The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-05-26
wHAr IS YOUR pRINk BILL:
Change I'm Ideas a t. The Habit OF
Drinking

DELtAluS
The defendant stated that he was
walking down the street. when the
complainant who was a total stranger
came NJ to him. and said: Dun
man. what Is your drink bilI7"
I'm his noyan at what he re-
garded as an impairment question.
conveying an offensive imputation. de-
PENDANT admitted. he knocked h
complainant down.
That account appeared in a newspa-
per the other day. The magistrate
advised the damaged teetotal advocate
to exercise more discretion Is to how
he carried OF his temperance crusade.
and dismissed the defendant. The
cause Of temperance. it seems to me.
Is frequently damaged by h man
ner in which some Of its most r
advocates represent the case for it.
Their language is often too vigorous.
and picturesque. Drink. SIR.
heard one say to a moderate inQui-
ger. ~"iegrades those who take 1t TO
the level Of beasts"
A young friend of mine evidently
IldU nSdt0 SoIlStIIitlS IL Al oAA
kind. for when I started to point out
re him that success in life is not won
on brandy highballs. he said: III
you're going TO call me a beast and
preach a I'm off" I am not
going to do anything of the kind. L
know of no beast that spends its time
as %insanely as he does most of his.
Drinking stimulants Is a habit COM
mon to most people. I'VE are apt to
become slaves of our habits" said
| General Gordon. Il only wish peo-
| pie would sit down occasionally n
| see whether they nav become slaves.
| and. If so. what their masters are" 1t
may not be a particularly agreeable
occupation. It is n in which n mar
| is apt to meet with hooks
MY belief is that the vast majority
| OF men and women drink more than
IS compatible with their being as well
off as able and as happy as they 9TH
erwise would be.
The drink habit. therefore. seems
decidedly on the increase. Reports
show that. while drinking has greatly
declined among the better off classes.
it has got a bigger grip on the poorer
masses of the people. l am
myself, while there is such evidence
of increased drink consumption. at
the large increase in numbers of those
I meet in society who never drink al
L oIIoal ilduoI a. III
quite ceased to be n Of h necessary
qualifications of a gentlemaR. Strict
temperance has come to be recognlZ-
ed in all educated assemblies as by no
means synonymous with bigotry.
I have a friend who is possessed of
81 beautiful silver tankard which has
been in his family for several genera
tons. He has this filled twice during
dinner. His ancestors did SO and the
observes the family custom. [ believe
that en- enormous amount or our
| drinking arises from the mistakes we
make People drank. we read. and why
should not we drink. too AS l once
heard a gentleman express 1t: Drink
ing is a good old established custom
T don't pretend to be wiser than my
forefarhers. so 7 drink as they did,
/ As a matter of fact. he does nothing
of the kind. His life is entirely differ
ent from the lives his f~Orefathers led
7 and his drinking is done under totally
different conditions If his forefath'
| ers were alive today I daresay that {
considerable portion of them would ht
=, total abstainers. Because Mary Queer
of Scots drank 2 quart Of beer To-
breakfast would be held no satisfac
? tory reason for n modern woman DO
1 ing Anything Of the kind. That mel
81 used to drink two or three pottles "
81 wine with their dinner does not con
vince me that it was either good TO
them or that it would be good for me
am certain that it would be Wors
for me than it was for them.
Rut there is no doubt about it tina
i the stories of the Indulgence OF d1st1n
gujshed people i'm past days nave. as l
we're. invested a species of halo aroun'
> the drink a great deal more than the
otherwise would because they beheV
that it is quite the proper thlng -
e an old custom generally observed o
8 eeniuses. wits. and good fellows. n
nj make no allowance for the chanse
: conditions under which we i've todaS
1.-THE rush to the towns" said a DhS
X sician to me. has led to an enormou
increase in the alcoholic habit. l ar
: not speaking Of ~drunkards. but of PEG
ple who however. drink sufficiently I
n do injury to themselves. Societ
brings increased foundations: tn
stress of business and the strain upo
: ones courage to face the demands g
life make them more allurlng. An
the. worst of it is that the sedentar
=. life of the rownsnan renders the hap
4 more peculiarly injurious to MIN
g What heaps of Dutch courage there
about"
It was his belief that half h pee
pie who drank did so in order to kee
up their courage to meet tne cans ,
n the dav! a short time back the Worl
:. was filed with indignant contempt &c
a fleet which required vodka to arous
= it to courage. 1t aroused it to a goo
q deal else. 1 wonder how MANY tnor
d sands OF gentlemen there were WI
,e EXPRESSED their contempt Tor the o.
. Tenders as they gulped down the
morning drink in order to give thel
= courage to face their work
,o'l A great number of people appes
possessed of the notion that they ca
it never be happy. ready and MT pure
Of themselves. They are like one {
our greatest public orators. who Wa
possessed of the notion that he cou'
never make an effective sreech vi
less he had had three glasses OF VIM
key to prime him. He lived n
- that delusion seven wears. when Or
- day he was called upon to address a
audience in an out-of-the wav pa
ct of the ountr Arrived at the Dla
he discovered that he had
his poke mask. To his immense d
~ +,r;-.,,oa,t ba foT,pd ne made one