Omaha daily bee., 1896-02-08
PANCS OF SOBER THOUGHTS
Indescribable Tortures Endured by the
Periodical Drinker.
MENTAL AND PHYSICAL SUFftRiNGS
Agony OF His Struggles Enough to
Wnken Pity In the Hardest
Henrt-Fightinp Against
the Inevitable.

"Do you see that man there?" asked a
well known Chicago physician, addressing a
Tribune man. "He is a reputable business
man, has a wife and several children to
whom he is devotedy attached, and there is
every reason In the world except one, why
he should be happy.
Look at his face; mark the pallor; OBJ
serve the twltchng of the mouth and the
restless and haggard look about the eyes;
see how his fingers jerk and note the uneasy
ehrug of his shoulders. That man is in the
first throes Of form of circular insanity,
which is better known as inebriety. The
craving for drink is upon him, hot as the
charge of thousand furies He has peri
odical, rhythmic drunk about every six
months, and during the last four or FIVE
days his brain has been seething caldron;
his nerves have been a-quiver, and his
thoughts have been madness. He knows to
demonstration that he cannot overcome
the gnawing appetite, yet he fights 1t with
desperation. Talk about your heroes Of
Thermopylae and Balaklava and the Wilder
ness-why, that fellow sitting there, a pale.
trembling, covering wretch, has more nerve
In him than hundred heroes OF history
combined; every nerve cel-every one of
the countless milions-has a mouth which
has been crying for drink for now these
several days. He has resolved that he will
not yield; has before him the memory of
half hundred such Titan struggles in which
he fell and still he resists. Ordinary men
require the stimulus Of an occasional vic
tory in order to summon courage for action.
This man. with a past full of discourage
ment and defeats, yet has the courage to re-
sist the demon that Is irresistible.
"a truce to the sentimental ignorance Of
humanity which has only reproaches and
sneers for a man like him. l know him in
timately as his physician and friend, and
l tell you there is in him the stuff that
martyrs are made of; yet within a week he
will be overcome Of drink, vile wretch, as
public estimate puts it. He will drink to
safety, to repletion to bestiaity. In his
madness he will consort with low fellows;
you may find him yourself in the slums,
possibly with the vicious even, but l swear
to you that he Is man and a noble man
for all that. No one knows better than he
when the first stages Of the craving seize
him; a thousand needle prickngs occur syn
chronously all over his body; now and then
the perspiration suffuses him, and then he
is dry; his skin Is parcnsd. He Is not
athirst as men count desire for water, but
he is overcome Of that which Is insatate;
all the water Of Lake Michigan would not
satisfy the burning desire. He temporizes,
seeks to make compromise by Offering the
diseased nerves such mild decoctions as
ginger ale, sweet cider, etc.; possibly he may
make a cocktail of his Worcestershire sauce;
he eats inordnately Of the various pepper
sauces, and becomes more and more restless.
His mind wanders; he can give no attention
to business.
STRUGGLES AGAINST THE INEVITABLE
"All this time, and it has now been COM
ing on for several days, he struggles against
the inevitable. Knowing that he will find
nepenthe in whisky he yet refuses to take
it. He despises himself for what he esteems
his cowardice. He would give everything
he has in the world II he only might over
come this maddening thirst. The wife of
his bosom and the children of his loins are
all in all to him; he thinks of the misery
and wretchednes he entails upon the former
and OF the woe there may be in store for the
latter. No one knows better than he that
they and he lack but one thing to their life
and their love, and that one thing he desires
above all other things.
There come to him-aye, probably at this
very moment, for you will see a tender ex
preston has crept over his face-thoughts
OF the long ago, of the dear black-eyed girl
who with blushing cheeks Of red stood with
him at the altar, and he vowed to comfort
and keep her so long as she should live. He
thinks Of the tender VOWS he whispered in
her ear at eventide; of the prattle Of his first
babe; of her love and her gentleness and
tenderness through all the years they have
been together. All, the shadow comes over
his brow-there is the memory of her sor-
rows and her tears, because of the man
hood that was degraded in her eyes; Of the
love that might have been tempted to a sur
render because Of his weakness and his sin.
"Do you ask me why such mana man
who Is as tender in his emotions as any pure
woman, who is affectionate and kind in his
family, conscientious in his business, public
spirited as a ctizen-do you ask me why
such a man is so very slave to degrading
habit? l answer, and l emphasize the an
swer that he cannot help it. 1t would be
just as easy for him to take on wings and
flip to far Off Jupiter as it would be to- resist
the inexorable appetite that Is gnawng at
the very vitals of his heart. The world does
not understand this thing; may be 1t is just
as we'll; don't know about that. This l do
know: A long experience among men OF his
class has made me deyilish sympathetic.
guess am bit pessimistc, for l have a
very poor conceit Of the worlds good sense
and its charity.
"It is very nice thing for an old rooster
who has lived fifty or sixty years with full
stomach, who never had to wait five min
utes for a meal who never experienced a
real sensation Of hunger, who has passed
through life without single Jar or shock
of any kind whatsoever, whose love even is
unbroken by single summer storm Of pas
sion, who has never sinned because he did
not know enough to commit transgression
it is easy enough, l say, for an cid codger
like this to think that virtue is easy and that
a fellow can get to heaven without half try
ing Why should one care for this kind of
creature, what he thinks, or says, or does
Men of the goody-good kind are as thick as
falling leaves in the autumn and about as
useful--for fertilizers, when they are dead.
/ tell you that 1t is men like my friend there,
who are wave-tossed and storm beaten; they
in whom cyclones of passion rage and yet
who are strong enough to resist, even though
they de-it is they who merit the compass
sion of tender hearts and who deserve the
crowns of victory.
II am not defending drunkenness. AS a
feet drunkenness is altogether different from
A young man may get drunk from
any kind Of cause and for no cause what
soever. He may get drunk because his friend
Is drunk, or he may over-induge from a
decided nervous weakness, but his offense
Is mere bagatelle; 1t may not be repeated
at all, shame and remorse being sufficient
to keep him straight for the remainder OF his
days. Once In a whiie a middle-aged man
overloads his stomach and brain from mere
that is vice. The man who de-
libel erately gets drunk when he has no craving
for liquor is vicious. o yes, know what you
will say--that my friend there had time
In his life when he did not have the craving.
grant that, and in that period of his life |
he deserved no sympathy He had no need
10 drink and should not have done so; but that
time is in the past Of his life; that which was
an unforgivable act has become an uncon-
disease. Within forty-eight hours |
my friend there is likely to be incontnently |
drunk. He will resist TO the last moment |