ercising self-control.
Temperance observes the simple rules of hygiene and common sense for the
sake of vigor and vitality; and sacrifices the pleasures of the palate
only in so far as it is necessary in order to secure in their greatest
intensity and permanence the larger and higher interests of life.

THE VICES OF EXCESS.

+Intemperance in eating is gluttony. Intemperance in drinking leads to
drunkenness.+--Instead of sitting in the seat of reason and driving the
appetites before him in obedience to his will, the glutton and the
drunkard harness themselves into the wagon and put reins and whip into
the hands of their appetites.

The glutton lives to eat; instead of eating to live. This vice is so
odious and contemptible that few persons give themselves up entirely to
gluttony. Yet every time we eat what we know is not good for us, or more
than is good for us, we fall a victim to this loathsome vice.

+The drunkard is the slave of an unnatural thirst.+--Alcoholic drink
produces as its first effect an excitement and exhilaration much more
intense than any pleasure coming from the normal gratification of
natural appetite. This exhilaration is purchased at the expense of
stimulating the system to abnormal exertion. This excessive action of
the system during intoxication is followed by a corresponding reaction.
The man feels as much worse than usual during the hours and days that
follow his debauch, as he felt better than usual during the brief
moments that he was taking his drinks. This depression and disturbance
of the system which follows indulgence in intoxicating drink begets an
unnatural and incessant craving for a repetition of the stimulus; and so
in place of the even, steady life of the temperate man, the drinking
man's life is a perpetual alternation of brief moments of unnatural
excitement, followed by long days of unnatural craving and depression.
The habit of indulging this unnatural craving steals upon a man
unawares; it occupies more and more of his thought; takes more and more
of his time and money, until he is unable to think or care for anything
else. It becomes more important to him than business, home, wife,
children, reputation, or character; and before he knows it he finds that
his will is undermined, reason is dethroned, affection is dead, appetite
has become his master, and he has become its beastly and degraded slave.

+Total abstinence the only sure defense.+--This vice of intemperance is
s