PROS AND CONS

Too much blood fell on the lanterns of July 14th. There are reports of fights, stabbings, gunshots, injuries everywhere... Oh my! It was hot... And then, we had to have fun... It was a party... We had to have it.…

Good people who had left their homes very quietly in the morning immediately wanted to cool off a bit... They cooled off... They drank with friends... They toasted with friends... Little by little, they got hot while cooling off. Little by little, they became nervous, angry, combative. Little by little, these good people, so calm, so gentle, so charming in the habit of life, became poor unconscious and brutal things flaming with alcohol like lamp wicks... From cordial, the drinking bouts turned tragic... The party ended, staggering, in the gutter, in the hospital or in prison...

What an awakening the next day for these happy party-goers, for those, at least, who woke up!....
— What? What have I done?... Where am I?...
— Ah! you don't remember anything?... You killed one of your companions last night... Look... You still have blood on your hands,

...Wanting to change the nature of man is probably wanting to change the moon... It is no less true that it is very distressing to see men who are endowed with reason, say the philosophers, behave so stupidly, so stupidly, so miserably...

A dog, a cat, a canary knows how to moderate itself, knows how to stop when it is no longer hungry, when it is no longer thirsty... The only animal that does not have the strength to hold back a little is man. The only animal that drinks without reason is the animal endowed with reason... Explain who will...

It would be very difficult to give a sensible explanation of these disorders, and one that would be to the honor of what we proudly call humanity... There you go. We toast with our comrades because it's a holiday... We're happy... But in the evening, it's a comrade or an unfortunate unknown passer-by who toasts...

There you go. We start by having "a drink"... And we start again and we get excited... But the last drink, we don't drink it, we give it... And it's a bad drink... What a misery!...

Maurice PRAX.