Show The ite emperance Society jl Soci-ety rv neat proposal in the Arec I tin + 1 I a emperance society is a movement to form a league for moderate drinkers Like many other curious proposals this one cornea from London and it seems r iat an article published in the Lancet on city drinking has given the needed impulse The idea of these temperance reformers is to restrict drinking to meals and to prohibit and discountenance its use at all other times The league it should be known will be a sort of highclass aristocratic affair for working people are not as a rule used taking nips of spirits or glasses of wine during the day except ex-cept it be when John Bull goes on a holiday and then he will swill his liquor and blow his eyes whoever who-ever tries to rob the poor man of his I beer It would be interesting I to know what these people call moderate drinking even at meals No man will own to the soft impeachment im-peachment that he ia a drunkard and yet some of these gentlemen will consume as much drink at a single sitting as would do a whole company for a week But what we ask is moderate drinking A moderate mod-erate drinker as everybody knows is a person whom the advanced temperance tem-perance reformer regards as in a dangerous position for it is from the ranks of such that the confirmed tipler is drawn and they will tell you that were it not that there exists ex-ists a number of respectable moderate moder-ate drinkers the traffic would be rooted up at once Moderate drinking drink-ing We suppose a moderate drinker is one who takes the full of II some measure between a halfgill and a gallon or some bottle between a pint and a magnum But what for instance would be moderate drinking drink-ing for a mayor might be positive arunkenncss for an alderman What would jnst ele ate a city prince or an Indian nabob might fill to the brim a poor underpaid clerk or a fair supply for a literary Bohemian I transporting him to the realms of bliss would we should fancy render a westend barber utterly oblivious to the cares and woes of this life Moderate drinking in short is to use a wellworn phrase an undefined unde-fined quantity something which is often mistaken for too great a quantity and most praised by those who can act the part of the horseleech horse-leech and cry give give The present movement therefore we fear cannot have much sympathy sym-pathy and support from advanced temperance men and yet why should it not r Undoubtedly the great evils resulting from drink arises from its indiscriminate use Men drink between meals for friendships sakefor the sake of passing a pleasant hour or from a desire to act the part of hail fellow fel-low well met The result of this is that the digestive organs are disturbed dis-turbed the stomach and kidneys are disordered the brain charged with a narcotic poison and the whole nervous system therefore injuriously affected We are not of those who believe alcohol when taken at meal time does much to aid the digestive organs but its being be-ing imbibed then and only then has this advantage that it allows the stomach rest for a time and gives the other functions time to work without intermittent interruption Of two evils choose the least i e if there be not courage to get rid of the evil altogether But I drinking at meals only would abolish evil exam pie at other periods of the day and to young men and I men engaged in business pursuits the temporary abstention from I drink would prove beneficial allowing al-lowing them the fullest opportunity of attending to duty It is thus the step in the right direction and although al-though far short of what the ardent abstainer desires should be welcomed wel-comed by him It is a movement too which should secure the support of influential city men for unless they come well to the front and lend it the benefit of their influence it is sure to prove ephermal shows more ver that the evils of the j resent re-sent drinking habits are attracting attention in quarters where hither there has been but little but a sneer at or a joke against temperance temper-ance men and temperance principles The temperance reform re-form is one of those movements which makes but slow progress That cannot however be > greatly wondered at if it is considered how keenly it affects some mens appetites appe-tites and other mens interests The nation too however much we may shut our eyes to the fact lives to a great extent on the sins of the people and no government cares greatly to kill the hen that lays the golden eggs However this is afresh a-fresh proof that the movement IS advancing and that the principles are finding a wider application and indeed the present movement may lead to greater results than most people expect If men would but look this question carefully in the face and act on their calm reason that is all that can be expected and if the proposed society of moderate drinkers leads to that all should be satisfied |