The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1871-07-20
Drinking Habits in Busioess Life.

In this country drunkenness has increased
is increasing, and ought to be diminished
The Saturday Revieso has taught US that
among women of superior station the practice
of taking stimulants as remedy for nerves
has gained ground in a fashion that would
have been deemed disgraceful by our moth
ers and incredible IN very recent times. No
one can move about in London without no.
ticing the startling increase in the habit Of
taking the ''nips' in business life. "Just enc
glass IF dry shcrry;" "a liquor of this 6nc
old cognac won't hurt; II can recommend
this whisky only a thimbleful, arc express
ions one hears now from ] / clock in the
morning. The great cities Of the provinces
are every whit as bad and perhaps in Liver~
pool and Manchester the practice of taking
mornings" as the drains are call, has reach
ed height never bcfor equailcd in England,
to which it has come partly from Scotland,
but more especially from America, Ameng
the lower classes Drunkenness appears TO be
no longer thought degrading 1t is rather a
Joke than other wise that Tom, Dick, Harry
or the speakers self was last night ia state
Of filthy INVESTIGATION. We are told by IL
eensed victualer in leading thoroughfare
that whereas in 1861 he did not take on an
average more than ten shilings before noon,
he now counts eight or nine pounds of receipts
by midday and this without any diminution
of his afternoon and evening incomings or any
extra attractions on his premises The clerks,
he tells us, drop in on their way to town, to
get frightened up for business; the laborcrs
have beer now for break fast instead of coffee
at one public-house near the Victoria Docks
the landlord has a slate paved yard specially
set apart for dock~laborers who, before or at
the dinner hour, get too drunk to go to work
in the afternoon, that they may sleep off the
intoxication This is a fearful state Of things.
OF old, at the worst, when rich and poor got
drunk it was at night work being done, and
bed ready Now nothing is more common in
the streets of London than to meet drunken
men by 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Our
scorn of the the three bottle men of last cen
fury should be tempered by the unpleasant
thought that many Of our acquaintance con-
sumo quite as much alcohol before teatime
in other shapes. Nothing more disastrous to
the well-being Of a community can be con-
ceived than the system Of "nippipg" which
mas UeCOHlG diiHOou I'LL luetilIoiou aiAohS 10
We are no purists to deny to our fellows rea~
sonable portable refreshment with their meals,
or after hard days work as they sit at home
with their families and smoke the pipe Of
peace and contentmont; but We deliberately
say that we do not believe smallpox in It's
worst days was such scourge on the country
as the chipping" system will speedily be-
come if it be checked Impaired vigor, sod
dened muscles relaxed nerves, parched skin,
bleared eyes, are becoming more and more
common among us, and are the sure forerun-
ners Of severe diseases. To the mind the
habit is simply fatal. Thought refuses to
visit the victim of the practice until he has
had his refresher; application to business is
impossible until the stimulant has restored the
tone Of mind for brief space. Later on in
the day it needs larger quantity to secure the
accustomed level Of effort; and by eventide
the man succumbs either to intoxi cation or to
fatal lassitudc What this is, those who
know the City can best tell; but the practice
is as We'll known in PalI-mall as in Cornhill,
and on Stepney causeway as in Lombard
street. Any attempt to provide a remedy
cannot but have our warmest sympathy; yet
we take it that some recent efforts have done
moro harm than Good -GhYyrh Times