There were many vices that could ensnare the paterfamilias and wreck havoc on his family, but the most prevalent and destructive vice was alcohol. Another engraving by Barber, The Drunkard’s Progress, or The Direct Road to Poverty, Wretchedness, and Ruin, also designed and published in 1826, shows what happens to a family when the father turns to drink. The four admonitory engravings are reinforced by verses from the Bible. In “The Morning Dram,” a father neglects his wife, children, and farm animals in favor of a glass of “medicinal bitters.”  The scene of “The Grog Shop” shows men vomiting, inter-racial fighting, and food and clothing being bartered for drink.  “The Confirmed Drunkard” terrorizes his wife and children, now living in a barren, dilapidated home. In the “Concluding Scene,” the family is evicted and moves to the Alms House, to become a burden on society. 

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