BEVEEAGES 75 



has not men who were once truly respected, but who 

 have gradually fallen in the estimation of their neigh- 

 bors to objects merely of pity or contempt? Why? 

 Because alcoholic drinks, instead of nourishing their 

 bodies or healthfully stimulating them, have simply 

 served as a poison to paralyze the muscles and piti- 

 fully weaken both body and will ! What prison does 

 not show liquor to be the cause of the disgrace of nine- 

 tenths of its occupants? What poor-house or insane 

 asylum but records the same unhappy tale ? 



The habit of using too much coffee, tea, or rich 

 food may impair vigor, and change a man's disposition 

 enough to make him less companionable at times. 

 By one or both of these results, his material pros- 

 perity and that of his family may be affected. 

 Such excesses, however, rarely lead to disgrace, and 

 the great injury usually ends with himself. The 

 results from over-indulgence in alcoholic drinks are 

 far different. The person may become not only un- 

 companionable but brutal. Habits of work often 

 change so that business and property are allowed to 

 go to ruin. W T ife and children, besides being over- 

 whelmed with disgrace, are robbed of the comforts 

 and advantages which would have been theirs, had the 

 appetite for alcohol never been formed. No one can 

 tell the hopes, the ambition, the sweetness, and the 

 love that have been blighted by intoxicating drinks. 

 What misery and despair they have caused, none can 

 picture. It is beyond the power of words. 



