmitted
just as naturally as less important likes
and dislikes. If a child can have an in
herited fondness of some kinds of food,
AID an absolute loathing for other kinds,
it certainly can have a natural appetite or
desire for intoxicants long before it learns
their exhilaratipg effects or the means of
ministering to the craving of it's desires.
Intemperance has always been called a
habit. 1t is worse than that: il is a trans
mitted vice. Children can be, and are born
with this curse entailed upon them, just
as they are born with thievish and prevari-
eating propensities. Many begin early in
life to appropriate the toys of their play
mates long before they can be made aware
that they are committing a wrong. Cor
reetion and punishment do not eradicate
the tendency of either the thief or the liar.
| One lies for no perceivable reason, and the
| other steals articles for which he has 10
use, knowing he will be punished for the
act.
The thief. the liar, the drunkard, and
the murderer are usually the direct out
growth of pre- natal causes and conditions.
| They are no more to blame for their pro-
| cwlivities than that they were not born sim
less.
Men with natural appetites for intoxi-
cants have been heard to exclaim: "Would
to God | could not obtain a drop of the
~accnrsed stuff"
Men degrading themselves and cursing
the cause of their degradation at the same
time, should set all impartial reasohers to
| thinking out the cause thereof. Many
physicians who deny the hereditary
drunkard," are endeavoring to establish
the theory that intemperance is a disease.
That certain organizations are peculiarly
susceptible to it. They want it treated as
a disease while they continue to uphold The
cause that produces it.
In defiance of such iaIlaci0us reasoning,
we know the father transmits disease to
his offspring as readily as does the
mother. If alcoholic liquors are poisonous
to the human system, that faint can be
transmitted as we'll one Of a scrofulous
nature. And a man has no moral right to
entail disease and drunkenness upon
posterity, and lie ought not to rave any
legal right to do so.
That the sins of "the fathers are visited
upon the children, sis literally true. 1t is a
natural, immutable law which there is nc
elud ing; and ehildren's children pay pen
ance for the sins of their ancestors.
Women are awakiDg to a realizing
knowledge Of the enormity Of such parent.
age. Do you want to be the mothers Of
d~issipatod sons? Do you sant 10 rear
daughters for drunkard's wives? Do you
want ta he that most " retciIed and unlov.
ed of human beings,th wife Of a man wi 0
is enslaved by a vice, which only too often
becomes a crime.
A woman would nor knowingly ally her,
self matrimoniaily with leprosy otauy other