La Junta tribune., 1910-03-05
Y experience as = user OF al
coholic beverages Is entirely
different from that describ-

Gates and some fiction writer's. And
yet, In Its essential features. 1t is. |
believe, Tar more typical OF the av.
erage experience OF the great ma.
tority Of men who drink.
The attack against alcohol Is led by
those who either have had no per.
sonai experience In the matter or else
have had such q tragic experience
that their Judgment. naturally. is
warped. The citing OF extreme cases.
the depletion OF horrible examples.
with their vivid emotional appeal. may
and frequently do produce more than
a merely temporary effect upon i'm.
questionable hearers. have no de-
sire to disparage well-meanlng ef.
forts In 4 sincere and altruistic cause.
Nevertheless, I have seen cases where
JUST such methods have defeated their
own ends. For instance. every young
man in the actual everyday world OF
reality cannot help observing that a
great many use alcohol. and that only
4 small percentage Of these abuse II;
that many drink. and only few be-
come drunkArds. This comes to him,
In some cases. as an astonishing rev.
eiation, In view Of what he has been
carefully taught to believe-and 1t is
only too apt to make him discredit all
the well-intended but sometimes in
temperate methods of temperance ad-
vocates. He begins to smile at their
"fanaticism." and becomes cynical
and skeptical with regard to the
whole matter. with results that are
sometimes disastrous to himself and
to the cause Of temperance.
However that may be. It has often
occurred to me that II man like my
self. representing the vast majority
Of drinkers. not the small minority.
were to tell the actual history OF his
own personal experience In the use OF
alcoholic beverages.-how he began.
why he drank, what came OF II. and
what he honestly thinks about the
mstter.-such story. while not sen
sational, might be OF some value al
this time. when SO much attention Is
directed to the matter.
How 0sean 70 Drink.
I began drinking nearly = quarter
Of 4 century ago. while still 4 boy
At . preparatory schoOl-if an occa-
slonal taste of beverages that had
alcohol In them can be called drink
Ing"
When . confession Of this sort In
made. II ID traditional to lay the
blame for ones first false step upon
EVIL associates.' have no such
excuse, and am OF the opinion that
such excuses are usually nonsense.
A young man is not led into drink
ing because his associates want him
to drink on the contrary. he seeks
such associates because he wants to
drink. Among manly American boys
1t Is not 70 hard to say no" rs !,
is fictionally represented 10 be. A
| recall Il. II 4 boy said II quietly
but n II he meant it.-neither Ike q
sanctimonious prig nor scared weak
nng.-he was always liked and re
spected for Il by his associates. even
when they were "evil." My reason
for beginning to drink WAS that
wanted 20.
| wanted to-here again. ! fear.
shall offend temperance workers-be
cause 70 many well. meaning Older
people wanted me not to. They talk
ed about II 20 much that they arous
ed my curiosity. They wrapped th'
4 whole matter In = glamour OF myster
ious interest. Al any rate. they thor
oughy convinced me that drinkini
was delightful and dangerous. Eithe'
quality alone would have made II In
terestinE. With both together II Wal
Irresistible. They literally made m,
mouth water. 80 I Tried Il.
Ay first drink WAS . cocktail. ant
It was an enormous disappointment
It was almost ~ disiilusionizins a
my first cigar. Cigar smoke had 81
ways smelled 20 good: the taste WA
80 different. A cocktail sounded 81
ray and delicious: Il tasted 10 hA
and nasty. This thing they all mad
so much fuss about was not what !
had been cracked up to b.. Just y
the "gin palaces" which had been pic
mred a. such brilliant and bcautifu
places. proved vulgar. gaFish resorts
"hose decorations and whose boofy
raueous habltuea offended my fastid
IaN al