Grappling with the Monster; Or, the Curse and the Cure of Strong DrinkArthur, T. S. (Timothy Shay)
Religion
Grappling with the Monster; Or, the Curse and the Cure of Strong Drink
Arthur, T. S. (Timothy Shay)
Temperance
One fact attendant on habitual drinking stands out so prominently that
none can call it in question. It is that of the steady growth of
appetite. There are exceptions, as in the action of nearly every rule;
but the almost invariable result of the habit we have mentioned, is, as
we have said, a steady growth of appetite for the stimulant imbibed.
That this is in consequence of certain morbid changes in the physical
condition produced by the alcohol itself, will hardly be questioned by
any one who has made himself acquainted with the various functional and
organic derangements which invariably follow the continued introduction
of this substance into the body.
But it is to the fact itself, not to its cause, that we now wish to
direct the reader's attention. The man who is satisfied at first with a
single glass of wine at dinner, finds, after awhile, that appetite asks
for a little more; and, in time, a second glass is conceded. The
increase of desire may be very slow, but it goes on surely until, in the
end, a whole bottle will scarcely suffice, with far too many, to meet
its imperious demands. It is the same in regard to the use of every
other form of alcoholic drink.
Now, there are men so constituted that they are able, for a long series
of years, or even for a whole lifetime, to hold this appetite within a
certain limit of indulgence. To say "So far, and no farther." They
suffer ultimately from physical ailments, which surely follow the
prolonged contact of alcoholic poison with the delicate structures of
the body, many of a painful character, and shorten the term of their
natural lives; but still they are able to drink without an increase of
appetite so great as to reach an overmastering degree. They do not
become abandoned drunkards.
NO MAN SAFE WHO DRINKS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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