PRIZE TEMPERANCE ESSAY.

White Ribbon, Volume 27, Issue 319, 18 January 1922, Page 7

PRIZE TEMPERANCE ESSAY.

PETONE WEST SCHOOL

V HANNAH.—STANDARD VI. Beer is made from barley, which, if made into bread is a very nutritious food. A starchy fluid, called malt, is extracted from the barley, and after being mixed with sugar and hops, is nl lowed to ferment. During this process alcohol is produced in the beer. A 1 coho! is a poison to be feared, and it sets up a craving for drink inside the body, it 1- a colourless, volatile, inflammable fluid with a pungent odour, and a very hot taste. The two things necessary for success are brain and brown. Grain in bread is constructive. It m; kes muscle, muscle means strength, strength means development, and development means happiress. Grain in beer is destructive. It mean broken-down tissue, broken-down tissue means weakness, weakness means decay, decay means sorrow. “He that has brain and brawn has little else to wish for. but he that has one and not the other is little better for having anything.’*—John Locke. If we examine the blood under a microscope we see countless numbers of tiny red bodies, .shaped like boats or saucers. These are the red corpuscles carrying oxygen from the lungs to all parts of the body. The alcohol quickly enters the blood and breaks or shrivels them up. The boats carry less oxygen, and the body is not nourished so well. The white corpuscles, whose duty it is to kill germs, are the soldiers of the body. Th« alcohol makes them drowsy, sluggish, and they do not do their duty. As a result the person is liable to contract disease. During the influenza epidemic there was greater mortality among habitual drinkers than Prohibitionists. Water quenches thirst better than al cohollc drinks, and alcohol lowers the power of endurance. During the war the Russian Government prohibited the drinking of vodka. The French Government also prohibited the drinking of absinthe on account of its effect on soldiery. In Nt w Zealand the hotels are closed after six o’clock so that the producing powers of the people should not be impaired. Grime- are caused through drinking, and canct r. brain disease and

consumption are also caused through the abuse of alcohol. Alcohol hinders digestion. and the liver becomes congested and cannot perform its functioas. It weakeas the heart and it becomes dilated. If the kidneys are affected Bright’s Disease Is produced. Sometimes excessive drinking h ads to insanity, and a drunkard in a family produces unhappiness. “Drink is the mother of want and the nurse of crime.” —Lord Broughton. If England could be made sober, three-fourths of the gaols would he clased.