CHAPTER VIII. Be Temperate

Be Temperate

INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTER VIII

BY GEORGE W. BAIN

Intoxicants are like anger, they make us strong, Blind and impatient, and they lead us wrong; The strength is quickly lost, we feel the error long. Crabb.

Temperance is reason’s girdle and passion’s bridle, the strength of the soul, and the foundation of virtue.

Jeremy Taylor.

In all the world there is not to be found an old man, who has been a total abstainer from intoxicating liquors through all his life, who regrets the rule he adopted and kept. Such a man was never heard to say: “I am sorry I did not learn to love wine, whiskey, ale, beer or brandy when I was young.” This is a very safe rule for young men, that has not a single exception in all the wide world. On the other hand, how many have said: “Drink has been my curse”? Take the pledge, boys, keep it, and you will find it a jewel in nature, a comfort through life, and a consolation in death.