of young men, as moral and as self-confident as
Frederick Charlston, have been physically and morally ruined as he was.
Once yielding a little to immoral influence gives the first impetus to a
downward tendency. Continue to repeat it, and the inertia becomes
stronger, and the descent more easy.

"I see no harm in a social glass with a friend," cries one.

"Let cold-water-fanatics preach until doomsday and hurl their anathemas
against inebriates," exclaims another, "but they never shall prevent me
from taking my occasional glass."

"Nor I," says a third. "An occasional glass with a companion is the very
life-spring of social nature. It assimilates one mind with another. It
dispels sadness, and invigorates both soul and body. It opens up the
fountains of the heart, and joy gushes out, sparkling with wit and
melody. Wherefore then should I deprive myself of those blessings, on
purpose to gratify the whims of some cold-water quack? Wherefore then
should I bind my liberties with a pledge as a safe-guard to prevent me
from becoming a drunkard? If other men have been foolish enough to allow
themselves to become drunkards by abusing one of the precious gifts of
nature, is that sufficient reason that I should not drink? I think not.
I am no drunkard, nor shall I become one; therefore I will do as I
please with my own liberty and independence."

Such is indeed the false philosophy of too many moderate drinkers. No
man is a confirmed drunkard at once. It is by degrees that men generally
become inebriates. "Take but a glass," says the recruiting sergeant of
Bacchus, "it will do you no harm." But one glass is but the starting
point. It is the magnet that attracts material akin to itself. What a
world of degradation has been generated by this nucleus of intemperance.

Intoxicating liquor is indeed the most prolific source of wretchedness
and crime. It has been and still is the greatest curse to humanity. It
is the curse of curses. The grave is filled with its wrecks. The fire of
hell is fed by its fuel. Millions upon millions of human beings has it
hurled down to the blackest regions of eternity. How daring then must
that man be;--how utterly lost to every principle of morality, who would
hazard an assertion in favor of intoxicating drinks as a source of
benefit to mankind. The universal evidence of all ages would be against
him. The horrid shrieks of suffering humanity would denounce his
arguments. Millions of grinning skeleton