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THE DELAWARE COLLEGE REVIEW Vol. XXIII. NOVEMBER, IQ06. No. 1.. I The Power of Education In Preventing I Intemperance. l By GUSTAVE A. PAPPERMAN, '09. }· An an~ptat1on of a temperance oration rle­ It is not only true lhat intctllplr­ livered in the College oratory by Gusta\·e A. l Papperman, '09, who won thP first prize, $25.00 ance is found atnoug- the poor and in gold. ignorant classes, btt t it is also fonud i 11 l higher circles. J~ven the intetuperan e HERE is hardly the slightest of refined and cultivated socict r ·­ l T doubt in the mind of any rea~on­ sults 111ainly frout iguorance, and the ) ing person that intetnperance is recklessnesc. and slavery to passiou that due largely to ignorance. It is to edu­ conies front ignorancL ; for cd ucatcd cation therefore that we tnust look for J peo p1 e i u = this conn try h a v k 11 own h 11 t he1 p in overcoming the evils. I ntenl­ little or ~ nothiug of the i1isuny and perance varies with education and ex­ effects of stitnu1ants and narcotics; and ternal conditions. In these days it n1ost of the p oplc atuong these class s \vorks its greatest evils among the becoute druukards fro111 habits fonued abjectly poor and ignorant classes ; and in youth) when as yet they kuow little it is rather an effect of this ignorance of science 01 the1usel vc:s. eyen tnore than it is a cause. Ignor­ If we can change the 111 i nds of th · ance 1s the fountain, tntetnperance is ign()rant by the influ ·nee of church, the outflowing streatn ; the fountain t school, and houH:; and gi\ e the 111 a I originates the defiled stream ; if we can fir111 hold on ''ScieutifJc Invel-itigatiou purify the fountain the outflow will be and Instruction," IIlllCh good will rl"­ ·' pure and s\\·eet. sn]t. 'J'h · results of "Scientific lu vcs- 4 DELAWARE COI4LEGE REVIEW tigation and Instruction" teveal the mony. It stands condemned, and th following facts : That alcohol is an is the condemnation : Alcohol in a outlaw by nature ; that it is a poison ; of its beverage· forms is a poison to and that the best way to overcome in­ brain and character, and thus is t temperance is by educating the people. greatest of all enemies to the ind In 1890 the Supren1e Court at Wash­ vidual, the family and the State. I ington, in response to the demand use begins in ignorance. The preve for the compensation for a revoked tion of that use tnust begin in earl license to sell alcoholic drinks, handed univetsal education. down this decision : The injury front What should be taught concernin alcohol first falls upon the drin~er in it? The full truth as to its dangerou his health, which it undermines; in and subtle natute ; and 1ts effect upo his ntorals, whtch it weakens ; and in the physical, mental, and moral nature the self-abasement, which it creates; as of man. How much should the statut it leads to the neglect of business, waste require to be taught? Enough to cov of property, and general demoraliza­ the subject and to correct popular fall a tion. A citizen bas no right to sell in­ cies. It cannot be too often repeated toxicating liquors by retail ; it is not line upon line, and precept upon the privilege of a citizen of the State, cept, here a little and there a littl or of the United States. Thereafter that gross vice, ignorance, and intetn whoever in the United Sta1es engages perance, go together. I ntetnperance, or shall engage in the liquor business, in short, must be treated like all othe does so at his own risk, with the full great social vices, like the vice of licen­ knowledge that a con1munity, if it so tiousness, of lying, or stealing. By decides, has the right to prohibit it, eve·ry possible means raise the tone of and that for such prohibition he can society and the coarser vices will dis­ claim no compensation whatever. The appear. This is a general treatment. right to prohibit the sale of intoxicat­ At the satne time let local tneasures be ing drinks is based on the decision of applied, for between this general treat­ science, that alcohol is not a food but ment and },·,cal measures there is no a potson. It is doubtful if we should conflict. An advantage of this general have had the Supreme Court's decision, treatment is that while it diminishes which brands alcohol as an outlaw by intemperance, it at the same tin1e nature, had it not been fur the influ­ causes also