Grappling with the Monster Part 12

"An aged mother, not only bowed down with the weight of seventy years, but heart-sick with the 'hope deferred' of ever finding her intemperate son, heard of him at last, as rescued by the Home; and, being brought to the Sunday and evening services, met him there, 'clothed and in his right mind.' The tears streamed down her face, as she said: 'That man is forty years old, and I've been a widow ever since he was a baby, and I've wept over him often and often, and _to-day_ I've shed tears enough to bathe him from head to foot, but, oh! thank the Lord! _these_ are such _happy_ tears!'

"Said one wife: 'Some days, these hard times, we have enough to eat, and some days we don't; but _all_ the time I'm just as happy as I can be!

"'I wish you could see my children run, laughing, to the door when their father comes home. Oh! he is _another_ man from what he was a year ago; he is so happy at home with us now, and always so patient and kind!

"'Do tell us if there isn't something;--if it is ever so little--that we women can do for the Home; we _never_ can forget what it has done for us!'

"Such words, heard again and again with every variety of expression, attests the sincerity of those who, in widely differing circ.u.mstances, perhaps, have yet this common bond, that through this instrumentality, they are rejoicing over a husband, a father, a son, 'which was dead, and is alive--was lost, and is found.'

"Surely, such proof of the intrinsic worth of a work like this, is beyond all expression--full of comfort and encouragement to persevere."

Again: "Through their instrumentality families long alienated and separated have been happily brought together. This branch of the ladies'

work has been peculiarly blest; and their reward is rich in witnessing not only homes made happier through their labors, but hearts so melted by their personal kindness, and by the Gospel message which they carry, that husbands and wives, convicted of the sinfulness of their neglect of the great salvation, come forward to declare themselves soldiers of the cross, and unite with the Christian church."

THE TESTIMONY OF INMATES.

As the value of this and similar inst.i.tutions is best seen in what they have done and are doing, we give two extracts from letters received from men who have been reformed through the agency of the "Home" in Philadelphia. In the first, the writer says:

"It has now been nearly two years since I left the Franklin Home. I had been a drinking man ten years, and it got such a hold on me that I could not resist taking it. I had tried a number of times to reform, and at one time, was in the Dashaway's Home, in California, where they steep everything in liquor, but when I came out I still had the desire to drink, and only kept from it for nine months. I again commenced, and kept sinking lower and lower, till I lost my friends, and felt there was no hope for me. On the 31st day of May, 1873, I came to the Franklin Home, and have never tasted intoxicating liquor since, which is the longest time I was ever without it since I commenced to drink. I feel now that I will never drink again, as I do not a.s.sociate with drinking men, or go to places where liquor is sold. It was so different at the Home from anything I had ever met or heard of, that I went away with more strength to resist than ever before. When I came to the Home I could not get a position in Philadelphia, n.o.body having confidence in me. Since then I have been engaged as foreman in a manufacturing establishment, by the very man that had discharged me several times for drinking, and have been with him a year. I feel more happy and contented now than any time in ten years past, and if I had a friend who I found this was taking hold of, I would bring him to the Home, for I believe any one that is sincere can be reformed, and I would recommend any man that needs and desires to reform to go to the Home, as I did."

AFTER FIVE YEARS.

Writing to Mr. Samuel P. G.o.dwin, President of the Franklin Home, an old inmate, five years after his reformation, says: "I received your kind letter and recognized in it the challenge of the ever-watchful sentinel, 'How goes the night, brother?' I answer back, 'All is well.' I am delighted to hear of the continued success of 'my second mother,' the Home, and the a.s.sociation, my brothers; and I thank G.o.d, who is encouraging you all in your efforts for fallen men, by showing you the ripening fruits of your labor--efforts and labors that are inspired by a love of G.o.d that enables you to see in every fallen man the soul made like unto _His_ own image. The Home and all its workers, its principles, the endless and untiring efforts made, challenge the wonder and admiration of every Christian heart. Its grand results will admit of but one explanation, that 'It is G.o.d's work.' We, the reclaimed, can never give expression to the grateful emotions of our hearts. We can only let our lives be its best eulogy. We hope to vindicate in the future, as we have in the past, (by adhering to its principles) the great Christian truth, the grace of G.o.d is all-powerful, all-saving. _Oh! what has not the Home done for us all!_ It sought us amid temptations, misery and sorrow, and took us into its warm and fond embrace, clearing away the debris that intemperance and misfortune had piled up, tearing down all false theories of disease and seizing our convictions. It reached down into our hearts by its admirable practical mode of imparting its principles, impressing all its lessons with the examples of living, active men, who, through its aid, accepting its teachings and practicing them, have become reformed men--in a word, conquerors of self. By its love, fostering care and ever-watchful solicitude for us, it has awakened the lessons of love and faith learned at a dear mother's knee in childhood, which, if forgotten for a time, were never entirely dead, and required but just such an influence to warm them into life. It enables me to say to you now, at the end of five years, I have been a total abstinence man for that time, and by and with the help of G.o.d, I will die that."

