The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-05-07

; drinking woman Is unspeakable.
Every one who drinks hazards his
health, his social position, his very
life, to say nothing of hts soul.
Fourth, we should run from drink
because IL makes "A fool OF a man,
Listen TO the soliloquy OF the drunk
ard in the lesson. Drink is the
DEVILS greatest fool maker. 1t can
I make more fools in 81 igven time than
anything else IN the world. You have
! seen forty fools made s4t a hanuue. m
an hour and a half. Drink shall not
treat me that way II am not strong
! enough to stand my ground and knock
/ the t1'rsnt down when he comes to
make fool of me ! will run. No
man ever loses dignity when he runs
=, from anything that win make fool
I of him.
/ Fifth, we should run from drink be-
cause the end liz death. AT the last
II bItheth like serpent and sting
eth like an adder" The tsing of an
adder means death. At the last, not
at the first. At the first all 10 life
and sparkle and beauty; at the last
there is a cry of anguish. the lights
go out, and when you look for what
is left IT Is like cropping about In a
dark, nouldy cellar and stumbling
upon an ill-smelling skeleton Let q
/ man go on drinking and he is as
sslre of death physically. mentally,
morally and spiritually as the sun II
: to Set------------
II you started to take a dose OF
medicine and you we're told that II
would bring upon you g. multitude OF
, ills, would you take 1t? II you start
/ ed 10 look at q snake and you We're
/ told that II had the power to charm
( you SO that you could not move out
! of it's reach, would you look at 1t? IL
( you were about TO start on a journey
and you knew that you would meet
/ death at the end would you goF
! Our Drink Problem.
When God made this world for our
| temporary home he furnished II with
a medicine closet When we took pos
! session and found our medicine closet
! we began TO do some experimenting on
our own account. And we learned
some wonderful things We discov-
cred that certain herbs were not only
4 good for the pains of the body, but
they would also relieve for a little
I while the palms of the mind. And 20
! when troubles came, and our minds
were harassed and our spirits de-
pressed, we took these medicines for
I exhiiaration. And when our troubles
seemed to be too great to be borne We
took them for stupefaction. In Syria
men squeezed the grapes and fer
mented the juice and drank the ex-
hilarating wine. In the far East they
found exquisite sensations of delight
! In chewing tho betel nut The Chinese
extracted the secret from the poppy
and smoked themselves into the land
of dreams and beyond into the land of
death In the Indies they sought hap
piness In hasheesh. In South America
they found soothing in the cocoa, and
here In North America in tobacco.
When I'm the eleventh century men
discovered alcohol they thought they
had found the water of life. The use
OF alcohol grew until 1t became as
sociated with almost everything In life.
/ even with the most sacred things of
/ life. Men drank at the birth of a
child, at his baptism, later at his mar
riage. finally at his death--drank lit
orally at the beginning and end OF
everything In life. While the result
was horrible IL was not so bad as II
might have been. owing to the fact
that in those days men lived active
outdoor lives and were therefore capa-
Bile Of throwing of much of the effect
of alcohol. To-day confined as men
are. leading Redentary lives in poorly
ventilated houses, they cannot throw
of the evil effects, and the problem
has Increased a hundred-fold. And so.
/ whatever may be said OF the progress
OF temperance the drink problem ia q
more important problem to-day than
IL has ever been in the past.