The Contributor.

Otago Witness, Issue 1446, 9 August 1879, Page 22

The Contributor.

THE EVILS OP INTEMPERANCE; 08, THE EXPERIENCES OF A SWAGSMAN. -

(Written for the Otago Witness.) DEDICATED TO THE WORKING CLASSES.

Sincerely hoping that the columns of the Otago Witness are open for the publication of matters of ( temperance, as well' as others of local and general interest, I now make this humble endeavour hoping to enlighten vhe youth of this Colony on the evil effects of intemperance. My knowledge is derived from sad and bitter experience, and I wish these two things to be borne in mind : I do not wish to offend any person — for I ,make no allusions either to time, persons, &r localities ; having had 25 years' colonial experience, I have some knowledge of, these matters, therefore I write in a broad sens?, embracing the whole of these colonies— and I am but a labouring man, not boasting of possessing any literary attainments. I ask, When will restrictions be placed on the sale of alcohol? Will ever spirits be sold pure and unadulterated to the working community ? Will ever places of accommodation be erected for the working man where he can rest from his hard toil, Btudy and read books, the losal and other journals, and thoroughly enjoy himself with the blessings of sobriety, renovating, improving, aud expanding his mind ? Such plaeee, I fear, are not for some time to be. Everywhere there are public-houaes and shanties, The single man has no other place of shelter wben out of employment, except wheie the stalking alcoholic fiend prowls about alluring him to deeds of violence, destruction, and death. When under this demoniacal influence, men utter language and commit d^eds whioh, when sober, caune tkeir minds to revolt, and their very consciencea to shudder.

I make no allusions whatever, but ifc is said that in low houses iv different and numerous localities, and ia some places that are termed "up country," there arc two aad j even three sorts of liquors kept in stock, j Now, when a squatter or man of influence calls in, he ia served with the best aud purest viands. Considering the influence of these poople, they dare not do otherwise for fear of their licence. They, however, are not the claas that keep up these places. But who is this looming in the distance ? The landlord, is now upon the alert, <

' " I say, old woman, :thiss must be a Bwagsman, coming down country; he must have a bit of money. Mind, there's nothing cooked when he cornea in; we must keep" him waiting as long as wa .can, and he will be too late and tired to go any further. Is there enough of salt in that keg of beer that we keep for the swagameh ?" "Oh yes, plenty. » ■ " Are the rum and whiskey all right ?" " Yea ; I have doctored a bottle of each " Place ;fchem on the shelf " s°*? ™° £vv W v man toddl€S I** 0 kitohen a*a Mr Publiohome tosses a couple of sticks of tobacco into the beer-kec Ha Sn!Sr I let her know everything **' Hold ollfc* moment, Mr Editor,: I say The^HSa born facts, nevertheless' I have been drugged and robbed on several ™«Lj!?1 in these colonies, when I^Sl^^S two glasses of spirits, or two pints of beer ' men in a far worse predicament tkrough this drugging. I am not alluding to the locality in which I now reside at all? Well, along comes this swagsman. aifltotf. workmg.man, very ignorant, but honestlWe that can be victimised with impunity but he has made up his mind not to 4ch i th ia time. He is addicted to drink h n t i, • confident he can keep sebor a daln" sionl WewiUsup^sehehasrchequeS goes. mg VWy tiredand h ™V?X hi "Hilloa, old man; the sight of yon in good for sore eyes. Where have LJ been booking it out,all this time ?" 7 * " Oh," so, and so. " v!» h T iu 6a aWay a Ion « tiQ >e." a fe e ?hereV here °* ° k^ o£ *****

