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Show " What a Pity He Drinks." This expression is of such common use that it has even passed into the modern slang of our language. It is a temptation temp-tation to a temperate man to become a sot, to hear what talent, what vcr-satiliiy, vcr-satiliiy, what genius ia almost always attributed to a moderately bright man who is habitually drunk. Such a mechanic, me-chanic, such a mathematician, such a poet he would bo, if he were only sober; and then ho is sure to be a most generous, magnanimous, friendly soul, conscientiously honorable, if he were not so conscientiously drunk. I suppose sup-pose it is now notorious that the most brilliant and promising men have been lost to the world in this way. It is sometimes almost very painful to think what a surplus of talent and genius there would be in the world if the habit of intoxication should suddenly erase; and what a slim chance thero would be for the plodding peoplo who have always had tolerably good habits. |