Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1903-10-07
NV G. II. U.e|
Moderalo Drinking.

The remark is often made that
"drinkipg is all right If it is done in
moderation" This is a mistake, II
Ills all wrong, even then, for this
reason: The Bible says, aNo man
lliyeth to himself, and no man dieth
| to himself"
i Every man, no matter how insig.
nificant he may be, has some degree
OF influence. 1t may not be exerted
over more than two or three indi.
viduals, but they in turn will have
some influence, possibly more than
he had, and SO it will go on widening
indefinitely.
A moderate drinkers influence
will do more harm than a drunkard's.
For instance: Some years ago there
lived in town in North Carolina a
highly respected man whom we will
call Brown, though that was not his
real name, for this story is founded
on facts. He had two sons whom
his wife called Jonathan and David
so long on account of their great
love for each other, that their friends
finally forgot that they had ever
answered to other names.
Like Janathan and David of old.
they were fine, manly young men.
Rachel, their only sister, thought
that no one else had two such good
brothers as she. Their father be-
lieved that shrinking was all right
if done in moderation," aud every
day he took his dram, and often
boasted of the fact to his sons, that
although he had been doing this a
long time, no one had ever seen him
drunk. They loved and respected
him very much. They admired him
especially for his will power and
strength of character, in being able
to take just so much whiskey and
not going beyond it. The amount
taken was slowly, but none the less
surely, increasing, as it invariably
does in such cases, but they were un-
aware of the fact.
Men always admire strength of
character and will power in each
other, for-whisper it softly-it is
rather scarce article among them.
They like to think of themselves as
abounding in it, and of the opposite
sex as being poor, weak creatures,
who do not know their own minds,
and yet-would you believe it?-
when some of our highest and
mightiest men, kings, judges and
even some preachers, not to mention
the Pope--wish to be as awe-inspir-
ing as possible and pose as the en-
bodiment of firmness, strength aud all
of that class of virtues, what should
each one of them do but put on a
gown, one of the variety known as
Mother Hubbard at that, and try
to look as much like their mother (or
more likely ii is their grandmother
they have in mind, as they bear a
closer resemblance to her) as they can.
Why do they do this2 For this
reason, deep down in their heart of
hearts they know that their grand
mother had far more frmness, will
power and that sort of thing than
they have, for when did they ever
see that dear old lady drunk When
did they ever know her to so far for
get herself and her dignity az to
take dram, even while they would
feel that they could not get on at all
without their wine, beer, cider or
whskey, which ever happens to be
their particular weakness. 1t is
beautiful of them to pay this tribute
to womanhood, but it seems tritie
inconsistent after the way they
generally express themselves when
speaking of women.
But to return to our story. By
and by an epidemic passed over the
town and Brown was one of the
first to be stricken down with it..
Owing to his constitution being
weakened by the whiskey he had
been drinking, he soon died. 1t was
natural that after his death his sons
should revere his memory and wish
to follow in his footsteps.
David, the eldest, was great
comfort to his mother in her bereave-
ment, as he had been in brighter
days. He was always thoughtful
and considerate where she was con-
cerned and she was very proud of
him.
She and Rachel were not the only
women by far who admired his re-
fined, intelligent face and courtly
manners. There was one pair of blue
eyes in particular that always lighted
up with pleasure when David came
near, and the day had been set when
he and their owner should be made
one. 1t would have been better for
those eyes if they had never seen
him. David thought that as his
father had been a moderate drinker
he would be one, too. He did not
take 1T into account that his father
had left him as an inheritance a love
for intoxicating drinks, and that for