Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1914-03-27
AS SEEN FROM THE.
MATER-BUGGY.

MAIEk-bUUUl /.
The "Lltera~y Digest" in its
issue of February 2lst, under the
above caption, -devotes considerable
space to an article recently appear
ing In the Saturday Evening Post, .
by Mr.. Samuel &. Blythe, who
during twenty years of conviviality
and three years OF abstinence, made
some intimate observations con
corning the liquor habit. The
digest" makes very liberal quota
tons from the Saturday Evening
Post" all of which occupy too
much space for the columns of the
Bulletin, but attention is called to
the following extracts which give
Mr.. Blythe's views on the drinking
habit and the abstinence therefrt m
and which will probably prove
very interesting reading:
"a nondrinking man is the master
oil his own time. A drinking man is
not master OF his time. He may
think he is, but he is rot. He is
the CREATURE of habit that may be
harmless, but which surely is in
sistent; and the habit dictates what
he shall do with his leisure.
thine! Why, such new yistas of
what Can be done with time that
was wasted in former years have
opened before me, that time seems
to me the greatest luxury in the
wOild-time that was formerly
wasted and now is used [ hope
that does not sound pliggish. |
have tried to show that | value
highly the privilege of associating
with my fellows, and that I like
their ways and their ia and their
company. What | mean by tbs
paean to time is that | can have
company in a modified measure, if |
choose; and that can and do have
other things that no man who has
daily drinking habit can or does
lave.
"Take though books may
not be fair test Of tine employed
in my case, tor l always have read
books in great numbers-but take
books: In the past three years |
have read as many books-real
books as ] read IN the ten years
preceding.
II have had time to 90 to see
some pictures. | have had time to
hear some music. | have met aud
talked to large number of people
who were formerly outside my range
of vision. And | have done better
work In my own line-1 have more
time for it.
Now, then, we come 10 the real
question, which la: With our society
org enized as it is, with men such
men as they are, with conditions
that surround lilo as 1t is organized,
with things as they stand today-is
it worth while to drink moderately.
or it is moi? The answer, based
solely on my own experience, is that
it is not. Looking at the matter
from ell its angles | am convinced
that the best thing | ever did for
myself was to quit drinking. | will
60 further than that and say it is
my unalterable convlc ion that
alcohol, In any foim as beverage,
never did ANYTHING for any m; IL
that he would not have been better
without.
II can now sit back and con-
trast the old game with the new.
The comparisons fall under two
general heads physical and men
tai. The physical gain is so OBJ
vious that even those who have
not experienced it admit it, and
those who have experienced it
comment on it as some miracle OF
health that has been attained. ANY
mani 60 not care who he Is who
was the sort of a drinker | was, WHO
will stop drinking long enough to
get cooled out, will feel SO much
batter in every way that he will be
hard put to it to give reason for
ever beginning again
Mentally | have a clearer, saner,
wider view of life. / am afflicted
by none of the desultoriness super
Induced by alcohol. | do not need
a bracer to get NE going or a
hooker 70 keep me under way l
End, now that know the other
side of it, that the chief mental