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Brisbane, Arthur, 1864-1936

"Editorials from the Hearst Newspapers"

He has yielded and fallen
at last, but only because all of his strength is insufficient to
overcome the disease that possesses him."
Teach your children that drunkenness is a horrible disease, as
bad as leprosy. Teach them that it can be avoided, that the
disease is contracted in youth through carelessness, and that it
is spread by those who encourage drinking in others. Tell them
that the avoiding of whiskey is not merely a question of morals
or obedience to parents, but a question involving mental and
physical salvation, success in life, happiness, and the respect
of others.

THOSE WHO LAUGH AT A DRUNKEN MAN
How often have you seen a drunken man stagger along the street!
His clothes are soiled from falling, his face is bruised, his
eyes are dull. Sometimes he curses the boys that tease him.
Sometimes he tries to smile, in a drunken effort to placate
pitiless, childish cruelty.
His body, worn out, can stand no more, and he mumbles that he is
GOING HOME.
The children persecute him, throw things at him, laugh at him,
running ahead of him.
GROWN MEN AND WOMEN, TOO, OFTEN LAUGH WITH THE CHILDREN, nudge
each other, and actually find humor in the sight of a human being
sunk below the lowest animal.
The sight of a drunken man going home should make every other man
and woman sad and sympathetic, and, horrible as the sight is, it
should be useful, by inspiring, in those who see it, a
determination to avoid and to help others avoid that man's fate.


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