Paths of Disappointment # 3

Paths of Disappointment # 3

I have never understood why a man should be understood as having a thought for my welfare to offer me that which would dim my eyes, dull my senses, tie up my tongue, addle my brain,  or blight my life. And I have never understood why a man should not invite my or why he should take offense if I should invite him to have with me a social drink of castor oil or milk of magnesia. This does not taste much worse than liquor, and it would have a far more remedial effect. But it is just not done in society.

To "have a drink" whether it is at the club house, or in the business office, or in the hotel room, or at the college hop or on the joy ride, is to drink liquor or some form of alcoholic beverage. And every drop is loaded with disappointment when it comes to bringing lasting joy.

Jack and Jill
Went up the hill
To get some bootleg liquor;
Jack went blind
And lost his mind,
And Jill is even sicker!

Five drunk men, after the midnight hour had passed, leaned up against a telephone pole in front of Mrs. Smith's home, knowing not whence they came nor whither they went. They shouted and whooped. The lady of the house, angry beyond words, threw open the window and angrily shouted, "Hello!" One of the drunks, with a wave of his hand and a bob of his head, said belchingly, "Hello there. Be you Mrs. Smith?" "Yes," came the sharp, snapping answer.  What do you want?" "Please maam... you...Lady... won't you...lady...come out and pick out Mr. Smith so the rest of us fellow can go home?"

More foolish and far more tragic things than that have men done under the influence of strong drink. A huge bottle would be an appropriate tombstone over many graves. Certainly a bottle a reality, whether visible or not, is the tombstone that stands above ruined hopes, broken families, disappointments, bitterness, and all misery. The bottle, the cup, the weak will, the blasted career - than the grave with a bottle as a tombstone.

But all who have walked the wine path, whether they be old, or whether they be young have found that wine is a mocker,strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise" (Proverbs 20:1). This is not only the truth of God, but it is the verdict of the ages.

A huge bottle would be an appropriate tombstone over many graves. Certainly a bottle of reality, whether visible or not, is the tombstone that stands above ruined hopes, broken families, disappointments, bitterness, and all misery. The bottle, the cup, the weak will, the blasted career - than grave with a bottle as a tombstone.

But all who have walked the wine path, whether they be old, or whether they be young have found that "wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Let us consider that verdict:

On an early Egyptian tomb are these words: "His earthly tenement was shattered by beer and wine, and his spirit departed before it was called for."

In 550 B.C. Buddha gave a statement that flashed out in that day as lightning: "Drink not liquors that intoxicate and disturb the reason."

And Xenophon, 300 years before heaven put out its brightest star to mark the birthplace of the incarnate Christ in Bethlehem said: "Temperance means first, moderation in healthful indulgence and, secondly, abstinence from things dangerous, as the use of intoxicating wines."

And Pliny, the Elder, speaking words without the least semblance of foolishness, in 79 A.D. said: "There is nothing about which we put ourselves to more trouble than wine."

And Chaucer chastised the winebibber in 1340 with this statement: "Character and shame depart when wine comes in."

And Shakespeare, from whose pen words of wisdom dropped like golden pollen from the stems of shaken lilies, thrust the wine drinking curse through with these words: "O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil."

And Abraham Lincoln, in whose heart was no room for the memory of a wrong, in 1842 said: "Liquor might have defenders, but no defense. Whether or not the world would be vastly benefited by a total and final banishment from it, of all intoxicating drinks, seems to me not an open question."

And Gladstone, who being dead yet speaketh in the parliaments of men, in 1898 said: "The ravages of drink are greater than those of war, pestilence and famine combined."

~Robert G. Lee~

(continued with # 4)