8 



It may first begin with the social glass at home, or the market 

 glass with friend after friend, and by degrees the drink craving is 

 created : it calls for a glass in the morning, it reminds its victim 

 when he is passing the house where it can be had, the process 

 goes on till the craving becomes a vice, and the vice a disease; and 

 now he is fairly on the way to ruin, time and money are in- 

 creasingly wasted, self respect is gradually but surely lost, the 

 intellect becomes clouded and weakened, the moral character of 

 the man is destroyed and its effects is visible in the family, and 

 from this point the work of ruin is soon completed either by 

 distress or death. In almost every village in the country, in this 

 way drink is doing its deadly work. It is not always the head 

 of the family ; wives, sons, and even daughters fall victims to 

 this vice. It may be thought that I am over drawing the picture, 

 which I would not do on any account if I knew it. The evil has 

 existed long, and is deeply rooted. I would advise any of my 

 readers to put this statement to the test in their own parishes. 

 Let them take say the last 30 years, and take each house, and 

 see what has happened, to each family, from the effects of drink, 

 and I venture to believe, that their eyes will be opened then, if 

 they have never been before, to the bearing of Intemperance 

 upon Agriculture. I have recently done this in connection with 

 other persons in several villages in different parts of the country 

 with sad results. 



A farmer lately failed in one of the Midland Counties, whose 

 liabilities for drink and tobacco amounted to ^1000. Another 

 case in the same neighbourhood : a farmer stated to a friend of 

 mine that he had paid over ;£'300 in one year for drink ; these I 

 grant are extreme cases, yet it must be admitted by all acquainted 

 with the habits and customs of farmers, that a vast amount of 

 money is too often spent upon drink and its associations. 



There can be no doubt that the worst enemy all down the 

 ages to British agriculture, has been, and is, the drink. It not 

 only empties the pocket, but it seriously weakens the brain-power, 

 and prevents the cultivator from grasping, and grappling effec- 

 tually with the difficulties that beset his path. Lord Salisbury 

 is reported to have said in a speech a short time ago, " That what 

 was most needed in English Agriculture, was brain-power." 

 This all must admit to be true, and what weakens the brain and 

 deadens the intellect so much as intoxicating, or, more correctly — 

 poisoning drinks. As shown by the following statement of Sir 

 William Gull, before the select committee of the House of Lords, 

 July, 1877 — "I should say from my experience, that it (alcohol) 

 is the most destructive agent that we are aware of in this country. 

 I think that, taking it as a whole, there is a great deal of injury 

 done to health by the habitual use of wines in their various kinds, 

 and alcohol in its various shapes, even in so-called moderate 

 quantities. And to people who are not in the least intemperate, 

 I think drinking leads to tlie degeneration of tissues ; it spoils the 

 health and it spoils the intellect. I know it (alcohol) is a most 

 deleterious poison. I would like to say that a very large number 



