Temperance by Dr. Holland

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 18, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 36.

Temperance.

By Dr. Holland

Teach the Children.

THERE is, probably, no hallucination so obstinate as that which attributes to alcoholic drink a certain virtue which it never possessed. After all the influences of the pulpit and the press, after all the warning examples of drunkenness and consequent destruction, after all the testimony of experience and science, there lingers in the average mind an impression that there is something good in alcohol, even for the healthy man. Boys and young men do not shun the wine cup, as a poisoner of blood and thought, and the most dangerous drug that they can possibly handle; but they have an idea that the temperance man is a fogy, or foe to a free, social life, whose practices are ascetic, and whose warnings are to be laughed at and disregarded. Now, in alcohol in its various forms, we have a foe to the human race so subtle and so powerful that it destroys human beings by the million, vitiates all the processes of those who indulge in it, degrades morals, induces pauperism and crime in the superlative degree when compared with other causes, and corrupts the homes of millions.

It is a cruel thing to send a boy out into the world untaught that alcohol in any form is fire, and will certainly burn him if he puts it into his stomach. It is a cruel thing to educate a boy in such a way that he has no adequate idea of the dangers that beset his path. It is a mean thing to send a boy out to take his place in society without understanding the relations of temperance to his own safety and prosperity, and to the safety and prosperity of society.

What we want in our schools is to do away with the force of a pernicious example and a long-cherished error, by making the children thoroughly intelligent on this subject of alcohol. They should be taught the effect of alcohol upon the processes of animal life. 1. They should be taught that it can add nothing whatever to the vital tissues, that it does not enter into the elements of structure, and, in the healthy organism, it is always a burden or disturbing force. 2. They should be taught that it invariably disturbs the operations of the brain, and that the mind can get nothing that is to be relied upon. 3. They should be taught that alcohol inflames the baser passions, blunts the sensibilities, and debases the feelings. 4. They should be taught that the appetite for drink is certainly developed by those who use it, which is dangerous to life, destructive to health of body and peace of mind, and in millions of instances ruinous to fortune and to all the high interests of the soul. 5. They should be taught that the crime and pauperism of society flow as naturally from alcohol as any effect whatever naturally flows from its competent cause. 6. They should be taught that drink is the responsible cause of most of the poverty and want of the world. So long as six hundred million dollars are annually spent for drink in this country, every ounce of which was made by the destruction of bread, and not one ounce of which has ever entered into the sum of national wealth, having nothing to show for its cost but destroyed stomachs, degraded homes, destroyed industry, increased pauperism, and aggravated crime, these boys should understand the facts and be able to act upon them in their first responsible conduct.

The national wealth goes into the ground. If we could only manage to bury it without having it pass thitherward in the form of a poisonous fluid through the inflamed bodies of our neighbors and friends, happy should we be. But this great, abominable curse dominates the world. The tramp reminds us of it as he begs for a night's lodging. The widow and the fatherless tell us of it as they ask for bread. It scowls upon us from hovels and haunts of the poor everywhere. Even the clean, hard-working man of prosperity cannot enjoy his earnings because the world is full of misery from drink. The more thoroughly we can instruct the young concerning this dominating evil of our time, the better will it be for them and for the world.—Dr. Holland.