Part 41

“He will have the D. T.’s,” shouted one boy.

PERCY: What did he mean by “D. T.’s,” mother?

MOTHER: He meant de-lir´i-um tre´mens.

HELEN: What is that?

MOTHER: It is a sickness caused by alcohol. You have sometimes had bad dreams when asleep; but in this disease the man has dreadful dreams when he is awake. He thinks snakes and other creatures are crawling over him. I once saw a little boy, not over ten years old, the son of a drunkard, who had had de-lir´i-um tre´mens. He had his father’s craving for strong drink; for a boy’s head inside is often like the father’s, just as his hair, eyes, and features are like his.

ELMER: What a dreadful thing alcohol must be!

MOTHER: But it is guilty of other wrongs than these. Nearly all the people who go to the insane asylums are sent there by it. It fills the prisons with men and women, because it makes them unsafe to go free. It sends people to the poor-house, and brings poverty, sickness, distress, and broken hearts to thousands of people. No tongue can tell the misery, sorrow, suffering, and agony it brings.

HELEN: And isn’t more money spent for alcohol than for tobacco?

MOTHER: Yes; the flames rise higher from the money thrown into this fire than from the other. Nine hundred million dollars, or about one hundred and eighty-six million pounds, are spent each year for this murderer. Twice as much money is spent for alcohol as is used to buy bread. Just think of it! But we can not even imagine this great waste in money alone. Then add to that the sickness, tears, broken hearts, ruined homes, the many deaths caused by it, and we can only wonder that alcohol has not been banished from the world, never to return. It is such a monster of evil that we can not understand it.

PERCY: But, mother, if people only knew how much it costs, and how much harm it does, would they not let it alone?

MOTHER: Many would, and we must do all that we can to help and teach them. Every one who suffers from alcohol should have our pity. You have learned in our past talks how it does harm to the stomach, the liver, the muscles, and the lungs, and, most of all, to the brain and nerves. Just as this alcohol hardened the meat and egg, so alcohol works in our bodies to hurt and destroy the wonderful living rooms of which the body-house is made.

Alcohol is a liar. Listen to what the wisest man who ever lived says about it: “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and who-so-ev´er is deceived thereby is not wise.”

Alcohol says, “I am a food, and will make your body warm.”

Truth says: “It’s a lie. You do not feed any part of the body. It is true that you make it feel a little warmer for a time, because all the servants work so hard to throw you out; but the whole body is colder afterward than at first.”

Alcohol says, “I will make your body so plump and fat that you will look very healthy.”

Truth says: “It is true that you make the body fat. The liver ought to weigh about four pounds, and you have made it sometimes weigh as much as fifty. The fat you give is disease, not strength.”

Alcohol says, “I will help you digest your food.”

Truth says, “You hinder di-ges´tion, and make the food unfit to make good blood.”

Alcohol says, “Let me come in, and I will make you merry.”

Truth says: “Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath con-ten´tions? who hath babbling [foolish talk]? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. AT THE LAST IT BITETH LIKE A SERPENT, AND STINGETH LIKE AN ADDER.”

“Take a drink? No, not I! Reason teaches better Than to bind my very soul With a galling fetter. Water, sweet and cool and free, Has no cruel chains for me.

“Take a drink? No, not I! I have seen too many Foolish men by taking drinks Stripped of every penny. Water, sweet and cool and clear, Costs me nothing all the year.

“Take a drink? No, never! By God’s blessing never Will I touch, or taste, or smell, Henceforth and forever! Water, sweet and clear and cool, Makes no man a slave or fool.”

—S. S. Times.

CHARACTER OF THE MASTER

MOTHER: We have now taken a hasty look at the larger rooms in the body-house. I hope that the short visit we have made to each will create in you all a wish to know more about them. Do not think you have learned it all; for we have only begun to study its beauties and wonders.

HELEN: But why do we need to know so much about it?

MOTHER: That you may be able to care for it properly, and “glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” We are not our own, and some day we must give account for the way in which we have treated this holy temple given into our care. “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”