The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1905-06-07
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF INTEMPERANce.

Let temperance reformcrs remember
always that the man who loathes
whisky most intensely Is whisky's vic
tim.
There never was q clear. cold headed
teetotaller that hated whisky. despised
it or knew its dangers one-half as thor
oughly MS the unhappy, hopeless
drunkard.
He don't theorize. Whisky has
lashcu him with scorpions; it has in
fiicted upon him physical pain and end
less moral suffering.
1t has dug the grave of his hopes
and ambitions, one after the other. II
has cursed those whom he loves. killed
his manhood, and left in place of all
his early possibilities only a trembling.
uncertain, fearful wreck.
Whisky, you must emember-horrid
as it is-brings oblivion for the mo
ment He that must go under tue sur
geon's knife will have chloroform To
the drunkard, whisky is the chioroform
that saves him from the knife of con.
science. 1t is the expedient, ever at
hand, that solves the problem of the
moment.
The drunkard would like to leave the
bottle that has made him prisoner
for so long. But how can he do itY
The past is Il dreadful nightmare,
with its follies, weaknesses, resolves
broken, manhood degraded
The future is full of unknown ter
rors. Each succeeding week has made
him less able to fight and more de-
pendent upon the poison. And he
knows 1t, although he may not con-
fess it.
Only the man whose nerves have ac-
tually lived upon whisky has any idea
of what it means to give whisky up.
1t is easy for you to preach to him-but
suppose he should ask you to give up
food? You might try it for one day.
two days, or three days. If you yielded
to temptation on the fourth day, in
spite of all your firm intention, you
would expect kindly sympathy and
consideration.
Hunger could not make you want
food any more than the famished
nerves, trembling will, vague terrors,
constant temptation make the victim
of drink want alcohol.
You should plan to cure the drunk
ard, by all means--work at the task,
never give up, whatever the disap-
pointments.
But go about your work lntelligently,
and above all sympathetically, with
kindness, not with reproaches or any
''holier- -than-thou" feeling.
Remember that to stop drink requires
an effort of the villa very great effort
one that the sober man cannot con-
ceive.
And that effort must be made by the
drunkard himself. You can't make it
for him. All your fine moralizing.
scolding. bullying and contempt are in
your brain-not in his.
The drunkard's will alone can cure
him of drink. Therefore, to help him
you must strengthen that will.
In what does will power consist
what does it feed upon?
First, on good health strong nerves.
The man of iron nerve is the man Of
iron willard whisky, alas! doing its
devilish work so ntellgently. destroys
the nerves and the will first of all.
If you would cure a man of drink by
strengthening mis- will try to give him
health, without which the nerves can
not resist the abnormal craving.
Good food, a great deal of it, comes
first in this task-poverty causes more
drunkenness than all other causes COM
bined. The bad cooking of insufficient
food brings more whisky into poor
homes than any cause save worry
povertys other curse.
TO help a man stop drinking. first
help him to build up his health. Many
Il man has been cured of drunkenness
by 4 protracted life in the open air,
with plenty of exercise, simple food
and long sleep.
Another thing most important in the
building up of will power is the stimu-
lating Of ambition.
Human beings do that which pleases
them best.
If you can actually give a man any
thing that he likes better than whisky,
he will take that instead of whisky.
Above all, if you would cure a human
being of drink by helping the will,
give TO that human being constant
symapthy, endless kindness. Remem-
ber that you are asking that which is
almost impossible, and which only a
miracle of the will or the affections
can possibly accomplish.
True affection. sympathy, have done
more in this world on big scale and
little scale than all other agencies
despite the assertions of philosophical
historians that morals have not infiu.
enced civilization. The religion that
rules the world is based simply on
kindness-it has no other motive power
Who can doubt that the woman
whom Christ forgave-blameles as He
was-was a new woman from that
hour?
AS He cured that woman of disease
worse than drink, by affection. sympa-
thy and forgiveness alone, so that
drunkard can be cured-by long pa
tience, persistent effort. by kindness on
your part as great as the fearful crav-
ing on his
Young men, be sure that you leave
whisky alone. If you don't like it very
much, or-as you might say-"don't
care much one way or the other" then
you would be a fool not to drop it,.
Keep the poisonous trash out OF your
system, keep the money in your pocket,
spend the hours in your bed or at work
mot decelving yourself in the stupid
waste of time that accounts for all the
wrecks in life.
Be able to say: II gave myself
chance, anyhow."-Ne York Amer
lean.
Temperance Notes.
The Pittsburg Jail is now being
doubled in size. This is the way the