Temperance by D. H. Rader

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 3, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 14.

Temperance.

By D. H. Rader

Some Personal Experience.

Editor Signs: Having had several years experience in dram-drinking, I have come to the conclusion that no person who sells intoxicating liquors, wholesale or retail, can have any respect whatever for his fellow-man. It is impossible for him to be a good citizen, much less a Christian. What are the graduates of the saloon—after a schooling of several years at the bar of the rum-seller? Are they representatives of good health? Are they intellectual or refined elements of society? Can they be trusted in business?

We are told that a little alcohol is good; that it is to be used moderately, etc. Now if a small quantity is good, why not use more and be benefited more? I commenced drinking moderately; began drinking beer and wine; but the appetite kept getting a little stronger and stronger, at last getting such control that it demanded whisky, and then brandy, and diluted alcohol. When this habit had taken hold of me I soon commenced going down hill, and spending the money that my family needed. I then began to lose flesh; my health began to fail; I lost my friends, and my self-respect. Such has been my experience with moderate drinking.

Now I have not touched or tasted anything intoxicating for over three years. I have again my health, my self-respect, and my friends. And my experience has set me against the liquor traffic. I am against the man who manufactures it, and the man who sells it; and I pity the poor victim that drinks it. I believe that, from the time it issues from the distillery until it empties into the river of dishonor, crime, and death, it demoralizes every one that touches it or sympathizes with it.

D. H. Rader. Gilroy, Cal.