The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-06-01
DOMAIN OF TEMPERANCE
THE MODERATE DRINkER AND
THE TOTAL A5STAINER.

The moderate drinker is proud of
the fact that he has control OF his will
power. He can indulge in intoxicating
drink not to the verge of excess; and
he can forego the pleasure at Will.
He can forego that pleasure, but does
he? Are not the occasions OF absti-
nence most rare, and then only in the
earlier periods of his habit-forming?
The difference between the moderate
drinker and the total abstainer is, the
one says he can let drink alone but
he does not, whilst the other lets it
alone and tries to have others also
abstain. Perhaps they who profess to
be able to abstain may find it no easy
task if they make the attempt
The moderate drinker is proud of
his liberty and does not wish to give
it up-the liberty to follow the drink
ing customs of society which have led
many to ruin; the liberty to satisfy
his own appetite, which may gradually
lead him beyond the confines of mod
Grafton. The total abstainer also is
proud of his liberty and refuses to
give it up-the liberty by which he is
free from the slavery of drink. Which
is the more noble liberty, the one
which is bound by chains, light
though they be, or the one whose
freedom is like the birds of the air?
Whatever be the calling of a man, he
must be free from any handicap if he
| expects to meet the full demands of
that calling. If he permit customs
that have brought low the best minds
the world has known to dominate or
influence or neutralize his efforts, he
| is in the same proportion not free
man but a slave.
The moderate drinker, in his egot-
ism, does not consider his weaker
| brother, and may be the instrument
of degrading fall. The father, in his
selfish appetite, forgets the effect
which his example may have on his
offspring. Many son and daughter
can trace their first step towards a
drunkard's life and drunkard's death
back to the family fireside, to the IA
Their or mother who regarded them
selves as moderate drinkers. Their
example was bad The total abstainer
knows that from the ranks of the
moderate drinkers comes the army Of
drunkards, and he labors by his ex-
ample to save his fellow man from
this direful fate There is nothing
freakish or fanatical in his manner
of treating the drink question He
does not paint a picture of hell with
his Satanic Majesty in full glee each
time man raises a glass of beer to
his lips. He does not go amongst his
fellows with a face of acidity and an
expression that would be fitting only
in cemetery. He is not what his
enemies have pictured him. But he
studies the history of drink, he sees
it's manifold effects, he knows the
career of some of his most intimate
associates, he has watched them lose
their grip on all that was worth
while in this world, and cast aside as
worthless the moral laws that should
be the guide to their souls and he
sensibly strives to point out these dan
gers, to warn others, to show them
1 d
distance along the path which they
are pursuing. OF late years scientists,
eminent physicians, and close-observ-
ing students have come to his aid
with mountains of facts and scientific
proofs to strengthen his cause for the
uplift of humanity, so that the total
abstainer can now say beyond dispute
that intoxicating drink is of no benefit
to man, and the moderate drinker is
moderate in the use of liquor because
he is ignorant of it's poisonous effects.
But even in this case, ignorance of
the law will not save him from the
punishment meted out to all who at
tempt to establish a friendship
towards King Alcohol
| Catholic Temperance Aduocdte