o prevalent in the community, so insidious in its approach, so
degrading in its nature, so terrible in its effects, that the only
absolutely and universally sure defense against it is total abstinence.
A man may think himself strong enough to stop drinking when and where he
pleases; but the peculiar and fatal deception about intoxicating drink
is that it makes those who become its victims weaker to resist it with
every indulgence. It enfeebles their wills directly. The fact that a man
can stop drinking to-day is no sure sign that he can drink moderately
for a year and stop then. At the end of that time he will have a
different body, a different brain, a different mind, a different will
from the body and mind and will he has to-day, and would have after a
year of abstinence.

As we have seen, with every natural and healthy exercise of our
appetites and faculties moderation is preferable to abstinence. It is
better to direct them toward the ends they are intended to accomplish
that to stifle and suppress them. But the thirst for intoxicating drink
is unnatural. It creates abnormal cravings; it produces diseased
conditions which corrupt and destroy the very powers of nerve and brain
on which the faculties of reason and control depend. "Touch not, taste
not, handle not," is the only rule that can insure one against the
fearful ravages of this beastly and inhuman vice.

+Responsibility for social influence.+--A strong argument in favor of
abstinence from intoxicating drink is its beneficial social influence.
If there are two bridges across a stream, one safe and sure, the other
so shaky and treacherous that a large proportion of all who try to cross
over it fall into the stream and are drowned; the fact that I happen to
have sufficiently cool head and steady nerves to walk over it in safety
does not make it right for me to do so, when I know that my
companionship and example will lead many to follow who will certainly
perish in the attempt.

Mild wines and milder climates may render the moderate use of alcoholic
drinks comparatively harmless to races less nervously organized than
ours. And there doubtless are individuals in our midst whose strong
constitution, phlegmatic temperament, or social training enable them to
use wine daily for years without appreciable injury. They can walk with
comparative safety the narrow bridge. There are multitudes who cannot.
There are tens of thousands for whom our distilled liquors, open