•-2G2 



The Grape Uulturist. 



(•f>mmendable or enviable. I will fur- 

 ther prove that human wisdom is 

 nothing but absurtl claptrap, a pre- 

 tenseful foUy ; that vices, intemper- 

 ance included, are Avorth more than 

 their reputation, and that the Al- 

 mighty Architect is neither wicked 

 nor a fool, notwithstanding the daily 

 attempts to ])rove hitn so from moral- 

 i-^ts — water drinkers or otherwise, and 

 all such like ])hiloso2)hers who have 

 gone before mo. Should any of my 

 readers be of that sort that are easily 

 scared,'! bog of them to consider all 

 this as pure jest, until having read my 

 last chapter they ma}' exclaim, like a 

 noted judge, after hearing the final 

 argument in a case before him : By 

 Jove, that man is also right ! 



A sad sight it is, indeed, to behold 

 the superb animal, man, so infinite in 

 faculties I the beauty of the vrorld ! 

 the image of God on earth I bereaved 

 of his reason, his soul — as Milton ex- 

 pressed it, losing ''the divine prop- 

 erty of her first being," imbodied and 

 imbrutedl the fjice divine all distort- 

 ed I his nose, like a beacon, pointing 

 out too plainly the cause, and the body 

 too often become a repulsive mass of 

 disease I — it is certainly one of the 

 saddest pictures given to man to con- 

 template of his fellow man. The spec- 

 tacle of an inebriate always disposes 

 me to soliloquize, in the words of the 

 more or less immortal Shakespeare : 

 "0 thou invisible spirit of alcohol, if 

 thou hast no other name to be known 

 by, let us call thee devil I O that men 

 should put an eneni}' into their mouths 

 to steal away their brauisl that we 

 should with joy, revel in pleasure and 

 applause, transform oui-selves into 

 beasts. Drunk? and speak parrot? 



and squabble? swagger? swear? and 

 discourse with one's own shadow? 

 What a preposterous simpleton this 

 same over-drinking makes a man. To 

 be now a sensible being, by and b}' a 

 fool, and pi-esently a beast. O strange I 

 Every inordinate cuj) is unblest. Thou 

 rememberest a mass of things, but 

 nothing distinctly ; a quarrel, but 

 nothing wherefore; till it pleases the 

 devil, di'unkenness, to give place to 

 the devil, wrath; one imperfectness 

 showing thee another, to make thee 

 frankl}' despise thyself." Such are 

 theeftects of drunkenness, and no man 

 can deplore them more than I do. 



As the world moves along, new 

 scientific terms, with more light, are 

 ever making their appearance ; one of 

 the last is possibly Dipsomania — a 

 craving for intoxicating liquors which 

 partakes of the character of insanity. 

 Whether thirst, in the usual meaning 

 of the word, has anything to do Avith 

 the maddened pro])cnsity for drink- 

 ing, the moderate abilities conferred 

 on me by a wise Providence precludes 

 my giving an explanation ; but of this 

 T am too well aware : that it is one 

 of the most distressing forms of men- 

 tal derangement. 



Tipplers, hard drinkers, men who 

 go off on a drunken ramble, as they 

 term it, for days or weeks^ are nothing 

 singular. We have all seen or heard 

 of such persons — an annoA'ance they 

 are to societ}-, a discredit to them- 

 selves. State or local laws ought to 

 take due care of such men ; a timely 

 punishment Avould bring many to their 

 senses. I have seen it succeed in for- 

 eign countries, not so wise as Uncle 

 Sam's (!); why not here? It is towards 

 such charactei-s that I should like to 