But enough has been educed to show the importance of this and other "Homes" for the recovery of inebriates, and to direct public attention to their great value. Those already established should be liberally sustained by the communities in which they are located, and similar inst.i.tutions should be organised and put in operation in all the larger cities of the Union. Thousands of outcast, helpless, peris.h.i.+ng men, who, but for the fatal habits they have acquired, would be good and useful citizens, might, if this were done, be every year restored to themselves, their families and to society. If we cannot, as yet, stay the curse that is upon our land, let us do all in our power to heal what has been hurt, and to restore what has been lost.

In every truly reformed man, the temperance cause gains a new and valuable recruit. The great army that is to do successful battle with the destroying enemy that is abroad in the land, will come chiefly from the ranks of those who have felt the crush of his iron heel. So we gain strength with every prisoner that is rescued from the enemy; for every such rescued man will hate this enemy with an undying hatred, and so long as he maintains his integrity, stand fronting him in the field.

Dr. Harris, the attending physician of the "Franklin Reformatory Home,"

whose long experience and careful observation enable him to speak intelligently as to the causes which lead to relapses among reformed men, has kindly furnished us with the following suggestions as to the dangers that beset their way. The doctor has done a good service in this. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. We are also indebted to him for the chapter on "Tobacco as an Incitant to the Use of Alcoholic Stimulant," which immediately follows this one, and which was especially prepared by him for the present volume.

DANGERS THAT BESET THE REFORMED INEBRIATE.

BY DR. R.P. HARRIS.

_"Come, take a drink."_--How pernicious is this treating generosity of the inebriate, and how important to the reformed to be firm in declining his invitation. To hesitate, is, in most cases, to yield.

_Old companions._--These should be avoided, and made to understand that their company is not congenial; and new and safe ones should be selected.

_Attacks of sickness._--A quondam inebriate should never employ a physician who drinks, and should always tell his medical attendant that he cannot take any medicine containing alcohol. It is very unsafe to resort to essence of ginger, paregoric, spirits of lavender or burnt brandy, and friends very injudiciously, sometimes, recommend remedies that are dangerous in the extreme. We saw one man driven into insanity by his employer recommending him a preparation of rhubarb, in Jamaica spirits, which he took with many misgivings, because, six years before he had been a drunkard. The old appet.i.te was revived in full force at once. Diarrhoea can be much better treated without tinctures and essences than with them, as proved by the large experience of the Franklin Home, where they are never prescribed.

_Bad company of either s.e.x._--Remember what is said of the strange woman in Proverbs v., 3-12; and the advice given in the first Psalm. l.u.s.t has driven to drunkenness and death many a promising case of reform.

_Entering a tavern._--It is never safe to buy a cigar, take a gla.s.s of lemonade, eat a plate of oysters or even drink water at a bar where liquors are sold. The temptation, and revival of old a.s.sociations, are too much for weak human nature to withstand.

_Politics, military organizations, etc._--Many a man has been made a drunkard by the war, or by becoming an active politician. a.s.sociations of men leading to excitement of any kind stimulate them to invite each other to drink as a social custom. Former inebriates should avoid all forms of excitement. Said a former politician, who has not drank for five years: "If I was to go back to politics, and allow matters to take their natural course, I should soon drift again into drunkenness."

"_Idleness_," says the French proverb, "is the mother of all vices;"

hence the advantage and importance of being actively employed.

