so clearly
in the future. The drunkard, who is just recovering from a big spree,
and feels sick and disgusted with himself, and sore and ashamed, is
appealed to in glowing terms of the wellness and strength and buoyancy
of the man who never drinks. He has no "mornings after." The Lord is
just waiting to save this dejected victim of alcohol from his hateful
enemy who has made him what he is at this hour, and will forgive all his
sottishness, his sins. He will be respected; he can command the love of
his family again. He will no longer be a slave, but a free man. Right
now, respect of the world and love of family and friends, and cleanness,
and the forgiveness of a good God are infinitely more interesting than
this splitting headache, this horrible sick feeling. And attention may
be very readily diverted. This promised new life is more attractive than
the present. It is easy to keep attention there. And he reforms. He
swears off "for keeps." He is a happy man, a free man. For a few days or
weeks, perhaps even longer, he glories in his new self-respect. It is a
strange and enticing sensation. Then one day something goes wrong. He
loses some money, or he is awfully tired, or the wife and children bore
him, and all of a sudden the one greatest interest in the world is a
drink. And because his thinking can always be led by his feeling;
because he has never learned to force it to go elsewhere, he has his
drink. Appealing to his emotions did not and cannot save him unless that
appeal is followed at the right moment by awakened reason, which will
look at the whole proposition when the mind is at its normal best, and
choose to follow where rational feeling directs. Nor will reason save
unless volition comes to its support and strongly backs it up and
enforces what it advises.

THE ATTENTION OF REASON AND WILL

So the good nurse will not consider her work done when she has diverted
mental processes into channels of co-operation. When the patient, who is
capable of reasoning, knows the why of his treatment, and realizes that
he can only keep well as he himself takes over the job and puts his mind
on things outside of his feelings, and carries out the doctor's
instructions for the sake of securing a certain end--then he has been
under a good nurse. This wise helper never "preaches," but makes the
healthy goal very desirable, stirs up an ambition to attain it, and
prods the will to keep on after it despite anything feeling may sa