The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1902-05-28
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF lNTEMPERANcE.

whisky 10 Man's Most Dangerous Enemy
1t Unfits Him For All the Good Work
of Lifs-Atds TO His Capacity For EVIL
-Dossroys Affection and Morality.
A nan may have in his lie thousand
enemes-altogether they will not be az
dangerous as the one enemy: whisky
That enemy works with an intelligence
and a force equaled by no other.
IT attacks first of all the brain: IL
conquers the intellect, and at one stroke
renders the entire human being useless
DESTROYING simultaneously his moral guam,
| ties his mental faculties and his material
usefulness.
When a man is shot in the leg he has
still three of his limbs to work with and
| his brain to guide their work.
| When the worst Of diseases, even con.
| sumption, attacks q man the brain at
least is spared; it works honestly and
keeps the man respected while his HE
lasts.
Whisky is a poison. and while its work
is sometimes slow, it acts as do the othet
poisons. It destroys the seat OF moral
activity as prussic acid destroys the physi.
| cal organism.
A hideous thing about the worst enemy
| of civilization is this:
It units a man for all the good work
OF life.
It adds to a mans capacity for evil.
A hundred times in any year you may
read in the daily newspapers this: :,
"The murderer had often threatened
that he would kill his victim. Little at.
tention was paid to his threats. But
that day it was noticed that he was
drinking very hard. and that night the
murder was committed"
Whisky. the poison that destroys affec-
ton and morality, the enemy that wrecks
ability and defeats ambition. provides
the incentive. the strength and determi'
nation for crimes.
Possibly many young men will say:
| "There are thousands of men who drink
whisky moderately, and l can be one OF
them" -,
Perhaps you can. But you know that
in China there are millions OF men that
smoke opium moderately. Would you, on
that account. decide to be moderate
opium smoker:
Not at ali. You would say to yourself:
Others may guess about the effects OF
opium. I know that shall never be IN
opium, fend. for the very simple reason
that I shall let opium alone"
Why not take the same attitude toward
whisky? It does in one year as much
harm as opium could do in q hundred.
| WHY not say to yourself: II know that
whisky will never interfere with me, be-
cause shall never interfere with whisky.
I shall le. it alone"
If you have never had anything to do
with it, why begin? 1t can give You
nothing: 1t may possibly take from you
everything.
II you have begun and find it hard to
stop, is not that the very reason why
you should stop?
II you can stop easily, stop, If only az
| IN example to others.
If YOU find it hard to stop, stop now,
before you find it still harder, or even i'm
possible.
Let whisky alone, If only because Of the
disreputabie work that it does; if only
to show your pity. for its innocent vic
Thoughts That Como with Drink.
We wish to answer seriously seemingly
| fippant inquiry, omitting, OF course, the
signature OF the writer:
ITO the Editor of the Evening Jour-
nal: Will you tell me how manage to
think my most beautiful thinks in drink:
We answer your question with great
| pleasure.
Some men really do their best work
under the influence of drink, for this
reason: Drinking has weakened their
nerves and put their constitutions and
vitality permanently below par.
They do their best work when they
drink. Just as poor, thin, abused, tired
cart horse does his best work when he is
iashed with a whip. This does not speak
we'll for the whip, does it? 1t does not
prove that the lashing Of the horse IL .
instrument. 1t simply proves that If you
abuse an unfortunate creature and render
him unfit for work, you must abuse him
still more to get little work out OF
him.
You think your most beautiful thoughts
in drink for various reasons.
In the first place, when you drink you
are quite easily pleased, and you are
pleased most easily with yourself. -.
not seem SO beautiful to you. Often what
you think, in drink, you would be very
sorry to hear repeated in your dull, sober
| hours.
In the second place, feeling is essen.
tial to any strong thinking. It Is essen.
tial to the expression any strong ems-
tiop.
The man who drinks hard, or even
comes to rely to any extent upon drink,
has dead nerves and dead imagination
when his drink time is over.
Drink sets the heart to beating, 1t sets
the blood to pumping through the brain,
it stimulates the mysterious combustion
of matter which results in thought, and
emotion becomes stronger in proportion
to the strength that accompanies this
combustion.
The coward wants to fight when he is
drunk. He has some feeling. The dull
mind gets imaginative. 1t has some feel.
This does not glor,fy the coward or
make the dull mind better. It usually
makes both ridiculous and pathetic, in
addition to being ccwardly and dull.
Stop drinking for six months, sleep two
hours more per day than YOU sleep at
present. take in more fresh air, think
steadily and soberly instead of talking
boisterousiy. as you probably do now.
We venture to predict that you will soon
find springing up in your head some very
acceptab,e thinks" with which drink