v l\ I >,, Bnp:poße so; here's nothing cooked but FU ccc what the old woman l,ndotr But this said "feed" is a long time settins underwejgh ; so he sits and smokes wS th! publican. He would like a pint o? water but has not the courage to ask for it in such a place; so he refills his pipe andVmokes again, and, with his empty stomach he if soon aa dry as a lime-kiln ' V' W ?Y*' *&* thG host » "I am dry You'd better have a drink." y ' m So he prefers beer instead of spirits • thatf a sof5 of "S and h , alf a dozen SttLoE? After another smoke, mine host asks him to Tkeen 6 sete^ V"* **?* P^edwith ?»£ f +E a honour, he is ashamed to takethe second gaSß,g aSß , so he shouts himself and feeling as thiraty as if he had- drank brine, and having a giddiness in the head, he drinks rum this time. So after a while he feels very queer. He shouts again" and wants his dinner, but, with a' lot of cunning persuasion, mine host, who does not like to be mean, presses on him another glass of real ing him he will eat like a horse TT« la gone! Alas for poor, frail humanity 8 , Shout now follows ahout in 3k succession. The cheque is cashed. The °i d WOD T i B CaUed itt *° *aye her share, and she modestly tells him this long-looked-for feed is now ready; but he do B t feel hungry now. Perhaps there are more men about the p l ace; £ they *™ called m, and he « shouts » for all hand^ and throwing his hard-earned notes on the bar, he forgets the change; and the landlord being of a jovial deposition, and blowing a hurricane and rather absent-minded, forgets to give it him. So he is soon pennilefsSS^Si?"" ft ff ° Ur A** or iQ far time ; and the pubhoan, being a|hum»ne and generous-mmded man, gives him friendly advice. "Now, old fellow, be a man ! Pick yourself together ! You hay« had a stunning spree ! My word, you are a jolly rowdy cove when you are on the spree ! You did carry on ! Come and have a nip ; I'll shout. Yog have only eat a mouthful since you came. 11l trust you a feed and a bottle of stmgo to take on the .road. The winter is coming, 'and you must look for a job." What nnbounded generosity— merely to get rid of his victim. So away he goes, avoiding the track, for he is ashamed to look his fellow-man in the face. So he .travels on until nightfall ,Th© bottle of poison is now empty, and he haa .eaten but one good meal for three whole days ; bo be casts himself down in the tussocks, feeling very ill, and deeply regretting the loss of his hard earnings. He has not lam long— for he cannot sleep— when, oh ieavens, what iB this pain ?— this sensation at the pit of his ohest? He never felt' the 'I? 6 £ * b ? fore ' Lea P in g upon his feet, the blood rushes like a deluge up throueh^ his chest and concentrates in a focus up?n his brain ; a fearful giddiness attacks him in the centre of his forehead, swift and sudden "? B ii /£ dl from a riflo: he »taggers an%•f alls. Oh ! what was it ?-ao awif fc and y& so terrible. He was nearly gone. Again he feels thia dying sedation at the pit of his j^V l " 8 bre ath comes in gaspß; he feela and believes lie is dying, with no one to console him in his last moments ; so with hia nervous system terribly excited, his faculties •keenly sharpened, he fanciei he hears human voices. Oh ! here is some person to talk to. Who are you ? Where are you ? Coo-ey No response. Hurrying along in the supposed diveotion, he is suddenly confronted by a vision either in a horrible or fantastio shape — something he has never seen or heard of, 1 or his vivid imagination never pourtrayed, even ia his wildest dreams. Starting back, his hair en end, his eyeballs nearly bursting from their Bockets, breathlesa, his tongue and powers of speech paralysed, the very scalp seems to crawl on his head. He glares on this vision ; it seems to approach. Gaßping forth a smothered cry, he turns and fließ, and right m his track there stands another inhuman mon Bter.8 ter. He is sure it addresses him ; he runs in another direction ; but these fiends of alcohol are everywhere. And now he thinks that all the demons of Pandemonia are lot loos* to destroy him or drive him ravine mad. Utterly exhausted, ho throws himself down craving death as a boon. Grinding his teeth together, and tightly closing hia eyelids, he endeavours to exclude then© visions. Vain hope. He has compressed the overcharged bloodvessels and redoubled hia misery he aeea the effect, but knows aot the wrase. The inoarnate demons of alcohol »re making sport of their victim j the fiendi of inttm<

