The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-12-06
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS: ABOUT
THE VICE OF lNTEMPERAMcE.

A~bstainers.
We ought not to drink in moderation,
because no human being can be abso-
lutely. certain that lie will be able to
long remain q moderate" drinker. OF
the many young men whom l have
known, those who have done WELL"
rs we'll as those who have done bad
ly," as the world goes. I have never
yet known one who set out as a mod
crate drinker'' with any intention to
become or fear of becoming q drunk
ard. Every man of them began TO
drink with q strong determination to
continue a moderate" drinker as long
as lie lived. Many Of the worlds grey
fathers, like Noah and Lot, did their
best to be moderate" but sadly failed
in their ,endeavor.. Yet in oul" day it is
UNNECESSARILY more difficult to pre-
serve strict moderation than it was in
our races early history.
We ought not to drink in modera-
ton, therefore, because we thereby in
cur a risk of becoming Incorporate.
We ought not to drink in moderation,
therefore, because even If we were all
s~olutely certain that we would never
outstep the bounds of moderation
selves, there are all round us in life
young men and maidens, joyously or
timidly engaging in the struggle for
existence, who, whether from inebriate
Inheritance OF from some other nervous
defect Of constitution, are totally un-
able (from no misdoing of theirs to
drink in moderation. They can abstain
and they can drink to excess, but to
drink moderately" is beyond their
power. Such handicapped ones are
the very persons generally whose men,
tar balance is so delicate, and whose
resisting power is so defective that
they are often the least able to restrain
altogether. If they try to follow your
apparently: safe practice of "modera-
tom they cannot continue moderate"
to the end.
We ought not to drink ip, moderation,
because this sample is unsafe for a
very large number Of persons, who
either are by Inheritance or otherwise
in danger of falling.
We ought not to drink in moderation,
because Intoxicating drinks are un-
necessary and useless in health. We
need, to live at all, well or i'll, fresh
supplies of certain things to repair the
waste of substance, heat, fluid and en-
ergy, which is constantly going on in
body and brain. Does alcohol meet any
or all of these wants? 1t does not,
neither does it give healthy tissue nor
internal vital heat Though it makes u
skin hot) nor any innocent liquid, not
ever in force. Alcohol cannot build
up a sound frame. Although it makes
us feel warm, it rObs us of our very
life's heat, and if too muchis withdrawn
from US, leaves usftoo cold to live. We
are practically two-thirds water, which
conveys the nourisling matter over the
system, ~cleanses our bod es and pre-,
serves u personal identity like a
liquid paste or glue. Every addition
of alcohol impairs this thraefold benef-
cent capacity of natures beverage,
honest water that left no sinner j.
the mire." Therefore moderate drink
ing is extravaganza alike for body and
for purse. What We pay for our
liquor, if intoxicating, is simply vast
ed. wasted as if we threw our money
into the ocean.
We ought not, therefore, to drink in
moderation, because moderation is
wasteful, extravagant and uneconomi-
cal physically and financially.
We ought not to drink in moderation.
because this is a practice injurious to
health. Alcohol is an irritant poison.
1t irritates and infames the stomach,
liver, kidneys and other vital organs,
overworks the heart and disturbs the
brain; not much, perhaps, at first, but
certainly in the long run. Of drunken
ness-I do not speak. No n defends
that nowadays. I limit what l say to
so-called moderate" steady drinking.
We ought not to drink in moderation.
because thereby we diminish Il
chances of long life. Superficial or un-
skilled observers 90 not see beneath
ten looks rudy and robust, the teeto-
taller pale and shrinking. But the bat
tie is not always to the flushed in face.
1 have known "moderate' people die
unexpectedly and quickly fifteen and
twenty years before the average term
of life. The seeming mystery was re-
vealed when their bodies were opened
after death.
AS one, so many, he died in twenty.
minutes after a little extra exertion.
Though there had never been a suspi-
cion Of his temperance, his liver and
heart were found pierced with fatty
degeneration. The irrefragable. proof
of the superior longevity of abstainers
lies in the records of various insurance
societies. The abstainers have q high
er bonus because they live from sofhe
fifteen to twenty per cent. longer than
the non-abstainers, drunken lives be-
ing, of course, excluded.
We should not drink in moderation,
therefore, because we would thereby
tend to shorten our lives.
There are many good S why we
should avoid drinking entirely. / will
add only one more. Alcohol, in any ap-
probable quantity, reduces muscular
force and lessons mental sharpness.
Carefully conducted experiments have
shown this. Other conditions being
equal. alcohol takes the. keen edge OH
u p%erceptive faculties, so that we
take some seconds longer to see an OBJ
ject. while it mocks US by causing US
to think that we have seen it sooner.
So with thought. Thus is it that an
abstainer can often 10 business more
to his own advantage when the person
with whom he is dealing has taken Il
glass of wine or spirits. Alcohol is q
reducer. a binder. a paralyser.-Dr.
Norman Kerr.
A Temperance Straw.