The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1876-09-14
THE WINE CUP.


Drinking Among the Fashionable Woman.
The Coroner's inquest in the Bravo
case, in England, says the New York
San, brought out many startling facts
concerning the manner of life of a
family which moved in high circle of
English society and enjoyed all the adj
vantages and luxuries of wealth. The
revelation made of the neral character
of both Mr.. and Mrs. Bravo is of sort
to awaken thought, if not to excite great
surprise, in any one who knows some
thing of the tone of modern fashionable
society.
But there is only one of the facts dis
closed, skeleton snatched from the
closet of the Bravo household, to which
we shall now refer. It is that which
concerns the drinking habits of Mrs.
Bravo. It seems that she was an inor-
dinate consumer of intoxicating Ii quors,
and was not stranger to actual drunk
enness. On the night of her husbands
poisoning she was so far gone under the
effects of a bottle of sherry, to say moth
ing of drinks between drinks, that she
was unable to comprehend the exact sit
uation when it. was explained to her.
Nor was this an exceptional experience
with her. She was in the habit of get
ting into that condition, and the fact
was known to all her servants. Yet she
was lady who frequented the country
houses of the English nobility, and,
previous to the poisoning of her hus-
band, spite of her intrigue with DR..
Gully, and her drinking propensities,
was welcomed in high society, and bore
character which had not been re-
preached.
The fact regarding the drunkenness of
Mrs. Bravo suggests the inquiry whether
there was not some truth in the declara-
ton of a London newspaper, few years
ago, that fashionable women were too
much given to tipping. The evidence
indeed accumulates, that the statements
then made were founded in fact. The
tendency of fashionable women TO get
into the habit of using stimulants is
something of which every physician in
large practice is aware; and the de-
plorable results which come from it,
hidden from the knowledge Of their &C
quaintances, but necessarily known to
their doctors, ore of sort to warn all
women against seeking to gain the arti-
fetal excitement to be got out of alco-
holic stimulants.
1t is undoubtedly true that many Of
our women who indulge in the dissipa-
tions of fashionable society are given to
drinking champagne and even spirituous
liquors. The practice also is growing,
and it's baleful results are apparent to
any one who is well acquainted with
the lovely creatures who adorn our gay
saloons of fashion. Not long ago young
gill, who had developed charming
capacity for music and happy social
tact, became so hopeless a victim of
dipsomania that she was taken to an asy-
lum, where her appetite could be re-
strained-a complete and shattered
wreck at the opening Of womanhood.
This is only one case out of many. The
habit starts with the experience of the
stimulating effects of liquor after the
exhaustion of fashionable dissipation. or
when it is desired to start gayety that
does not come spontaneously. The
stimulant soon and easily becomes a
necessity, and before she herself is
aware of it the woman is q topper.
Within the last twenty years the free
dom with which women drink wines and
other liquors has become greater and
greater. There are some of them in
fashionable life who really seem to have
stronger beads than men, and to be able
to carry their wine, brandy, and liquors
with steady gait and tongue in no
wise thickened but the more delicate
nervous organization of woman causes
the effects of the strain to be more seri-
GUS than in the case of a man. A wo-
man, too, who once acquires the habit
of drinking is apt to consume an enor-
nous amount of liquor of ali sorts. 1t
our physicians who practice among the
fashionable people of the city could re-
veal their knowledge on this subject, it
would astound the public.