xn. 



THE FAVORITE POISON OF AMERICA. i 



. November, 1850. 



ONE of the most complete and salutary reforms ever, perhaps, 

 made in any country, is the temperance reform of tke last fif- 

 teen years in the United States. Every body, familiar with our man- 

 ners and customs fifteen or twenty years ago, very well tnows that 

 though, our people were never positively intemperate, yet aMent 

 spirite were, at that time,Jn almost as constant daily use, both in 

 public and private life, as tea and coflfee are now ; wMle at the pres- 

 ent moment, tbey are seldom or never ofiered as a means of civility 

 or refresbment-r-at least in the older States. The result of this 

 higher civilization or temperance, as one may please to call it, is that 

 a large amount of vice and crime have disappeared from amidst the 

 Idbpring classes, whQe the physical as well as moral condition of 

 those who labor too little to be able to bear' intoxicating drinks, is 

 very much improved. i 



We have taken this consolatory glance at this great and saluta- 

 ry reform of the habits of a whole country, because we need some- 

 thing to fortify our faith, in the possibility of new reforms ; for our 

 countrymen have, within the -last ten years, discovered a new poison, 

 which is used wholesale, botk in public and private, all over the 

 country, till the national health and constitution are absolutely im- 

 paired by it. 



" A national poison ? Do you mean slavery, socialism, abolition, 

 mormonism?" Nothing of the sort. "Then, perhaips, tobacco, 

 patent medicines, or coffee ? " Worse than these. It is a foe more 



