THE MORAL STATUS OF ALCOHOL. 379 



excellence of action, of doing, is almost incompatible with rigid, 

 abandonment of alcohol. Perhaps there have been no two 

 qualities so much vaunted by total abstainers as belonging 

 markedly to themselves, the results of an anti-alcoholic dis- 

 cipline, as a certain clearness of eye and steadiness of hand. 

 " I could not do that in the times when I drank strong drinks,'* 

 a certain celebrated lecturer on the advantage of total ab- 

 stinence would boast, whilst lifting a brimming glass of water 

 to his lips without spilling. To be candid, the feat was one 

 that never appeared to me so difficult. So, when volunteers 

 were established, and Wimbledon shooting-matches; and, 

 best of all, when the gallant Havelocks, the real teetotal 

 alcohol-hating forty-eighth Middlesex were incorporated, then 

 did lookers-on begin, and naturally enough, to be on. the 

 alert for demonstrated proofs of teetotal excellence ; sharp 

 unclouded eyes and steady hands ! My friends, what would 

 you ? Are these not the very qualities that make up good 

 rifle-shooting? Have the gallant Havelocks done anything 

 that way ? If so, I never heard of it. Did you ever know or 

 hear of any alcohol-hating total-abstinence man who excelled 

 in rifle-shooting? /never did. To finish (and it is a matter 

 of considerable delicacy), how came it about, if pump-water 

 be endowed with such manifold excellences, that the gallant 

 Havelock forty-eighth, once upon a time, got a wigging for 

 its manoeuvring inefficiency ? 



6 Then as to skilled labourers in the peaceful arts of life : 

 when it comes to the doing of regular, plodding, mechanical 

 work, going the same circuit over and over again, like that 

 of a mill- horse, your thorough abstainer is a good enough 

 animal. If we speak of skilled labour and labourers, what 

 then? Why, it unfortunately happens, that amongst em- 

 ployers of skilled labourers, the extreme opinion very gener- 

 ally prevails, that the hard-drinking fellows men who make 

 most black Mondays, and who sometimes are not quite ready 

 for business on Tuesdays are always the best. The belief 



