Passaic City record., 1900-05-19
The Drunisard's Progress.

Tho really good fellow is convivial when
he is sober, writes Professor David Starr
Jordan, in the New York Independent. 1t
is u poor kind of good-fellowship which
cannot be found till it is saturated with
drink. Men who drink in saloons do so for
the most part for the wrench on the ner-
vous system. They drink to forget. They
drink to be happy, they drink to be drunk.
Sometimes it is u periodical attack of mad
ness, the disease ofinebriacy. Sometimes 1t
is chronic thirst, which is likewise dis
ease. 1t is q disease which destroys the
soundness of life; which destroys accuracy
of thought and action; which destroys wis
dom and virtue; which destroys faith and
hope and love. 1t brings a train Of subjec-
tive horrors, which the terrified brain can
not interpret, and which we call delirium
tremens, the tremendous madness. This
is mania, indeed, but every act which in
jures the faithfulness of the nervous sys-
tenn is step long or short in this direc-
tion.
A young man with money and ambition
starts out to enjoy life. He is Hail fellow
we'll met" "afraid of nc man." and mo
body's enemy but his own" He frequents
the clubs, he plays the races, and he is
thinks we'll of himself; he has good time,
and he knows no reason why others should
not think we'll Of him. This goes on for
year or two, when the pace begins to prove
too rapid. The difference In the morning"
becomes disagreeable. 1t interferes with
business, it spolls pleasure. The only
thing to do is to go still faster. The race
down the cocktail route helps to forget.
Suddenly the man gets sight Of himself.
He catches his face In the glass. He sees
himself as others see him. Instead OF
''the jolly good fellow, which nobody can
deny," he gets the glimpse Of a useless,
helpless sot He sees man who has spent
his substance, has disgraced his name, has
ruined his home, has broken the heart of
his wife, has beggared his children, has
lost the respect Of others, and the respect
OF himself. This is the shock! When it
has come he Is henceforth good for moth.
ing, for there Is no virtue in maudlin re-
morse; no hope in alcoholic repentance.
There is nothing that can save him hut to
stop, and it takes something OF manhood
to do this.
Such tears Of remorse are not clears
from the depths Of some divine despair"
They arise rather from the fact that alco-
hol irritates the lachrymal glands.
A prominent lawyer OF Boston once told
me that the great impulse to total absti-
nence came to him when q young man
from hearing his fellow lawyers talking af-
ter dinners mt the club. The most vital
secrets of their clients business were made
public property when their tongues we're
Ioosened by wine. The time will come
when the only opening for the ambitious
man of Incorporate habits will be in poll
tics. 1t is rapidly becoming so now. Pri-
vate employers dare not trust their busi-
ress to the man who drinks. The great
corporations dare not. He is not wanted
on the railroads. The steamship lines
long since cast him off, The banks dare
not use him. He cannot keep accounts.
Only the people, long suffering and gener-
Gus, remain as his resource. For this rea-
son municipal government is his speciality;
and while the patience OF the people lasts
our cities will breed scandals rs naturally
as cur swamps breed malaria.