_Working in communities._--There are no men more inclined to drunkenness than shoemakers, hatters and those in machine shops. Shoemakers are especially difficult to reform, as they incite each other to drink, and club together and send out for beer or whisky.

_Use of excessive quant.i.ties of pepper, mustard and horse-radish._--No person can use biting condiments to the same degree as drunkards; and reformed men must largely moderate their allowance, if they expect to keep their appet.i.te under for something stronger. Tavern-keepers understand that salt and peppery articles, furnished gratis for lunch, will pay back princ.i.p.al and profit in the amount they induce men to drink.

_Loss of money or death in the family._--These are among the most severe of all the trials to be encountered by the reformed drunkard. Hazardous ventures in stocks or business are dangerous in the extreme. Without the grace of G.o.d in the heart, and the strength that it gives in times of depression of spirits under severe trial, there are few reformed men who can bear, with any safety, the loss of a wife or very dear child.

Thousands who have, for the time, abandoned the habit have returned to it to drown, in unconsciousness, their feeling of loss; hence the great and vital importance of an entire change of heart to enable a man to go to his faith for consolation, and to look to G.o.d for help in times of trial and temptation.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOYHOOD.

The first Step.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: YOUTH.

The Second Step.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MANHOOD.

A Confirmed Drunkard.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: OLD AGE.

A Total Wreck.]

CHAPTER X.

TOBACCO AS AN INCITANT TO THE USE OF ALCOHOLIC STIMULANTS, AND AN OBSTACLE IN THE WAY OF A PERMANENT REFORMATION.

BY DR. R.P. HARRIS, PHYSICIAN OF THE "FRANKLIN REFORMATORY HOME."

When we consider the almost universal use of tobacco, especially in the form of smoking, among our male population, it is not to be wondered at that this powerful poison has come to be regarded as an innocent and almost necessary vegetable production, not to be used as food exactly, but greatly allied to it as an article of daily consumption. Few stop to reason about its properties or effects; they remember, perhaps, how sick they were made by the first chew or smoke, but this having long pa.s.sed, believe that as their systems have become accustomed, _apparently_, to the poison, it cannot be doing them any real injury. When we reflect that tobacco contains from one to nearly seven per cent, of _nicotine_--one of the most powerful vegetable poisons known--a few drops of which are sufficient to destroy life, it is not difficult to perceive that this faith in the _innocence_ begotten of use must be fallacious. We have met with instances where the poisonous effects of tobacco were manifest after every smoke, even where the attempt to accustom the system to its use had been persevered in for many years; and yet the men never realized what was the matter with them, until they had, under medical advice, ceased to use the drug.

Before the discovery of anaesthetics, tobacco was used as a remedy to produce relaxation in cases of strangulated hernia; and although very cautiously administered in the form of tea, or smoke per r.e.c.t.u.m, proved fatal in many instances. As little as twelve grains in six ounces of water having thus acted; and from half a drachm to two drachms in a number of instances. When men chew as high as a pound and a quarter of strong navy tobacco a week, or three packages of fine-cut in a day, it must certainly tell upon them sooner or later; or even in much less quant.i.ty.

If men used tobacco in moderation, there would be much less objection to it, if it was not so intimately

a.s.sOCIATED WITH THE HABIT OF DRINKING.

This is recognized by the trade, in the fact that we see many tobacco stores as the entrance to drinking saloons. Ninety-three per cent. of the men who have been admitted to the Franklin Reformatory Home used tobacco, and eighty per cent. of them chewed it. There may be possibly as high as ninety-three per cent. of male adults who smoke, but eighty per cent. of chewers is undoubtedly a large proportion as compared with those in the same ranks of society who do not drink.

Although the poisonous symptoms of tobacco are, in a great degree, the same in different persons at the inception of the habit, the effects vary materially in after years according to the quant.i.ty and variety used, the form employed and the habits and temperament of the user. One man will chew a paper a week, another four, many use one a day, and a few from one and a half to three a day, besides smoking. Occasionally, but very rarely, we find a man who limits himself to one cigar a day, a number allow themselves but three, but of later years even these are moderate compared with those who use eight, ten or more.