The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1878-09-03
EUROPEAN LETTER.
BnussrLs, August 7th. 1s7s
tFrom our regular correspondent.

culiar to America. / have frequently
read as much In American papers, and
In letters of tourists, and l have heard
Americans on this side assert that they
have never seen drunken man in Eu-
rope. l can only say that those Ameri-
cans who have not seen q great deal of
inebriety here have been almost mirac-
ulously preserved from a sad and dis
gusting, but very common spectacle
There may not be as many persons found
dead drunk, as the saying is, here as in
America, but much larger proportion
of the people are always In state of
semi-intoxication, or, 1t may be said,
never quite sober But it is hard to un
derstand how any one can have lived in
Europe, for even a short time, and not
have seen men dead drunk. 1 have
seen them in Paris too drunk to keep
their feet, and while in Frankfort on the
Main, last week, / saw, in the space of
five minutes, two men carried to the
lookup so helplessly intoxicated that
they could not lift hand. The mani
festation of drunkenness in the Euro
pean and the American is very different
and the infrequency of crimes arising
from intoXication here is, 1 think, one
reason why 1t is so generally believed
that there is less of the vice on this than
on the other side of the Atlantic. So
thoroughly have ages of oppression, and
rigid subsection to authority, trained the
European nature that, in moments of
eXhilaration, and even of maddest ex-
element, he never forgets the terror of
law. This / think is not consistent with
the fact that large proportion of our
criminal population is of foreign birth
The sudden transition to new country
and an entirely new life, the elevation
to citizenship, and peership so utterly
confounds his imported ideas of political
and social relations that he he runs
amuck and of ages of despotism falls, as
it were, upon the liberator.
1t has been frequently said in favor of
of European institutions and habits that
they have no bars, that they have
not the vile practice of walking up like
Americans and swallowing drink at
bar, but have, instead, gardens and sa-
looms where they go with their families,
and sit down and drink at leisure. 1t
is difficult to see wherein the superior
virtue of the European custom, now
largely introduced in America, consists.
If a man must drink it would seem that
the sooner he swallows it down and
goes about his business the better
believe if there could be compiled
accurate statistics, not of the men pun
ished for crimes of drukenness, but
through some intoxicometer that would
precisely gauge the amount of inebria-
| ton, be its manifestation in individuals
extreme or mild; it would be found that
there is much higher average accord
ing to its population in Europe than in
| America.
The usual manifestation of intoxica-
ton in European countries is loud, ex-
cited talking and gesticulation, and
casual observers, ignorant of the Ian
| guage, are disposed to attribute this to
national habits, vivacity, and good hu-
NOR. But those acquainted with the
demon discern other signs, such signs as
would cause lawyer or a physician to
lose some practice in America, or make
what is called worrying man" less
eligible in the eyes of penitent parents.
Wine bibing and beer bibing is uni
versal habit in France, Germany,
Switzerland and Belgium. Men women
and children ,all drink and some of them
drink nearly all the time. l do not
think that the great tun at Heidelberg
would last some families a great while.
In France wine is the beverage of the
rich and the poor, and do not think
that it is an eXeraggeration to say that
the French drink more wine than water.
Americans, no matter what may have
been their prejudices and pledges, as a
usual thing take to wine and beer drink
ing as soon as they have been month
in Europe. 1t Is said that the water
of many European cities, and especially
of Paris, is not good, and our country
men and countrywomen give this as an
excuse for their fall of abstinence. But
do not think there is anything the
matter with the water except lack of
ice. The water in Paris is perfectly
clear, sweet and not very warm even in
the hottest weather
G. AS.
ca Before the discovery of America,
money was so scarce that the price of