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THE
Twelve
A part of the drunkard’s hallucination often
is that he is not a drunkard. “ I can quit any
time,” he says. But the man who says he can
quit any time, seldom quits.
There is something in the excessive use of
strong drink that brings about a dramatic
situation so an
The individual under its influence is in evi-
dence. He talks loudly. He protests and
threatens, sings, orates, shouts. He is, for the
time being, in an exalted mental condition.
He feels rich. His senses are unusually acute,
his passions are inflamed, his emotions ram-
pant. He sheds tears, and swears eternal
fidelity and friendship without end.
When he walks he takes the whole sidewalk.
When he enters a room he commands the
attention of every one in it.
Not only does he see double, but everything
in his mind is exaggerated. He at times sees
slights where none are intended. He picks up
innocent remarks and challenges them. A
condition of paranoia takes him captive. He
thinks his best friends are plotting against
him. He wants to fight. He is jealous, unrea-
sonable, insane.
The Awakening Public Conscience
BELIEVE the tendency of the times is
away from the consumption of fiery liquids.
Vodka in Russia, absinthe in France, whisky
in Scotland, Ireland and England, brandy in
America-each and all are coming under the
ban. That is, their consumption and use is
considered by many as absurd, unnecessary,
uncalled for.
Wine and beer have been substituted in a
great number of districts for the fiery liquors.
(I Prosperity reigns today in Germany to an
extent that it does nowhere else in the round
world. Next to Germany comes France. And
France is loaning money to American railroads.
Germany is supposed to be the land of beer so
In Italy and France wine is supreme.
These countries lead the world in many ways
in thought and invention, in philosophy,
music, art-all of which things are the by-
products of economics or business.
We find that men who breathe bad air, who
are imperfectly fed, who are economically
dependent, crave stimulants.
People who live in the open, who have venti-
lated houses, who are properly nourished, and
inspiration without resort to artificial methods.
(I “Let him who is without sin cast the first
I=l2Fl
April
stone.” And they say that in the crowd was a
eunuch who immediately picked up a brickbat
and hurled it with the exclamation “ Take
that ! ” so 94> -
If I lived in the Whitechapel district in
London I would certainly be a good patron
of the nearest “ Pub” to the extent of my
exchequer. But living in the country as I do,
blessed beyond the lot of most, with love and
work, and the companionship of horses and
cattle, with the sweep of waving grain-fields
before my vision, or the silent white coverlet
of snow in the Winter, and the woods upon
woods in every direction, and the running
streams singing their lullabies, hastening to
the sea-with all these things and the exac-
tions of daily duties, why should I look for
something that would deaden my brain or
limit my capacity for the manifold joys and
blessings which await me on every hand!
Evolution is the law of life--not revolution.
(I When we give up one thing we have to
have something else given to us just as good,
or if possible, a little better.
The soda-fountain forty years ago was an
experiment-now it seems to be a social
necessity so so-
Drugstores then sold whisky and drugs. Now
drugstores make their money out of caramels
and ice-cream soda.
Slowly, surely, the world is changing. It is
not, today, as necessary to forget the horrors
of life as it is to waken our souls to the bless-
ings that surround us.
The sane, the sober, the efficient, must and
will prevail, not through legislative enactment.
but through the gradual growing common-
sense of the times.
The world is growing better.
And so the summing up might be this: Let
every man study his own case. We are Work‘
ing for health, for happiness and for efficiency -
Does strong drink add to your well-being? If
not, is n’t it better to omit it? And this
certainly a large number of intelligent PC0915
"are doing.
-90
ECONOMICS changes man's activities. AS
YOU Change a man's activities you chang‘?
his W83’ 9f living, and as you change his
enVi’0"men'f You change his state of mind -9'
P"eCePt and injunction do not perC6P'Cib1Y
affect men; but food, water, air, clothing:
Shelter. Pictures, books, music, will and do sr