The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-10-03
DOMAIN OF TEMPERANCE.
"sAFETY FIRST"

"There is no harm drinking if one
does not go to excess" Are you
quite sure of that? asks Father Lam
bling in the Pittsburgh Observer.
Would you tell your prospective en-
ployer that if you were looking for
job? If not, why not? So the as
sertion is not quite safe practically.
There is, then, some kind of harm in
drinking even when one does not go
to excess. Safety first" is a very
safe and sane rule to observe. To
act on the principle that drinking
even very moderately is harmful and
to be consistent and persistent total
abstainer is very valuable asset for
young man, and equally valuable for
an old man. 1t is better than bank
account.
One not unfrequently hears it as
serted that a stimulant is necessary
for a middle-aged or older person.
Is that really true? What is stimu-
liant? Something that impels or in
cites to action, from stimulus, goad.
"A
old horse. The stroke of it impels
him to an extra effort in an emergency
or for moment; but it adds moth
ing to his strength nor does him any
good. Quite the contrary, for the
poor brute is exhausted after the eX-
ira expenditure of strength and in a
worse condition even for the driver
ha
needed was rest and food; what the
old one needed was less heavy work
and not so much of it. The extra
effort made under the application Of
the whip drew heavily on the little
reserve strength the poor beast had.
The use of the whip was more than
useless, it was cruel and inhuman.
What a man past middle life or
over-worked needs is not stimulant
but common sense to know that he
has not the strength of earlier years
or of a robust untired man, and is
unfit to do the work of either. What
he needs is that prudence and precau-
ton which age is supposed to bring
and which would teach him to hus-
band his strength. The infinite wis
dom and love of God has provided
that as man grows older he natural
ly becomes less energetic and more
inclined to rest and take the world
easy. When a man acknowledges
that His Heavenly Father is Infinite
ly wise, why does he not act accord
ingly? Why does he use a stimulant
upon himself as the inhuman driver
uses the whip upon his poor old
horse, instead of conforming to the de-
sign of God that he should not work
as formerly, but respect his age, and
gradually step down and out grace
| fully, giving place to younger men as
place had been given him? We
should not have so exalted an opinion
of our own Importance or imagine
| that we are so necessary to the
world, as to fly in the face of God and
by using stimulants land so danger
Gus ones as alcoholic liquors) to COM
pei ourselves to do what God intends
we should not. Many a man by the
use of stimulants units himself to do
what God wishes and what otherwise
he would be able to perform. His
mind is so disturbed and his will be-
numbed by the fumes of alcohol that
he cannot recognize nor will to do
what unstimulated he could have &C
complished.
No, the whip gave no strength to
the over-worked horse; what he need
ed was rest and oats. Neither does
an alcoholic stimulant give strength
to an over-worked, worn out or old
man. What he needs is common
sense and piety to conform to the
will of his Heavenly Father, to ack-
nowledge that he cannot do the work
of young or healthy man, the work
of former years. Common sense not
to wish nor attempt it. Let us hear
no more of the need of what is worse
than useless, and units those who
employ it to do what they would be
able to accomplish if they did not use
it.