He recovered sufficiently for twelve additional years of courageous and victorious living. Surely those twelve years had their providential purpose. They were years which constituted an additional period of service for him. They were years in which he made himself a benediction to his friends. But those twelve years constituted his fiercest and most fiery trial. A brave man is not afraid to die. There are many who can go down into the edge of the valley, not knowing whether they shall ever return, and yet not flinch nor falter. But, though the facing of what may be imminent death requires great courage, it requires greater courage on the part of a strong man to sit by the window for twelve years watching the rest of the world go by without being able to join in its activity. He longed with all the power of an intense spirit to be at work, to be moving among his friends, to be sharing in the life of a world of enterprise and endeavor. Not to be able to do so was a real trial by fire for him, but he came out unscathed by its flame. Life exacted a heavy price from him, but he paid it with a smile. There is no bitterness on this quiet face that lies before us, because there was no bitterness in his heart. He passed through the fire, but he did not let it burn away his courage.... Is Prohibition Paternalistic? (1919) The history of temperance reform is largely a story of vilification. Those who have championed it have been steadily accused by the promoters of the liquor industry. They have resorted to these things for the want of better arguments. When mind reaches its limit it often abdicates in favor of temper. Argument exhausted, the stores of abuse are open. The liquor interests have drawn an utterly impossible picture of the temperance reformer, and have tried to create in the public mind a complete misconception of his purpose and motive. The reform agitator may not always have fully appreciated the viewpoint of the man on the other side of the question. It is certain that the latter has seldom given much evidence of appreciating the position of the agitator. Whether or not it has been intentional, most of the protests coming from the liquor interests have originated in a misunderstanding of the attitude of the people who are striving for a sober land. This misunderstanding was unnecessary. It would also have been impossible had really earnest and sincere thought been given the question. Thinking is not always the order of the day, however, when either profit or appetite is involved. There are still many people to whom life simply means blind following of the crowd and meek obedience to the dictates of superficial opinion. Comparatively few are accustomed to apply the keen edge of reason to each proposition. Had more defenders of the saloon cultivated this habit, the liquor problem would have perished of anaemia.