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
And another says: "It is now over five years since I applied to Mr.
Drake for admission to the Home. I was then prostrated, both physically
and mentally, to that degree that I had scarcely strength to drag myself
along, or moral courage enough to look any decent man in the face. I was
often assured that to quit whisky would kill me. I thought there was a
probability of that; but, on the other hand, there was a certainty that
to continue it would kill me. I resolved to make one more effort and die
sober, for I never expected to live; had no hope of that. From the day I
entered the Home I have been a changed man. The encouragement and
counsel I received there, gave me strength, to keep the resolution I had
formed, and which I have kept to the present moment, viz: TO DRINK NO
MORE! Ever since I left Chicago, I have held a respectable position; and
now hold the principal position in a house of business, the doors of
which I was forbidden to enter six years ago. I do not write this in any
spirit of self-laudation, but simply to lay the honor where it
belongs--at the door of the 'Washingtonian Home.'"
The following from the "experience" of one of the inmates of the Chicago
"Home," will give the reader an idea of the true character of this and
similar institutions, and of the way in which those who become inmates
are treated. A lady who took an interest in the writer, had said to him,
"You had better go to the Washingtonian Home." What followed is thus
related:
HOW I WAS TREATED IN THE HOME.
"I looked at her in surprise. Send me to a reformatory? I told her that
I did not think that I was sunk so low, or bound so fast in the coils of
the 'worm of the still,' that it was necessary for me, a young man not
yet entered into the prime of manhood, to be confined in a place
designed for the cure of habitual drunkards. I had heard vague stories,
but nothing definite concerning the Home, and thought that the question
was an insult, but I did not reply to the question. All that night my
thoughts would revert to the above question. My life past since I had
become a devotee of the 'demon of strong drink,' passed in review before
my mind. What had I gained? How improved? What had I obtained by it? And
the answer was nothing. Then I asked myself, What had I lost by it? And
the answer came to me with crushing force, everything that maketh life
desirable. Starting out young in years into the busy highways of the
world, with a good fortune, bright prospects and a host of friends to
aid and cheer me on, I had lost ALL in my love for strong drink, and at
times I thought and felt that I was a modern Ishmael.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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