The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-11-17
BITTER WAR ON INTEMPERANCE
SOLDIERS FIGHTING THIS CURSE
GREATLY CHEERED.

BY JOHN C. EARL.

goa, lndC Hleu SnOulu put dill eheiny
into their mouths to steal away their
brains! To be now a sensible man, by and
by a fool, and presently a beast!"-Shakos-
peare.
To me there is no more interesting
problem in psychology!
Come to think Of it this whole
question of alcoholism is one Of the
most astounding puzzles in moral in
consistency and intellectual perversity
that has ever come before the INTEL
ligent world for solution.
Why we should tolerate this nc
cursed stuff among US, with the evil
dences of it's cruelty destructive ma
ture confronting US at every turn, Is a
question that should scare us as to
u own personal sanity!
In it's initial stages, alcoholism Is
the birthplace of moral. and physical
iegeneracy, later on the hotbed Of dis
honor, dishonesty and disloyalty;
and, at the last, the sad burial ground
of wrecked hopes, Of ruined careers;
of lost souls and all that might but
for it, have been so beautiful and
good and true.
Why do men drink? 1t is the dew
that m~oistens the roadway to hell!
Yet we nurture the germs of our
future hopes and fears in its foul
pollution, we suckle it to our innocent
babes, and prefer it to one another
at the most sacred rites Of our re-
ligious beliefs! Why do we do it?
"Nine throws q man out of himself, and
infuses qualities into the mind which she
= l. - -, -oha~ r,ornnrfo ~
Addison.
Why do men drink? Ask the
"total abstainer" who smilingly offers
1t to his guests.
Ask the moderate drunkard,"
who. sneering at his more involved
brothers, wickedly boasts that, he can
stake it or let it alone"
Ask the "convivialist," who, swear
ing love and loyalty for the COM.
panions: of his debauch, takes to the
tall timber at The first sign of
trouble. .... %
Ask the "'d~ipsomaniac," who period
ically kisses death in a perfect Mag
ara Of the vile stuff he abominates.
Ask the poor Chronic i~nebr1ate,"
who but marks time" in the morass
Of alcoholic bilge till the reaper gath
ers him in. ~~'
"Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow!
They that tary at the wine. It biteth like
n serpent and stingeth like an adder
The Bible.
Why do men drink? OF what use
Is medical science If this question
cannot be answered? We are given
countless good and sufficient reasons
why men should not drink, but no
n seems ever to have sounded the
depths Of human perversity for one
good and sufficient reason why men
do drink! =.
The fact of the matter is that, with
few exceptions, everyone who comes
within the alcoholic: atmosphere falls
under it's control-they become OBJ
sessed with a moral obliquity, or
what may be perhaps more correctly
termed an intellectual strabismus--
the axis of their mental vision has
become deranged by alcoholic hyp-
nosis, and their logical instinct .
non-responsive blur.
Nature has supplied an antidote for
all her ills-is there no immunity
from the infatuation of this mirage?
No redemption for those who have
fallen? No hope for the lost?
drunkenness is nothing else than a vol
sntary madness ."-Seneca.
Let us be truthful-we do not want
to escape it! Our fathers pledged
their friends ip it, and our mothers
wet our lips with 1t on the tips of
their rosy fingers. What was good
enough for them is good enough for
,usi Our mental process will not,
or can not, travel farther.
We have been unfairly dealt with
by the countless generations who
have travelled ahead Of US. Even be-
fore our birth, and during our help
less childhood, the fine clockwork OF
our mental balance has been tam
pered with, and thrown awry by alco-
holic stimulants; and now, we have
ears that hear not, and eyes that see
not. We welcome bestiality with an
inane smile, and extend the glad
hand to shame and ruin!
ooh, wad some power the giftie gle us,
To see ~oursel's as ithers see u.s."
Is there absolutely nothing in all
this wide, wide world that can free
us. of our asses ears?
soon as the potion works, their human
countenance, -,
TIL express resemblance OF the gods 10
changed,
And they, so perfect in their misery,
Not once perceive their foul disflgure
"e"' Milton.