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352 A History of Sweden
drunkenness increased at an appalling rate. Drinking
at every meal was common throughout the land. To
drink one’s self drunk was regarded as an innocent
matter. It was not an uncommon sight to find both
judge and jury drunk while sitting to deside a person’s
fate. The average life of people at that time in Sweden
was only thirty-five years. It has now risen to fifty-six
years the highest in the world.
The Swedish people stood at the brink of destruction
when the great champion of temperance, Peter Wiesel-
gren, arose. It was as pastor in a parish near Lund
that he began his temperance work. Drunkenness with
its attendant evils, dullness, coarseness, poverty, met
him on all sides as he visited around in his parish.
More than one of the poor victims that tramped about
the parish had once been well-to-do peasants, but
brandy had destroyed both them and their homes.
Here the young pastor took hold "in the spirit and
power of Elijah," as a contemporary expressed it. He
worked for the cause not only in his sermons, but also
during his daily visits in the homes. Everywhere he
met the same enemy, brandy, and the struggle was
hard. More than once in their bitterness the worst
drunkards decided to take the life of the brave
preacher, but when it came to the decisive moment no
one had the courage to lift a hand against the great
man. One of these would-be assassins was a peasant
who had been reprimanded by the church council for
his shameful living. He sent word to the pastor that
his wife lay at the point of death and wished him to
come. The pastor had been warned, but he decided
to go. Upon entering the house he found the woman
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