other associated vices to ence of scientific instruc! ion in the disappear. And how should it be ac­ public schools of two-thirds of the cotnplished? By popular gatherings, states. by the circulation of special knowledge The indictment against alcohol bt'­ on this snl j~ct, by the pr~ss, by science, fore the bar of science is overwhelm­ by art, by organization, by pulpits of ing, and there is no rebutting testi- all denominations, by law, so far as the DELAWARE COI-4LEGE REVIEW 5 law proves to be of service in checking been done without the sword, by ntoral the coarser n1anifestations of these and in tt.llect ual force alone. evils; by all these means-not sing1 y, We n1ust decide this ten1perance not alternately, not interruptedly, but question in the full light of all the indi­ un:tedly and simultaneously we should knowledge we can cotnmand, just a~ Its attack this great evil. decide what religious creed we shall In the past we have had too much ven­ adopt ; just as we decide whether we early local, too little of general treatn1ent, shall attend the theatre, the opera, or too tnuch dependance on law, on ''coat­ the circus ; just as we decide whether tail eloquence," on unscientific mea­ we shall dress in silk3 and laces and sures. The process we recotnmend is diamonds, while honest poverty is suf­ a slow one-this gradual lifting up of fering and cold two blocks fron1 our the people. ''Though the mills of God door. 1"he law ca11rnt decide these grind slowly, yet they gritJd exceeding q nestions for us ; neith(>r is it necessary small." There is no short-cut to na­ that it should ; and we cannot agree in tional virtue. The laws of reform are our decisions. Just as no two faces are so fixed as those that control the match exactly alike, our consciences like the of the sta1 s. There is no patent medi­ clocks of Charles the Fifth, will not cine a nation can take and be healed. tick together. Education has done tnuch through But however widely we may differ in the tnedium of tetnperance reforn1ers questions of casuistry or in the local and the W. C. T. U. The tetnpera~ce cure of intet.nperance, that education is refortn is one of the tnost successful very u~eiul we can all agree, and after efforts of tnodern or ancient titnes. We all that is the one great thing needful. found intemperance fashionable, we Every tnan \vho directly or indirectly have tnade it unfashionable. \Ve found helps to make less the ignorance of the it in a11 grades of society, we have poor or rich; who helps to solve the driven it, and are driving .it from the great labor reform problem, which is college, the school, the church, and the the right wing of tetnperance ; who counting house, and are confining it to no helps to raise the race one step higher, the national hon1e of all crime-the abodes of ignorance. And all this has is a worker for tern perallGe. to the The Yellow Rose. By JOSEPH H. PERKINS, '07. T was Sunday evening. From the after resting his band affectionately for I village church across the way catne a moment upon the young tnan's the low, tremulous notes of the bowed head, he vvalkeJ silently toward organ and the voice of someone sing­ the door. "Before the end-how long-?" asked ing. As th~ Man raised his head the the Man, lifelessly. words: The doctor turned slowly, gazed up­ ''Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me! on the still fortn lying on the bed, and And may there be no moaning of the bar answered: When I put out to sea!' uAn hour or two." 11 he door closed came. to him thru the open window. and he was gone. They aroused memories of never to be For a tnotnent there was quiet. forgotten days. Often when the fire­ Then the l\ian arose, put out the light, light rivaled the twilight, after the rai='ed the curtain, and, resntning his day's work was done, be h1 ·d heard his position by the bed-side, repeated in a wife sing them. And now, as he sat by voice full of anguish ~nd despair: "An hour or two-0, tnv nod!'' her bed-side, it was slowly dawning up­ .I on him that she would sing 1hetn There were no tears in his eyes; they nevertnore-tbat soon she would hput had not con1e to his lelief. He had no out to sea." pretnonition of this tnisfortnne; as frotn ''Will she becotne conscious before a clear sk), the \VOl ds of the doctor the end?" he asked. had fallen and d?zed hitn.

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