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
"In this I fully concur. I believe in using all the
agencies--medical, social, moral and religious--to bear upon the
patient, and to encourage him to follow the 'straight and narrow
way.' With this view, a morning service is held each day; a Sunday
evening service at six o'clock, and every Friday evening a meeting,
where patients relate their experience, and encourage each other in
gaining power over the enemy. I have had much experience and
abundant evidence that these meetings are of great value, for the
reason that the patients are the principal speakers, and can do
more to encourage each other than those outside of their own ranks.
These meetings are usually attended by about equal numbers of both
sexes, and, with fine music, can be kept up with interest
indefinitely.
"It would be, in my judgment, a matter of wide economy for the
intelligent citizens of every city, with twenty thousand or more
inhabitants, to establish a home, or asylum for inebriates. Let
those who favor sobriety in the community, take a part in it, and
they will soon learn how to reach the class who needs assistance. A
large, old-fashioned house can be leased at small expense, and the
means raised by contributions of money and other necessary articles
to start. The act of doing this will soon enable those engaged in
the work to learn what the wants are, and how to meet them. It is
only obeying the command, 'Go out into the highways and hedges and
compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.' This is the
Master's work, and those who hear this invitation, as well as those
who accept it, will share in its blessings.
"Those who cultivate the spirit of 'love to God, and good-will to
their fellow-men,' will be surprised to see how much easier it is
to _do_ these things when they _try_, than when they only _think_
about them.
"Much, of course, depends upon the superintendent, who needs to
possess those genial qualities which readily win the confidence and
good-will of patients, and which he readily turns to account, by
encouraging them to use the means which the Creator has given them
to co-operate in curing themselves. The means of cure are in the
patient's own hands, and it is quite a gift to be able to make him
see it."
THE WASHINGTONIAN HOME AT CHICAGO
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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