n order to tame a tiger
he must never be allowed to taste blood. Let him have but one taste and
his whole nature is changed. And the men to whom I refer are humane,
upright, chaste, kind to their children and affectionate to their
wives, while they can be kept from intoxicating drinks, but let them
taste, only _taste_, and their passions become so strong and their
appetites so rampant, that they are inspired with the most ferocious
dispositions, and perpetrate deeds, the mere mention of which would
appal them in their sober moments. And where is the moderate drinker who
can point to the glass and say, 'I am safe?' As that dexterous murderer,
Palmer, administered his doses in small quantities, and thus gradually
and daily undermined the constitution of his victims, and, as it were,
muffled the footfalls of death, so strong drink does not all at once
over master its victims; but how often have we known it gradually, and
after years of tippling, lead them captive into the vortex of
drunkenness.

[Sidenote: TOTAL ABSTINENCE.]

But admitting, for the sake of argument, that you can drink with safety
to yourself, can you drink with safety to others? 'No man liveth to
himself.' We are all a kind of chameleon, and naturally derive a tinge
from that which is near us. Our friend attributes his early drunkenness
to the influence and example of his father. You should view your
drinking habits in the light of these passages of Scripture, 'Look not
every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of
others.' 'It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor
anything whereat thy brother stumbleth or is made weak.' So that you may
look at Paley's saying, in its application to the use of strong drinks,
again and again; you may examine it as closely as you like, and
criticise it as often as you please, still it remains true, that to
drink is _doubtful_, while to abstain is _safe_, and that we are as
morally bound to choose the latter as if a voice from heaven said, 'This
is the way, walk ye in it.' 'Let us not, therefore, judge one another
any more, but judge this rather that no man put a stumblingblock or an
occasion, to fall in his brother's way.'--Rom. xiv. 13.

CHAPTER V.

HIS BOLD ADVENTURES ON THE WATER.

[Sidenote: SWIMMING ADVOCATED.]

That swimming is a noble and useful art, deserving the best attention of
all classes of the community, is a fact few will dispute. 'Swimming,'
says Locke, 'ought