A CHRISTIAN BABOO’S IDEAS ON MODERATE DRINKING.
I WAS greatly shocked to learn that two intelligent Christian ladies of my acquaintance—one of them an eminently successful Bible reader, and the other occupying an influential official position—were in the habit of using ale and beer as a beverage. Involuntarily expressing my astonishment, and uttering protest, I found that both were prepared to defend the practice from a sanitary point of view, under sanction of a physician, while both referred to eminent ministers who indulge in wine as a promoter of digestion, and a tonic agent. While preparing from a scientific stand-point a statement of facts to embody in personal friendly notes to these ladies, the subject was one evening brought up in a social group of active Christian ladies, of which that eminent missionary, Miss H. G. Brittan, was the center. An intelligent, practical woman, who was in the habit of contributing largely to home mission work in its various branches, spoke, with much perplexity evident in her tone. "In city mission work, in the forlorn homes of Sunday-school and industrial-school scholars, and in nearly every branch of Christian work we take up," said the lady, "we find our efforts counteracted by the evils of strong drink. It does seem like treason in the camp for any of our sisters in work to tolerate it, much less defend its use by word and personal example. In all your 'perils by land and by sea,' Miss Brittan, your dangers in African jungles and adventures on 'India's coral strand,' be thankful you never had the insidious and powerful monster intemperance to fight!" "And have I not had the enemy to battle—and without your weapons too?" said Miss Brittan. "Don't you know what we missionaries have had to suffer on account of intemperance? 'Perils by sea,' encountered with a drunken captain and crew, are not as common now as during the years of my earlier voyages." And the speaker sketched vividly some of her experiences under such circumstances, when day after day the ship seemed likely to go to the bottom. "But," added our graphic story-teller, "it is in just the way that you are beaten back in your endeavors here for the masses, that we in other lands are met by the same evil," and here she told the following story, which is given, almost without exception, in her own language. "At the native orphanage belonging to the Scotch kirk in Calcutta, I found that the principal teacher that the children had was a catechist, one of the best native preachers, they told me, belonging to the Scotch kirk. He could preach exceedingly well, and had been a preacher and teacher for twelve years. His wife, Elizabeth, was one of my zenance teachers, a very nice little woman. They occupied rooms down-stairs on the same floor with the orphans. At this time I was taking charge of the school for some weeks during the superintendent's absence, she having gone for a rest. I had this catechist at the time as my teacher in the Bengali language. Once or twice when he came to me I thought he acted in a very silly manner, and I began to suspect him of drinking, but was almost angry with myself for the suspicion, as I had heard he was such a good man. One day, however he came to me in such a condition that there was no doubting the fact. I immediately ordered him to his room, and sending for his wife, I asked her how long her husband had been in the habit of drinking. She burst out crying, and said: 'Oh, for many years. But, O ma'am, he is so much better now; he is not bad nearly so often as he used to be.'" " 'Why, Elizabeth! does Dr. H. [the minister of the Scotch kirk] know this?'" " 'Oh, no, Ma'am Sahib—and, oh, don't you tell him! Miss H. [the lady superintendent whose place I was just filling for a short time] would never tell of him. Twice she has paid the money herself to get him out of prison, when the policemen have taken him up, so that Dr. H. should not know.'" " 'Well, Elizabeth,' I said, 'I will never do that. Do you know it is a dreadful and wicked thing for him, a teacher, a minister, a preacher of the gospel, to be a drunkard—for the children, the servants, and all those he preaches to, to know that he is a drunkard? Oh, it is dreadful! It will do so much harm to the cause of Christ.'" "The poor woman fell at my feet, and pleaded with me not to tell of him this time, for what would become of herself and her children if Dr. H. knew it and turned him out." "I waited till he was perfectly sober, and then sent for him. I wished to have a long and serious talk with him. I was astonished at the bravado he manifested. I tried to show him the great sinfulness of his conduct before God, but he resolutely denied that it was a great sin. It was a little fault, to be sure, it was a little fault, but he did not consider it a great sin at all, though he did not attempt to deny that he was often perfectly drunk, and that when he was so he was ready to kill anybody, and had been put in the lock-up several times in consequence. I tried to show him kindly the evil of his course, but at length he got quite angry, and said he did not know why I talked to him so; that he only did what every other Christian did, that there was not a Padic Sahib [minister] in Calcutta but what did just the same, only I had not happened to see them when they had taken a little too much. I was shocked and indignant, and asked him how he dared say such a thing. He laughed a most scornful laugh, and said to me: 'Now I ask you, do you dare tell me that Dr. H., and Dr. S., and Dr. L., and Mr. N.,' and he went on enumerating all the English clergymen of the different denominations, 'do not each and every one of them drink wine and beer every day?'" "I winced and had to answer that I knew they all did. 'But,' I said, 'they only take a little; just what is needed, they think, for their health; they never get drunk.'" "He laughed again. 'I never,' he said, 'take anything like as much as they do; and is it my fault if it upsets me a little sooner than it does them? My head is not so strong as theirs. I can't bear as much as they do; and if I take a little glasses of wine, and it makes me behave a little foolish, you say it is a great sin, while because their heads are a little stronger, they may take five or six glasses, and yet it is no sin. Besides, how can you tell that they do not sometimes take a little too much and forget themselves, the same as I do? Of course they would not let you see them in that state; it was only by accident that you found it out about me.'" "I found it was useless to argue with him. He had, as he said, the example of all the clergymen and Christians in India for what he did." "A few nights afterward I spoke of this [not telling who the man was], when I was pleading the cause of temperance at our Bible meeting, where there were eighteen ministers and professing Christian men; I really believe all present were Christians; but instead of taking shame to themselves for such an example, they exclaimed at the impudence of the fellow! And when I quoted what St. Paul says—'If meat make my brother to offend I will eat no meat'—they told me I was ridiculous, and that it was really fanatical of me to think that we must give up that which was essential to their comfort for such a fellow as that." "And yet,' I said, 'many of you have given up home, and friends, and earthly comforts, to come out here to win these souls to Christ, and yet you will not give up your wine or beer for the sake of these souls! Is it not time we began to look at this thing for ourselves?'"