ALCOHOL AND WARM WEATHER 129 



By studying the figures, Dr. Carpenter learned that if 

 a man drinks he is three times more likely to get ill and 

 have to go to the hospital than if he does not drink, and 

 that after he is in the hospital the man who drinks is far 

 more likely to die than the man who never drinks. 



Every year the officers of the armies in different coun- 

 tries of the world are finding out that the longer their 

 soldiers go without alcoholic drinks the better they can 

 march and fight. 



In 1898 Lord Kitchener took his soldiers on the long- 

 est march that anybody has ever written about. They 

 were in Sudan, Africa, and they marched across the 

 desert sand where the sun is blazing hot. More than 

 that, when they reached the end of the march they fought 

 a terrible battle and they conquered. This was what 

 people call a total abstinence army, which means that 

 none of the soldiers took any alcoholic drinks whatever. 



Mr. Stanley was a great traveler in Africa, and he says 

 that in such warm countries no one should dare to touch 

 a drop of alcohol in the daytime. Most people who go 

 off hunting in Africa and India believe the same thing. 

 They say that if a man is in the habit of drinking he is 

 not so strong for the hunting trip and not so likely to 

 hit the lions and the tigers when he sees them. 



Thus we learn that alcohol is a man's enemy in cold 

 countries and in hot countries, in winter and in summer, 

 when he is well and when he is ill. 



