An Index of the Times

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 3, 1863

An Index of the Times.

THERE was a sight to be seen in broad daylight a few days ago, in front of the Presidential mansion, which gave those who witnessed it a shocking idea of the onward strides which the vice of intemperance has made in "good society" during the last few years. A woman clad in the richest and most fashionable garments, with diamonds flashing from her slender fingers in the slant Western sunshine, sat upon the stone balustrade, unable to proceed on her homeward walk without betraying herself. At last she rose and started on, swaying to and fro, and yet soon rested again, utterly unable to proceed. The carriage of a foreign minister passed by—the poor woman was noticed—and it turned, stopped, took in the lady, and carried her to her luxurious home. For the lady is wealthy and occupies a high social position, but she was drunk in the streets of Washington! Drunkenness prevails almost everywhere, in camp and court. It is that vice, above all others, that cripples the army. The poor soldier drinks, gets drunk, and is disgracefully punished for it.

The officer does the same thing, and is not even reprimanded. It would astound some of the sober, devout, people of the free States, to learn how many young men, officers in the army, have already been ruined by strong drink. The War Department is making every effort to prevent intoxicating liquors from going to the common soldiers, but why does it not prohibit drinking among officers? One half the brigadier-generals now on pay know far better how to swallow prodigious quantities of whisky than to manage a brigade of troops upon the field of battle. It is time that good men everywhere spoke out upon this subject.—Washington Correspondent of the N. Y. Independent.