a young man, he may be the son of poor parents, or he
may be the son of rich parents; one in the ordinary ranks of life, or
one of high social standing, whatever that means. He is good-hearted,
one of good impulses, generally speaking,--a good fellow. He is out with
some companions, companions of the same general type. They are out for a
pleasant evening, out for a good time. They are apt at times to be
thoughtless, even careless. The suggestion is made by one of the
company, not that they get drunk, no, not at all; but merely that they
go and have something to drink together. The young man whom we first
mentioned, wanting to be genial, scarcely listens to the suggestion that
comes to his inner consciousness--that it will be better for him not to
fall in with the others in this. He does not stop long enough to realize
the fact that the greatest strength and nobility of character lies
always in taking a firm stand on the side of the right, and allow
himself to be influenced by nothing that will weaken this stand. He
goes, therefore, with his companions to the drinking place. With the
same or with other companions this is repeated now and then; and each
time it is repeated his power of saying "No" is gradually decreasing. In
this way he has grown a little liking for intoxicants, and takes them
perhaps now and then by himself. He does not dream, or in the slightest
degree realize, what way he is tending, until there comes a day when he
wakens to the consciousness of the fact that he hasn't the power nor
even the impulse to resist the taste which has gradually grown into a
minor form of craving for intoxicants. Thinking, however, that he will
be able to stop when he is really in danger of getting into the drink
habit, he goes thoughtlessly and carelessly on. We will pass over the
various intervening steps and come to the time when we find him a
confirmed drunkard. It is simply the same old story told a thousand or
even a million times over.

He finally awakens to his true condition; and through the shame, the
anguish, the degradation, and the want that comes upon him he longs for
a return of the days when he was a free man. But hope has almost gone
from his life. It would have been easier for him never to have begun,
and easier for him to have stopped before he reached his present
condition, but even in his present condition, be it the lowest and the
most helpless and hopeless that can be imagined, he has the power to get
o