perance have'claimed him as their own. The first impressions of delirium tremens are indelibly Btampsd on his inomory, never to be erased. O, what a sight of horrors ! This man has had many a spree, but this is his first experience of the D.T.s, and I ask, what should be done to persons who drug liquota to reduce men to this state to obtain their? money ?— for I say, these are facts not fiction. Though unknown, and Bmaller than a raindrop in the ocean or the finest speck of sand, in the scales of the universe, I say the voice of the swagsman shall yet be heard on these nuttsra. This man recovers—at least he thinks so. He does not ■mow of his impaired digestion, or that his ~JM /.k is diseased, but wonders at uhe strange 3ud confused thoughts, the queer and fantastic ideas, that, like a blazing rnqteor, shoot with lightning -like velocity across his mind, leaving a tail of flaming fire that for a brief period is perceptible in its course. He has a big cheque this time, and being in a town ship, he keeps steady for some time ; bub he can no longer withstand the otten repeated and pressing invitations to accept a drink, from his fellow labourers, so he at last agrees. Three nips intoxicate him now, and those who induced him to drink now leave him, so he commences to Bhout for all hands, *even should they come in squads or battaliona. So in a short space of time he is mad, and having a large of Dutch courage aboard, he is eager to exhibit his pugilistic proclivities. You might knock him down with a straw. He uses bad language, and being in, a rowdy house and the proprietor knowing his cheque is nearly spent, suddenly takes offence; and when he speaks again soma hanger-on about the place, a loafer who has helped himto drink his cheque, softens his rib 3 and batters his countenance while in this state, and the ory is now, "throw the drunken beast out." So he is pitched into the gutter without any ceremony. He now suffers to a double extent what he did at first. He has the the two-fold impression of delirium tremens to carry. He knows not of the lump in his stomach, of digestive organs destroyed and brain diseased ; he cannot help drinking now. He has not the moral couia^e to resist ; bo again he falls for the third time. He is now a pitiable object, afraid of bis own shadow, his stomach diseased, his nervous system utterly ruined, epileptic, delirious, nearly mad when sober, his mind deranged and brain' softened, a helpless hypochondriac. His once strong constitution is shattered like the oak riven by lightning, and he has now the three fold impressions to bear — the brands of delirium tremens are now seared " on his brain in letters of flaming fire. Sobriety and time may modify, but can never obliterate them. Stimulate this man with alcohol, and he becomes like a wild beast lapping the blood of its victim ; the demons of his lust are leb loose, and when under the demoniacal influence of alcohol he is mad, and will commit any atrocity. Now, in writing of these houses, and the retaillers of strong drink, I do not make a sweeping condemnation ; for there are roBpectable hotelkeepera in our towns and persons in these outlying districts who are a credit and an honour to the business they adorn, form the course of a long colonial experience I have found as many upright, honourable persons in this aa in any other business, .But I mean a great number of those low shanties, those roadside dens and hells, in low. localities and places where there Is but little traffic, whose only means of subsistence is by drugging and victimising the labouring. man. Why license so many of these places, to destroy the health, shatter the constitutions and impoverish the working classes, the bone and sinew of the country ? And I assert there are a great number of fast men who3e chitf aim and sole ambition is to possess one of these dens and obtain a licence. I write for the good of my fellow men, and the benefit of suffering humanity, amply repaid if I can pluck one brand from the burning, save one fellow-mortal from a drunkard's grave. Who oan quench this craving for strong drink ? What sufferings' can b9 compared to thoso caused through intemperance ! ' The man who haa drunk to great excess must stand all the insults, scorn, and opprobrium that maybe heaped' upon him. He' dare not retaliate, for in one moment he is excited and helpless. Before he drank to excess, this scan had the # courage to face the tiger in its lair, but; now he ia despised as a drunken cur. I have khowrf men in their dofcage not 40 years old, . through excessive drinking. What, a state of things to exist, and non-drinkers naturally say, " Why not abstain ?" As well ask the planets to stop in their , courae, or try to keep the charged spark -.of electricity from exploding the battery of an ironclad. The man lost his moral courage at first, and that is what he stands most; in need o F . His physical strength is mostly gone, and to save him he : needs 'succour from heaven, and assistance from earbh. This, then, is one of the main sources of revenue, oae of the ohief props of the boasted,' glorious and mighty British Empire ! §he slays the flower of her sub- j ject3 by thousands— for one murder makes a, villain, thousands proclaim a hero. Oh, had I the pen of a' Collins, were I poaeeiaed of the eloquence of a Dickens, could I but lecture like Bright or Clark, co that I could dilata with vast expansion, upon this inexhaustible them?, until it spread, into the four corners of the earth, covering this globe as with «4a« 4 a mantle of love and truth, white and pure as snow ! If I can not mend these matters, I can suggest a remedy for ab leaat ono evil. In the Old Country, where I came from, there were government inspector of weights and measures, who seized all that had the least sign of a deficiency, and imposed heavy fines on the guilty. Now if the Government derive such an enormous revenue from the sale of alcoholic liquors, at least let us have them pure and unadulterated ; let them appoint analytical chemists for each province or county, armed at all points with the majesty of the law, so that they could enter any premises where beer or spirits are brewed, distilled, or sold, and stavd in the hea^s <f just-emptied beer-barrtls occasionally, to sei if there is any tobacco ia them, analyse «11 liquors Bold over the bar, look for the dregi of bluestone, snuff, and other drugs and chemicals ; for the human race must not be < poisoned. They Bhould have no stated tiaies to appear) but hover around in.

