The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1908-09-02
A War That DeScendS From Father
to Son and Takes All Mans
Strength to Finish.
The Fight Against Alcohol Largely Physiological in Its Ma
ture, Say the Medical Experts, Involving Many Com
plex Factors and Developing Some Remark
able Instances Of Heroism.

nuence ana the artlnclal support OF
so-called cure averted the threatened
wreck of the prospective happiness
Of two young people In this city.
young man who had responsible po-
sition as general agent of a great
wholesale house in this city was en-
gagged to be married. A round of
social calls and after-theatre parties
in company with his flancee was re-
sponsible for his fondness for wine.
In a month he was readily classed as
a victim of drink.
The young woman viewed the situa-
tion with increasing alarm, and finally
with growing horror and despair.
The young man fought the bitter
fight, but all his efforts to overcome
what had grown into a confirmed
habit were unavailing. Finally the
young woman said to him:
sour engagement is at an end for
the present. Unless you have fore
sworn this habit inside of six months
our marriage is out of the question"
The Value of Religion.
Still the mans efforts to rehabili-
tate himself were fruitless. One Sun
day morning the woman prevailed
upon him to go to church. After the
service she requested him to make a
call with her. Before he knew it he
was inside of an institution for the
treatment of the victims of alcohol.
He was informed that he must stay
there until cured. That was several
years ago, but he has not taken a
drink of any intoxicating beverage
since leaving the institution.
In the Middle West there is re-
tired railroad man, now we'll along
in years, whose name is known to
every other railroad man in the
United States. He was conductor
on passenger trains for twenty-five
years. In all that period of service
he was noted for his great physical
endurance, his consumption of liquor
and tobacco, and his profanity.
For several years this conductor
had a run of fifty miles back and
forth twice in twenty-four hours. He
took train out in the morning, came
back in the afternoon, and covered
the same route again before the next
morning. This train stopped at every
station, and the physical strain on the
conductor was tremendous. The
man was literally soaked in whisky
all the time, but apparently kept him
self we'll in hand while on duty. Once
every two weeks he got two days.
With the mental and physical relaxa-
tion, alcohol gained the ascendency,
and he usually reeled home to sit in
front of table loaded with pipe and
tobacco, cigars and bottles of whisky.
Finally there came the inevitable
row with the division superintendent
over the conductors habits, and the
conductor lost his place. He stopped
drinking, smoking and chewing on
the same day. That was twenty years
ago, and he has not touched whisky
or tobacco since. Although an ex-
tremely profane man, this was his
reply when asked how he was able to
overcome the fixed habits Of a quarter
of century:
"The only thing that gave me
strength to quit was God Almighty. r"
The following story was told to the
writer by man who travels around
the world once year, on the average,
and who has had many strange ex-
periences in out-of-the-way places:
Some years ago, at Shepheard' s
Hotel, in Cairo, l met a young man
who, apparently, was engaged in a
most earnest endeavor to rid himself
of the liquor habit. He was a New
Yorker and wealthy, having nherited
considerable fortune on the death
of his father. Before leaving New
York he had taken three courses of
treatment in an institution whose
business is to cure inebriety.
A Case of Violence.
This man was twenty-eight or
twenty-nine years old, six feet three
inches tall, and altogether a splendid
physical specimen. He was accom-
panied by physician and a valet.
When in drink he was invariably in
fighting mood, was informed, and
this was the peculiar feature of his
case. He had been up the Nile to
Wady Halfa, then to Khartoum, and
down to Cairo, where l saw him.
With his attendants he boarded p.
& o. steamer to go to India, and on
this part of his tour steward had in
structions to watch him for eight
hours of the twenty-four. With the
doctor, valet and steward he had a
sort of tlree-shift watch over him.
"He boarded the P. G. o. steamer
at Suez, and there he met some
friends he had known in Paris. Then,
despite the vigilance of his attend
ants, he obtained some intoxicant.
"The boat was steaming along
through the Red Sea on a calm, clear
night with full moon. This young
man was in his pajamas and was sit
ting in his cabin talking to his valet,
whose watch it was. This ship had
large, square ports. Suddenly, with
out warning, the young man sprang
| from his chair and diyed through the