The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-11-05
TEMPERANCE.
ANCIENT 1EETOTAL APPEAL
temperance Sermon from an Old Egyp-
tian Papyrus.

Deep at DygOne tunes. II the age Is not
simply a few years but a thousand
Jears, then it is surely worth decipher-
ing to get at its meaning. Hence the
peculiar interest which is attached to
the fragments of Egyptian papyri which
have been of recent years brought to
hight. l venture on the translation of
letter which must tell its own tale
1t is of the age, we gather from the
style, of Joseph or the Exodus or with
in few centuries, not to be exact.
At any rate, it was written some time
during the time when Egypt was at
it's glory. Indeed, Joseph might have
penned it for aught that could be proved
to the contrary. Both writer and re-
ceiver have long ago passed into the I'M
seen and their names are forgotten.
But thus the epistle reads when trans
/ lated:
am informed that you have deserted Mt
erature and have given yourself to gay
ETY.. You go from street to street smell
| ing of beer. Everywhere descending to
| Deer, though men remove it. giving 1T
your soul till you are stupefied. Linn a
y ship where the rudder is out of order VIII III,
ODtNS uOI tllueT way. GU HhSP
temple without deity, like a house without
food. You run against the wall and break
the palisade, people run after you and
wound you.
Would that you knew that wine is forbid
den. Would that you would no more give
fig wine your heart. Would that you
would ignore strong wine. You have
| learned songs with accomplishments of
pipes, and to sing with flutes, and to give
loud voice with harps, to sing with mu-
steal instruments. You sit down in the
yard surrounded by maid servants. Stand
ing up you make a shuttle You sit down
before little girls. You smear yourself
with pitch. The garland on your neck Is
of mint flowers You roll about on your
stomach, you waddle, you fail on your
stomach, you get covered with filth.
The first thing to note here is that
this ancient drunkard, the man who
stands out in Egyptian history for his
| intoXication, was educated. He was
literary and musical, probably a cul-
tured gentleman. This illustrates a
popularity of the strong drink demon
which it is so difficult to get recog-
nzed. 1t seeks the finer minds. In
deed, there is evidence enough to show
I that the rule is, the larger the brain
power the greater the attraction to
alcoholic stimulantS. Education and re-
finement do not diminish the tempta-
ton. Literary men, doctors, even cler
gymen fall, notwiths tanding the eau
tons which education brings, in a sad
proportion. In the papyrus, against
the word translated literature there
is the representation of a scroll, so that
| the man was probably a scribe and con-
nected with temple, so that the re
| straints of his religion had not saved
him. After the word gayety are two
signs. One is a man dancing and an
other a man seated pointing to his
mouth. Then follows the sign for
plural. Tolerabiy suggestive this of
the kind of gayety to which this man
had surrendered himself. His friend
assuredly talks straight-it shows they
did so sometimes in those days-when
he tells him: You go from street TO
street smelling of beer"-possibly it
might be smelling out beer" always
on the scent for it; but after the word
smelling is the hieroglyphic for being
wrapped up or for disease, so that the
meaning is probably that it is a dsor-
der. Either way it is a revolving pic
ture of a drupkard. The writer nex5
notes the slavery of beer "Giving it
thy soul" What thought! That inn
mortal spirit intended to be given to
God for JOY and glory is given to the
little, mean, sinking spirit of decay
ing vegetation! The illustrations arr
good. y ship with rudder out of order
a temple without deity. A home with
out food. The loss of the power of self
guidance, of the great object of ex-
istence and of the comfort Of life. And
instead the drunkard becomes a mis-
chievous fool that his fellows seek to
chastise.
Counsel is given in the form Of ex-
preston of a wish. The first is tee,
total. Would that you knew that wine
is forbidden thing" The word here
used for forbidden is found in the cele
brated Negative Confession" Of the
Book of the Dead, which every soul has
to make before his judges in the I'M
seen world. No. is 81 have not done a
forbidden thing"
The letter has the appearance of a
poem. There is rhy thin of expression.
1t is difficult to distinguish the different
musical instruments mentioned, but
the variety of terms employed shows a
high culture of music in those days,
which the poor fellow had given up for
the ill-smelling beer and the varieties
of wine. The description of the grovel-
ing state to which intoXication reduces
man, given at the close, is very vivid.
More than 30 centuries have passed BIZ.
Yet of many well-educated, unsteady
gifted men the degradation is equally
true to-day. We may wonder if the
poor alcohol slave took the advice. But
in vain. This little fragment is all we
can obtain. But how UNNECESSARILY SUI
peror is the man who gives the bold,
pointed counsel to the poor, wretched
fellow who is left the sport of servants
and little girls, rolling in the filth of
the wineyard.-Rev l. Hunt Cooke, d.
D., in National Temperance Advocate.
hansen Total Abstainer.
Miss Florence Balgarnie, the Eng
lish temperance Worker, recently told
from her personal knowledge of Nam