The commonwealth., 1905-11-16
|THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS Aboui
THE VICE OF lNTEMPERANCE:

a
Only tn Destroy the MicrObc OF Drunk.
cnuese. and That is to Stop Drinking
and Never Resume.
MANY specifics have been offered to
stoD the craving for alcohol; but none
of them has proved effective. A drug
may ,leaden for time the thirst IOr
drink: but the deadnesS is not deatn,
The thirst sooner or later reylVes; anu
when. us often happens, the felneuv -
itself a preparation of alcohol, the pa
tieDt is stabbed i'll the house OF hls
pretended friends. There is one way
only to destroy the microbe OF oruik-
enness if there be such a mlcroDe},
and that is. to stop drinking, ana never
resume it. But how shall this be dCne,
when the man feels that his very lie
las well as, ultimately, Il drunkard
deatl) depends on his getting ms dosc:
AS long as he continues to want a!co-
hol. he will continue to take it; or at
any rate, he will always be liable to
take it, even after all abstentlon OF
some years. l knew man VINO, IN
order to cure himself Of the habit, un-
dertook a voyage in SAILING vessei
from New York to San Francisco.
round Cape Horn He was rich man,
and he chartered the ship at his own
expense. He babe farewell to his
friends. and semeed quite cheerful at
the prospect of his emancipation. 1t
was an heroic remedy, no doubt; but,
he said, eff l can be where l can't get
the stuff for three months, can man-
age to keep from ever touching II
afterward." So off he sailed; and his
friends congratulated him on his pluck.
But, incredible as it may seem, this
man had all along been playing o
double game, which had so little ra-
tionality in it that it appears the de-
vice of u maniac. While his ship was
getting ready for her voyage, he secret
" hired carpenter to build tank
into the wall of his staterOOm, with a
small opening close to the head of his
bunk. Before the ship sailed, he had
this tank filled with whisky, and ar
ranged a tap which could be fitted to
the hole, enabling him to draw out the
stuff at will. All this he kept a pro-
found secret. He had his voyage, and
was loaded with whisky from the first
day of it to the last; and reached San
Francisco in delirium tremens. There
is a psychological puzzle for the e1-
perts.
The craving for drink is purely a
physical craving; and you have got to
depend upon the spirit in you to stop
it. Ii the spirit were Il distinct thing
from the body this might not be SO
hard; but spirit and body are inter
woven in us in a mysterious manner,
and 10 man can mark the boundary
between them. Nevertheless, the spirit
is one thing and the body is another
That in you which wishes to be free
is the spirit: and that which wishes to
continue in slavery is the body. The
spirit can be made to rule the body; il
has done so in many instances, is doing
SO at this moment, and can do so in the
future 1t is for you and every Other
man of us to decide whether it shall
not do so in our instance. What you
must do, if you wish to stop, is moi
simply to resist the craving when Il
| attacks you, for if you wait for that il
| will be too late, and you will be over
! come. What you must do is to be be
| forehand with yourself and keep your
| self above the temptations; refuse tt
be approached by it or tc have any
commerce with it. Do not say, 1 won
drink whisky to-day; but Danish thu
subject of whisky altogether from
| your thoughts; carry on the fight OF
| the higher plane; fill your mind witt
| other things.
The short of it is that NOBODY cal
| resist temptations; but we can, it w
will. rise above temptation. and SO
literally, overcome it. No one can E'
tempted without vie. e.ling;;' but he cal
avoid being tempted. 1t might posi-
bly, assist you i'll the fight to get som'
other man to make it with you; yol
would then have your obligation t.
him, as we'll as that to yourself; yo'
would feel that perhaps his salvation
depended on your strength. But in tn
end it is on yourself that you mus
rely: neither l nor any other man, no
the Almighty Himself. can save yo'
except through yourself. Rut You cal
do it if you will; and you best know
whether you really will. or whether
like the man who sailed round Cap
Horn, you are only making believe
Julian Hawthorne, i'll the New Aorl
| American.