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To the Instructors of Youth

THIS LITTLE WORK IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED,

FROM A CONVICTION

.THAT THE SUBJECT OF THE FOLLOWING PAGES IS OF

VITAL IMPORTANCE TO THE WELFARE OF

ALL CLASSES OF SOCIETY,

AND THAT IT IS

ESSENTIAL TO MAKE A KNOWLEDGE

OF THE EVILS ARISING FROM THE USE OF

INTOXICATING LIQUORS

A PORTION OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION.

:

A Plea for Tectotalism.

CHAPTER I.

"A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring;
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
But drinking largely sobers us again."-Pope.

KNOWLEDGE leads to wisdom. It is an invaluable possession; more to be prized than gold and jewels, or any other outward riches. "A little learning" cannot, therefore, be a "dangerous thing," as all must have a little, before they can have much, of the priceless acquisition. The danger lies in our feeling that, when we have acquired a little learning, we are entitled to judge and act as if we had drunk deeply at the fountain of knowledge.

A great truth is involved in the words of

B

the poet. Man, in his pride, is too apt to imagine that, when a little learning has raised him a short span above the uneducated multitude, he knows all things. Further advances

soon convince him of his error. The most intelligent find that they have scarcely arrived within the porch of the temple. Their knowledge is the source of their humility; for the truly wise are the really humble. But they are not, on that account, deterred from pressing onwards. Every new acquisition enlarges their sphere of vision, and shows them more plainly the boundless fields of knowledge that lie before them, and invite them to yet higher and purer sources of intellectual enjoyment.

When appetite and sensual indulgence rise up to impede our progress in learning, we often yield to their alluring voice; we fancy we are wise; to us, in all such cases, 66 a little learning is a dangerous thing."

Man's need of larger draughts from the fountain of knowledge can hardly be more strongly illustrated, than by a reference to his

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