What could the brave missionaries do but make the very best
of a perilous situation?
In those days wine was drunk by almost everybody, its use at table
and as an article of incidental refreshment and social pleasure
being practically universal; wherefore the steps of reform in the
matter of intemperance were but rudimentary and in all places
beset by well-nigh insurmountable difficulties. In fact the
exigencies of frontier life demanded, perhaps, the very stimulus
which, when over indulged in, caused so much evil. Malaria loaded
the air, and the most efficacious drugs now at command were then
undiscovered or could not be had. Intoxicants were the only
popular specific. Men drank to prevent contracting ague, drank
again, between rigors, to cure it, and yet again to brace
themselves during convalescence.
But if the effect of rum as a beverage had strong allurement for
the white man, it made an absolute slave of the Indian, who never
hesitated for a moment to undertake any task, no matter how hard,
bear any privation, even the most terrible, or brave any danger,
although it might demand reckless desperation, if in in the end a
well filled bottle or jug appeared as his reward.
Of course the traders did not overlook such a source of power.
Alcoholic liquor became their implement of almost magical work in
controlling the lives, labors, and resources of the Indians.
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