Mechanics', operatives', and laborers' advocate., 1837-02-13


 This habit of drinking, so fatal in its conse- 7 quences, is of the most extensive prevalence. By satisfying the cravings for support, and by ronsng into activity the mental faculties the laborers, male as we'll as female, swallow the pernicious draught and bless it as the boon which relieves them from thelr harrassed sensations. They resemble in this respect, the hypochondriac, who flies madly to a stlmuant, which in his better senses he deprecates and avoids as curse but the is this lamentable difei ence-that the laborers have no lucid inter- vals, no return of correct sensations. Day after day their toll is accumulated upon them. Deprived of the cheering influence of the face of Nature,- robbed of the pure breath oi heaven,-cooped up in crowded buildings, with the Dabel-like sounds of their companions, animate and inanmate their over strained minds and bodles know no return to healthy feelings, and they plunge deeper and deeper into the whirlpool till they neither know their danger, nor if they did, could they avoid or escape it with ont mol al discipline and physical regeneration, which at present appear, if not utterly hopeless, at least very remote.
 The increase which has of late years taken place in the number of gin-vaults, and the more than equal increase in the number of low beer-houses snce the passing of the bill termed the Beer Bill though its more correct designation would have been "B for the demoralization ot the working classes -is sufficiently indicative of the prevalence of dram-drinking and tavern haunting.
 In Manchester alone, there are very near, if not quite, one thousand inns, beer-houses, & ginvaults. Of these, more than nine-tenths are kept open ex- cusively for the supply of the aboring population ence decked out with every thing that can allure them, crowded into back streets and alleys, haun ting with the most gaudy and expensive decorations in the great working thoroughfares. They are open at the earliest hour when the shivering artizan Is proceeding to his work, holding out to him tempt aton wholly irresistible-and remain open during considerable portion of the night mlnlstering their poisons to thousands of facilitated creatures who flock to them, in place of seeking excitement and peasurable stimulus in fire-side comforts and enjoy ments.
 Nor is it the adult male laborer who alone visits these receptaces for every thing that is wicked and degraded. Alas mo- The mother with her vail ing child the girl in company with her sweetheart, the mother in company with her daughter the father with hls son. the greyhaired grandsre with his half clad grand child, all come here-herdng promiscu- ously with prostitutes, pck-pockets, the very scum and refuse of society-all jumbled together in an heterogeneous mass of evil to the ruin of every thing chaste and delicate in woman, and the utter annihllation of all honorable or honest feeling in man.
 Thus mingling in wild carouse, crimes of all shades are perpetrated. Basphemy, fornicatlon, adultery, incest child murder, form the black dark back ground while drunkenness, thieving and ob- scenity stand out boldly in front. The very sour ces of every noble principle of the human heart are depraved, and converted into pollution The mind loses its healthy tone, and remains dormant except when under the influence of these abominable stim- II. l.k l,l chr fwindled to mere anatomy, and sinks1nto decrep- tude wearing out its miserable remnant of exist ence in the work k-house-or becomes the victim to some acute disease and dying Tn the crowded wards ns. a hospital-falls into the grave unheeded, un- cared for even by those who have derived their very existence from the blasted trunk, now whitening be- fore them.
 It is strange sight to watch one of these dens of wickedness throughout an evening" it is strange, melancholy, yet to the meditative man, an inter- esting sight There approaches half clad man, covered with cardings shlvering ev"n beneath the summer breeze which is singing around him. He comes with faltesng step, down cast eye, and air of general exhaustion snd dejecton. He reaches hls accustomed gin-vault, disappears for half an hour or less-and now comes forth new creature; were it not for his filthy dress, he would hardly be recog nized-for his step is elastic, his eye is brilliant and open, hls air animated and joyous. He inhales the breeze as refreshing draught, and he deems himself happy.
 His enjoyment is however, short-lived, and pur- chased at an immense sacrifice, for the
 "-Price is death
 It is costly ieast.'
 Now comes woman, perhaps his wife, bearing sckly and cadaverous looking infant, wailing and moaning as if in pain or wanting nutriment. She is indeed offering it the breast but It is placid and cold as marble. She has no endearments for her child, it is held as a passively and care lesslv She is thin, pale, and badly dressed-is without bonnet, and her cap is soiled and ragged her bosom IS exposed, her gown is filthy her shoes only half on her feet and her whole aspect forlorn anj iorb;dding. She too disappears for time with