Warning to the Young Against Drunkenness and Idleness
A temperance essay warns young men that idle hands and the casual mixing of brandy and water are the first steps toward habitual drunkenness and ruin, singling out tobacco use as a gateway vice.
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Southern Christian Advocate · September 14, 1878 · Page 1
G. W. W.2 min readNacoochee Valley, Ga., Sept., 1878.
[…] Pe of reforming him. Then "look not upon the wine when it is red; at the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder." Remember that the hand of the diligent maketh rich, but the glutton and drunkard shall come to poverty. Drunkenness has become such a vice all over the land, and is entailing such untold miseries upon society, I feel that I must, before dismissing the subject, add a few more words of warning to our young men.
We scarcely take up a newspaper without being shocked with accounts of deathly conflicts, often between friends, originating in grog shops. We also read of men crazed by liquor, who return to their homes and brutally murder their wives and innocent children. Young men do not require stimulants, but it is not difficult for them to imagine that the addition of brandy to water improves the quality. The sensation thus produced is so exhilarating that water is added to brandy. In this way habits of intemperance are imperceptibly formed, and the youth becomes a confirmed drunkard before he is aware of it. From a bright young man, once the pride of mother and sisters, he becomes a drunken sot, and a nuisance in society. Temptations to dissipation are always increased by idleness; no brain can stand total stagnation. There is a painful vacuum in the lives of the idle. The body or mind must be employed to be healthy and happy. Too frequently the idle resort to tobacco, opium, or whiskey.
Thus fearful pernicious habits are formed. I have long been of the opinion that the use of tobacco, considered by many so harmless, is the first step to dissipation. It is said that the dryness of the mouth caused by smoking, excites an artificial thirst which require frequent draughts of liquid. Water becomes insipid, and brandy is added. In this way, the first step to dissipation often begins, which ends in ruin both to soul and body. This warning is intended as much for the minister of the gospel who smokes and chews, as for the youth just beginning life.
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