circies, and suddenly swoop down on the suspected, swift and sure aa the mighty eagle on its prey, aud if proven guilty impeae such a fiu'a for the first offence aa would make their finances stagger, and their credit reel. If this humble suggestion were acted upon, the effect would soon be perceptible, half depopulating our infirmaries, asylums, and gaols, and lifting an immense load from off the finances of the couatry j for it is patent to the whole working community that the drink is drugged and adulterated. Are there not men dying around us every day and hour through the effeats of alcoholic drink ? Who, and where are the adulterators ? If a man commits a capital crime, he is tried by his countrymen, and if proven guilty is condemned and executed. But these brewers, distillers, and sellers, go free. I allude only to those that adulterate, and they oftea»live in a luxurious manner, and on what ? On the proceeds of a poor man's toil, tho sweatings of his carcase ; and their victims can bo counted by hundreds in our asylums and gaola, with shattered constitution encumbering the country. This alcoholic demon is annually destroying thousands of men and women, the very bone and sinew of these colonies. Oh, when will the nation place its foot on the head of this subtle viper, crushing it into atoms? So that a mighty, searching wind may blow the dust into the immensity of space— the chaos of eternity. When will the nations of Europe recognise their deadliest enemy, their insatiable foe, combining together in a simultaneous attack, trampling to death these alcoholic fiends and demons with sheer force of overwhelming numbers ? I now write a few words to the young men of thia country. Take advice in time : the sufferings I have seen men endure I cannot find language to express. Touch not the first glass ; avoid it as a loathsome and deadly reptile that crosses your path, and then you may enjoy all the blessings of healbh, wealth, and longevity. Exert your best endeavours and influence in the cause of temperance. Study and practise philanthropic abstinence, for it is a sublime and noble undertaking. Personal abstinence bought of sin-born necessity stands low, but philanthrophic abstinenoe assumed and practised for the good of others, stands high. The temperate man has the power to keep this monster in subjection lives in a sphere of his own, and looks down with a certain kind of loathing and disdain on the poor drunkard wallowing in the mire beneath. Thia man is not to be cempared with the philanthrophic abstainer in any respect. I say abstinence of itself is no cure for intemperance— dt only holds in check the burning and craving desires. It does not conquer, for the resolution to abstain ia one thing, and the keeping of it another.

I now address a few words to the Good Templars— the staunch, loyal, and true adherents of teroparance : May your cause ever flourish, may your noble endeavours ever prosper ! may you succeed in your most sanguine expectations, your gigantic strides ever pressing onward ; and when you see a fellow mortal wallowing in the mire of drunkenness, stop, go and raise him ; heed not the insinuations of the brutal and ignorant, or the old world's frown ; raiße him high, console him; impart confidence to him ; wrap him in the warm and tight embraca of brotherly love ; make him know tnat you will assist him ; give him your hand, open your hearb to him ; raise his majestic limbs that are now draggling in mud aud mire is like a towering tree-top. Lop none of hi? branches, but train them upward ; endeavour to erase the brand that, similar to.Cam's, rests on his now degraded but once noble brow, for this is man — made'after the image of his Maker — the greatest work of creation. Gather around him, Good Templars, for union is strength, and shield him with your hosts from the cold world's gaze until you make him as one of yourselves, for thia 13 true and genuine philanthrophy. The visiting angel haß witnessed these deeds and has recounted them in the presence of- the celestial council, and before the Omnipotent Ruler at the throne of Heaven, and thab infinite and heavenly assemblage, 1 animated as with one celestial impulse, unanimously tendered their favourable votes, and the recording angel has written them down in glorious letters on the imperishable and .emblazoned scroll of heaven and eternity. Now let us war with these alcoholic demons, keeping them *in subjection, so that our children and generations to coma shall bless and reverence our memories, as they cry, " Remember our sires ; let us emulate the noblo deeds of our forefathers, and finish the glorious work they so nobly began. Let us concentrate our forces, and as the brave Highlanders face their foes with sublime courage and enthusiasm, so will we do bat Me with thess demons— for thia is a war of utter extermination. The AngloSaxon race or alcohol must perish." J. Ok,O k, Swagsman. Albert Town, Vincent County.