MARRIAGE AND DRUNKENNESS. 119 



submitting the terrible picture of the drunkard's 

 home. It has been done in poetry and prose by 

 many masters, and been depicted upon the canvas 

 of the painter, and upon the stage, by some of our 

 greatest artists. I shall not attempt to reproduce 

 a picture so well known, but confine myself to the 

 matter-of-fact statement that there is, perhaps, no 

 disease or vice, hereditary or otherwise, which causes 

 deeper degradation in the individual, more acute 

 suffering in the family circle, or makes a greater 

 call upon the ratepayer, than does this of habitual 

 drunkenness. It is a curse upon the community, 

 for it is the starting-point of insanities, epilepsies, 

 crime, and endless disease in posterity, while as to 

 the individual, there is no other diseased condition 

 known which so utterly and rapidly destroys all moral 

 sense ; unless it be epilepsy, to which it is nearly allied. 

 The victims of this horrible and irresistible craving 

 may at first honestly express shame and regret for 

 their weakness, and for the disgrace which they bring 

 upon those who should be dearest to them. But this 

 spirit is only too short-lived, soon the moral nature 

 never strong in such persons becomes undermined, 

 and we find the man or woman who but a short time 

 before would have scorned dissimulation or untruth, 

 transformed by his vice to a cunning, scheming liar, 

 without the remotest sense of truth or honour, and 

 ready to do absolutely anything to gain the where- 

 withal with which to feed his thirst. Once on the 

 down-grade, a man soon reaches a level where honour, 



