"Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also."—HABAKKUK ii, 15.
CHAPTER I.
THE MONSTER, STRONG DRINK.
There are two remarkable passages in a very old book, known as the Proverbs of Solomon, which cannot be read too often, nor pondered too deeply. Let us quote them here:
1. "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise."
2. "Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babblings? who hath wounds without cause? who hath, redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder."
It is many thousands of years since this record was made, and to-day, as in that far distant age of the world, wine is a mocker, and strong drink raging; and still, as then, they who tarry long at the wine; who go to seek mixed wine, discover that, "at the last," it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder.