Unto the Third and Fourth Generations.

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defy its contradiction :-There is no one cause of disease, in this country, one-half so prolific as alcohol. And Pandora, as she numbers and estimates the numerous progeny of her box, may well fondle this one especially—" Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all."

And the worst of it is, that the disease so induced does not terminate with the life of him or her who produced it. If, unhappily, children be born, they will inherit the evil of their progenitors: stunted in body, and often in mind ;* fatuous, or foolish; drinkloving, and drunken, in their turn; scrofulous, rheumatic, consumptive, weak, useless. This is one of the punishments of sin, in the present life, which may in sad bitterness be traced downward from parent to child—“ iniquity of the fathers visited upon the children, and upon the children's children," even "unto the third and fourth generations."+

XII. The power of alcohol to cherish old age. "The

According to Dr Howe, in his report on idiocy to the Legislature of Massachusetts—“The habits of the parents of 300 of the idiots were ascertained; and 145, or nearly one-half, are reported as 'known to be habitual drunkards.""

† Dr Livingston tells us that consumption, scrofula, stone, are quite unknown in Central Africa. Is this happy immunity connected with the comparative absence of alcoholics that reigns there?

180

"Old Man's Milk."

old man's milk!" This is one of the many aliases that alcohol trades under. "By all means," say many, "keep strong drink from the lad and the boy' corn is not for staigs;' but the grown man, if he be discreet, may take at least a little with impunity; and for the old man, a cordial is absolutely necessary; it rouses the feeble heart, and warms the chill limbs, and ever and anon helps the ebbing tide to flow again." Very plausible, and very pretty! Unfortunately, it is not

true.

The life of the old man is a quiet, reduced, gentle affair; with none of the tumult of youth, and none of the energy of middle age. The machinery is well nigh worn out; all is feeble, and parts are wanting, or but ill repaired. The play of a strong and sudden steam-power would now be very dangerous.

All is well-arranged by Nature; and all would be well, comparatively, were we but content with the arrangement. The engine is crank and weak, but little coke is taken in, but little steam is generated, yet the piston plays pretty well in its own weak way; though, to be sure, the periods of work are brief, and the intervals of rest prolonged. "But no," says the alcoholic wiseacre, as he rudely interferes, "the coke must be made to burn more brightly, and more must be shovelled on; the working power must be increased, if not in force, at least in continuance, for we

The Old Man's State.

181

cannot bear to see the pull so weak, and the speed so slow"-down-hill, and steep in the gradient, though the tramway be.

The old man's appetite is small, because he needs but little food; little food is needed, because he is not intended for much work; the little work he does, produces no very great amount of disintegration of tissue; yet the feebleness of his circulation, and breathing, and power of excretion, make it difficult for him to work off the "waste," such as it is. With prudence, a tolerable adjustment may be maintained; and such is Nature's arrangement for the evening of our days. But you say, "No. We must have the bright light of morning, if not the flash of noon-if not always, at least now and then." An alcoholic cordial will stimulate the appetite, more food will be taken, and then-" Aye, there's the rub:" What then? That food is not digested; or if it be in part, it hampers the blood with what it cannot manage; the nervous system is roused to call an action from the various organs which they cannot bear; and the alcohol tends to shut up the "waste" in a dangerous accumulation. No wonder that the old man is in consequence made liable to apoplexy, and congestion of the brain; to palpitations and angina; to wheezing asthma, and bronchitis; to heart-burn and indigestion; to jaundice and bilious attacks; to gout

182

The Old Man's Danger.

and gravel: to troubles of the skin; or to some sudden and great calamity from a plurality of morbid causes combined.

Look at the old man's leg. A wasted, shrivelled thing; the bone's edge as sharp as a knife, the skin loose as the pantaloon, the muscles flabby and weak. When the man is up, what say you to galvanising it, by some powerful battery, so that it may disport itself, at least occasionally, as if in the leaps and gambols of its youth? Would not success imply great danger of a break-down?-rupture of muscle or tendon, or fracture of bone? And yet what is absurd and mischievous on the part, you would bring to bear on the whole system! By your alcoholic stimulus you would seek to jerk the poor old man into a convulsive and paroxysmal imitation of his younger days, the least injurious effect of which must be exhaustion, and acceleration of general decay.

So much for his body; what of his mind? That is intended for no adventitious stimulus such as alcohol's. It is evening-tide with him, and the light should be subdued, yet clear. He has accounts to settle, his house to set in order; he has a long way to go soon, and he would see clearly at least the path's beginning: he has to commune much with himself, much with those around him, and most of all with his God. He would be calm and composed as he approaches nearer

Light in the Evening-Tide.

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and nearer to the solemn interview, face to face, with the yet Unseen but Not Unknown, and the then Judge of All. And what do you with this "Cordial ?" Do you not reflect that it has a special action on the brain, exciting, yet perverting? Rousing imagination, with which the old man has little now to do, for it is stern reality that is both beside and before him; it is the last and great assize he is hastening to, and imagination has no place there. Diminishing self-control, abating the already enfeebled power of will, and tending to depress all that he would seek to exalt in his moral and spiritual nature—unfitting him quite for that else promised mounting up with wings as an eagle, that running and not being weary, that walking and not being faint.

I protest that I know no more painful sight than the old man thus abused-often in mistaken kindness; his weak frame shaken and strained under forced potations, and his mind lapsed into a maundering state little short of inebriety.

And men call this food-cordial-milk-"the old man's milk!" A strange perversion of words! Seeking fish, will ye give him a serpent? Asking for bread, will ye give him a stone?

In the case of children possessed of anything like fair health, the ordinary use of alcoholics is especially