238 HEREDITY. 



as to the difference between intemperance and tem- 

 perance. If across the vault of the sky were written 

 that opinion in letters of fire, it could not be pro- 

 claimed more emphatically than it is by the law that 

 every habitually intemperate man loses good judg- 

 ment. 



But how, will you vote for a law in Massachusetts, 

 providing that every man who is habitually and per- 

 sistently intemperate shall have every nerve tracked 

 by pain, shall find the very holy of holies of the 

 physical organism invaded by hot pincers, shall be put 

 upon the rack, and tortured as if demons had him, 

 and shall go hence in delirium tremens ? Very few 

 men would vote for such a law as that. It is a 

 terrible thing to .injure a man's health. His family 

 depends on him ; children depend on him ; orphans 

 are to be regarded. We must be liberal. There can- 

 not possibly be passed any such regulation unless we 

 forget the interests of wives and of these little ones 

 who are not responsible for coming into the world. 

 Surely liberalism will have no support to give to a 

 law by which habitual intemperance incapacitates a 

 man for the supporting of his family. There is, how- 

 ever, a Power yonder which seems not to be gov- 

 erned by sentiment like this ; which has made a law 

 that every habitually intemperate man shall have his 

 veins tortured, and shall have every nerve seized in 

 red-hot pincers." That government is terribly in 

 earnest. That is what it does. It does that every 

 time. You know that. There is not a particle of 

 doubt on this subject. There is not a scintilla of 



