WHAT SHALL WE DO FOR CHRISTOPHER?
By E. L. Hurd
WHAT shall we do with him? This is a question which presses for answer just now, and you, Mr. Editor, must help us to an answer soon. Christopher is our boy, and if you can not help us in respect to him, what are you good for, Mr. Editor? The trouble is this: There is a band numbering three hundred, formed in our town, of men who were well nigh ruined by drink. They all started as moderate drinkers. They had no thought of ever becoming otherwise than moderate drinkers. They cannot tell now when they became otherwise than moderate drinkers. Nor can their acquaintances tell. They passed insensibly through moderate drinking until they found themselves in drunkenness. And all along they believed in moderate drinking and in those who advocated moderate drinking, and were associated with such. But having gone thus by insensible degrees down the stream until they have found themselves in the rapids, they see no way but to keep out of the stream altogether. They have banded themselves together not to drink intoxicants, and to help each other not to drink. Their case, many of them artisans of all classes, and professional men, most of them having families sadly stricken by their drinking, appeals to the tender sympathy of all Christian people. But here is a great difficulty. The saloons are still open. These three hundred men are surrounded by the great army of moderate drinkers, both those who think themselves so, and those who are so. This band with good intentions now are tempted constantly to think that they might safely form the company of those who have not yet fallen into drunkenness—those who praise and practice moderate drinking. Then there is this great army itself of moderate drinkers, all of whom preach, and most of whom think, that they practice moderate drinking, and none of whom expect to go down the stream into drunkenness. For the sake of these two classes, the most of the Christian people of this town have decided themselves to join together; also to touch, taste or handle no intoxicants. They do this in the spirit of Paul, because, so far as they can see, moderate drinking of intoxicants, as an example, if not otherwise, is very apt to cause their weak brother to offend. And they are combining their influence and effort to persuade all the army of moderate drinkers, and especially the young men, to take this same position as right and safe for themselves, and best for the good of others. Now, here is the trouble with our Christopher. He has just come home, and says that all the young men of his set say that this movement is "fanatical;" that "the statement that moderate drinking leads to drunkenness is atrocious;" that the only difficulty with the drunkards is, that they did not have self-control enough to remain moderate drinkers: and that just what is needed is to set the example constantly of the temperate and moderate use of wine, beer, etc., and to teach that moderate use constantly. Now, Christopher is no sneak. He does not see why this moderate drinking should retire into privacy. He thinks that just where the public—the cold, and the hungry, and the weary—are furnished with entertainment at the restaurant, the coffee-house and the saloon, the example of the temperate user is needed. Why should not two young men sip their wine and beer together in the restaurant or the saloon, practice self-control, and illustrate, right in the presence of all, the beauties of moderation? Why not? We tell him that this moderate drinking was preached in this country seventy-five years ago, but in practice it was found to eventuate in drunkenness extensively, and that this has been the history of moderate drinking; that it eventuated in, and was lost in, drunkenness. But he insists that it is absurd to say that moderate drinking leads to drunkenness; the drinking has ceased to be moderate long before the drunkenness ensues, and he glibly quotes good Dr. Crosby to this effect. And here is the source of the present dilemma with our boy and his set. They, in common with many of us, value and admire the able chancellor. They have heard us who know him, praise him. They are prepared to hear favorably what he says. But just now copies of a lecture by him are being circulated assiduously through the saloons of this town to endeavor to thwart this movement, which has already diminished their patronage, and just now his argument is in the mouth of every one there and thereabouts. We are sorry for this, for we know that this is not what the good chancellor intended. And we are sure if he could see the effects right here among the young men, he would be sorry, too. But we are most sorry on account of our Christopher and his companions. What shall we do for Christopher?—E. L. Hurd, Pres. of Blackburn University, in Ex., and Chronicle.