The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1876-07-13
What OPIUM Does For Its Vic
Tins
BY FANNIE ROPER FEUDGE.

One who has never visited an opium
shop can no more imagine the sights
there revealed, than blind man can
comprehend a dissertation on cOlors
One needs to see, in order to even a
faint conception, the workings of that
fatal fascination that holds its victims
fast-bOund-mind,h heart, soul and con-
seience-an absolutely dead to every
impulse but the insatiate, egeT-increasing
appetite for the deadly poison.
l entered one Of these dens hut once,
yet have never forgotten the terrible
sights and sounds of that "plaoe of
torment" The apartment was spa
cious, and might have been pleasant
but for it's foul OFdoFs, and still foulsF
scenes of indescTibabls woe, the foot
prints of siR troddsn deep in the fur
rows of those haggard faces and enact
ated forms. On all four sides of the
room were couches placed thickly to
gether against the walls, and others were
scatte red over the apartment wherever
there was room for them, On each of
these lay extended the reck of what
was once g man, difficult as it seemed
to believe that humanity could sink so
low Some few of the occupants were
advanced in years, others were hardly
full grown, but all were hollow-eyed,
with sunken cheeks and cadaverous
countenances- Many were clothed in
rags, having, probably smoked away
their last dollar; while others were offer
ing to pawn heir only decent garment
for one more portion of the deadly
drug.
A decrepit old man raised himself as
we entered, gazed fxedly at the door,
tottered to his feet as if he would make
an effort to escape, then drew long
sigh, and with half-uttered imprecatiOn
on his own folly, proceeded to re-
Eli his pipe. This he did by scraping
off with a fve-ineh steel needle, some
opium from the lid of tiny shell box,
rolling the paste into a pill, and then,
after heating it in the blaze of a lamp,
deposited it within the small aperture
of his pipe. Several short whiffs
were taken; then the smoker removed
the pipe from his mouth and lay back
motionless; gh en- replaced the pipe, and
with fast-glazing eyes, blew the smoke
slowly through his palIid nostrils. As
the narcotic effect of the opium began
to work, he fell back in a state of silly
stuperfaction that was alike pitiable and
disgusting.
Another smoker, a tall, muscular man
who had evidently been handsome, aud
Judging by the brow, of noble intellect
also-was attended By his own servants,
who administered the poison 80 fre-
quently as to keep him constantly under
its infuence-prObably for the basest
purposes, and while the opium was eat
ing away his brain and life, these trail
torous dependents made themselves
masters of his purse. Nor, if report
said truly, was this all-at the instant
the lawful owner was out of the way,
they would receive their full reward.
In another part of the room, reclined
| a young man, one who had hardly
reached the fulness of mans estate. He
| lay with his face buried in his hands,
| aud once or twice as he raised his head,
] saw look of despair such as l have
| seldome witnessed. Though a mere
| youth, he was a complete wreck, with
| hollow eyes, sunken chest and a nerv-
| GUS twitchIng in every muscle. spoke
/ to him and learned that six months BE.
| fore he had lost his whole patrimOny by
! gambling, and came hither to quaf for
| getfulness from these Lethesn cups
hoping, he said, to find death as we'll as
oblivion.
By far the largest proportion of the
smokers we're 50 entirely under
the influence of the stuperfying poison
as to preclude any attempt at converse
! tion; and we passed out from this NOR
al pesthOuse, sick at heart as the haunt
ing memory followed us of those In
fatuated victims of q degrading habit
and their probable starving families at
home. This baneful habit, once formed
is seldom given up; and from three to
five years indulgence in Opium-smoking
will ordinarily wreck the frmest con
stitution, the frame becoming daily
more emaciated, the eyes more sunken
and the countenance more cadaverOus,
| till brain and heart cease to perform
their functions, and death places its in
| exorable seal on the wasted life.
The use of opium is unQuestionably
the direst curse under which vast pOpu
lous China grOans, and both people and
rulers are free to admit the fact, while
to a Christian nation and government
mainly is due the shame of supplying
the deadly drug. Vainly have the
Chinese authorities battled against this
destroyer, for long years by refusing Its
importation, then by exorbitant customs
and finally by a long and bloody contest
with British armies.
In British India we saw whole fields
of the opium-pOppy, stately, beautiful
plants four or five leet high, the stem
Of a sea green color, round, erect anC
smooth, and the bright blooms ef {
rich crimson hue. The plant is an an
nual, the seed being sOWn in August
After the flowers have fallen circula
incisions are made close arO und tn
capsules of the plant, and from thes
wounds exudes white, milky JUICE, tha
is afterwards concreted by the heat o
the sun into dark brown masses. Thes
, constitute the opium of commerce in it
crude state, but to prepare it for smOE
ing the Chinese take it through quite
5 complicated prOoess-bOiling purifyin
and condensidg, till it assumes the al
pearance of a thick gslatinous paste 0
t q purpllsh black color, sRd its value
enhanced sbont twentyfOld.-Christial
: Weekly.
! Mrs. Carno7Ie, of Breckenridge coul
e.