302 



TFhat ^hall rue drink this HaiTest ? 



Vol. IL 



a man to perform his share of labor, he must 

 eat an adequate portion of wholesome food 

 and digest it well. Tlie healthy performance 

 of these functions is like the supply of water 

 to a grist mill — take the water away from the 

 wheel, aud the mill must stop; or diminish 

 the quantity materially; and the grinding 

 will go on slowly. So if a man's strength is 

 not constantly kept up by the invigorating ef- 

 fect of a proper quantity of wliolcsome, well 

 digested tb»d, he cannot labor efficiently — he 

 will soon feel tired, languid, and exhausted ; 

 and either give over work entirel}', or go on 

 very slowly. But the stomach of a dram 

 drinker cannot keep up this regular supply — 

 its functions are deranged — it is either disin- 

 clined for food, and the man has no appetite ; 

 or if he cats, his digestive powers are so weak- 

 ened, that the food is not properly dissolved in 

 the stomach, and distributed throughout the 

 system. Hence it is that such men, though 

 they may exhibit great strength tor a short 

 time, while excited by the liquor, soon fail 

 when long continued and steady labor is re- 

 quired ; and are easily outdone by men whose 

 natural muscular powers are far less. 



It has been fully proved by actual experi- 

 ment that men who never drink any intoxi- 

 cating liquor, endure the extremes of heat 

 and cold, much better than even those who 

 use the article in what is usu:Jly called a 

 moderate way. I well remember a circum- 

 stance which occurred some years ago, when 

 an attempt was made in extremely cold 

 weatlier to discharge the cargo of a vessel 

 which had been wrecked. As the men were 

 necessarily exposed to be wet, and the severi- 

 ty of the cold threatened to freeze their limbs, 

 ardent spirits were deemed necessary and 

 freely allowed. Not a gang could be got to 

 endure the exposure and fatigue more than a 

 fewhours, when they abandoned the job. At 

 length a very respectable man offered to con- 

 tract for unlading the vessel in a short time, 

 so short that the owners deemed it impracti- 

 cable, considering the difficulties to be sur- 

 mounted. He, however, persevered in his 

 offer, and was accepted. When he put his 

 gang of men on board, he provided at the 

 same time for furnisliing them at intervals of 

 two or three hours with hot chocolate, and 

 porriage alternately, with bread and butter, 

 but strictly prohibited any intoxicating liquor, 

 beer, cider, wine, &c. The dram drinking 

 laborers laughed at his folly and sneered at 

 his men, predicting that they would soon 

 give out. But so fir from this, they per- 

 formed the work within the promised time, 

 with comparatively little fatigue and no suf- 

 fering — not a man gave out or was frost-bit- 

 ten, though some of the dram drinkers were 

 severely affected in this way. 



This and other experiments fully prove 



that a sufficient supply of wholesome and nu- 

 tritious food and drink furnish real support to 

 the body to labor and that persons who use 

 them only can endure much more than those 

 who use intoxicating liquors. The same re- 

 sults, I am satisfied from my observation, will 

 always be produced in the harvest field; and 

 that true economy dictates the entire aban- 

 donment of those poisonous and destructive 

 beverages. 



But when we consider the moral evils 

 flowing from the use of ardent spirits as a 

 drink, the arguments against their practice 

 are overwhelming, and indeed it is becoming 

 quite disreputable to use or give them. From 

 calculations which have been made it would 

 seem that the number of persons who are 

 slain by this mighty monster, greatly exceed 

 the whole amount who perish by wars. If a 

 pestilence sweeps over a country and consigns 

 to the grave a multitude of our fellow beings, 

 the mind is filled with av.'e and fear. But 

 here is a dreadful moral pestilence stalking 

 through our land and annually cutting down 

 thousands of the once strong and promising 

 members of society, yet so utterly insensible 

 are many to the dangers which await them, 

 tliat they even place themselves within reach 

 of the infection, or tamper with the destroyer, 

 as though they heeded not his pestiferious 

 approach. 



If we notice the wretched tenants of our 

 prisons or our almshouses, we shall find 

 scarcely one of the former whose course of 

 degrading crime has not commenced in, or 

 been nurtured by the habit of using strong 

 drinks, while a large proportion of the lat- 

 ter will owe their wretchedness and poverty 

 to the same demoralizing cause. How many 

 blooming young men, once the pride and joy 

 of their fond parents, and the light and hope ot 

 their declining years, have sunk, blighted and 

 ruined, into an untimely grave under the fa- 

 tal effects of dram drinking. 



These all commenced their course in the 

 moderate use of the article, and felt them- 

 selves secure from the danger of becoming 

 drunkards, because they used it so sparingly. 

 Perhaps some of them owed their introduction 

 to the practice, to the example of those dis- 

 consolate parents who now weep in vain over 

 their dishonored graves, and who commenced 

 their course of ruin by carrying ardent spirits 

 into the harvest field. No man suddenly be- 

 comes a drunkard — the morning dram — the 

 occasional dose when wet and cold, or dry and 

 hot, or when meeting a friend, or working at 

 harvest, is the usual beginning. A friend of 

 mine told me when far advanced in life, that 

 in his early manhood he worked hard, and fell 

 into the then popular error, that drams were 

 necessary to sustain him. He soon found that 

 the ordinary allowance did QOtafiord him the 



