Dr. Peabody's Address.

A small but much interested audience assembled in Sever 11 last evening to listen to an address by the Rev. A. P. Peabody before the Total Abstinence League.

In introducing his subject Dr. Peabody said he had a few remarks to make upon the injurious effects of intoxicating drink. I myself, he said, am not an extremist in abstinence, but believe that every one should direct his own course according to the dictates of his own conscience.

He then referred to his own class of fifty-three members of whom 10 per cent. used intoxicating liquors, a much smaller proportion than the average class of today. None acquired the habit after leaving college, but those who had already formed the habit in college soon fell into confirmed drunkenness. It is during youth then, between 17 and 25, that a man's habits are formed. At that time he often has great confidence in himself that he will not transgress the limit which he calls soberness, but gradually he becomes more and more entangled until he reaches the border of the precipice where the arch enemy of souls finds his greatest hunting ground. It is the first step then that is accountable for all. Once make yourself a drunkard, and drunkenness does not appear as base to you as before.

In college life there are many temptations. A man is among students, pleasant fellows, some of whom drink to excess; and it is in much company that he acquires evil habers which will remain with him in after life. It is a this period that man's habits are formed. His physical appetite and passions are strong; his moral will power too is strong; the curb and reins he has in his grasp. The all important question is, Which shall reign, passions and physical appetite, or the will? Granted that many successful men indulge in intoxicating liquors to a moderate degree, yet their lives are not what they would be were they total abstainers: Strong drinks are in themselves hurtful, and lead to other associaions, the most important of which is gambling. Also they are apt to be mixed with poisonous adulterations which graduall ruin the system. In conclusion Dr. Peabody said: You are all in the way of peril and temptation. Do your utmost to shun it and make it your life purpose in all things to choose the better course that you may be fully prepared for service when you go to a higher home.