Connecticut western news., 1880-08-25
A CITY'S WRECKS.
What Rum and Tobacco are Doing
 for the Rising Generation.

A New York newspaper correspondent says You can't meet an old friend but the very first salutation is: "How are you?" and the second, "What'n you take ?" And you can't make new | friend but what one or the other says: "Glad to meet you-what'n you have to drink?Y All sorts and conditions of men-and women-do it. I find it in | Wall street as much as on Broadway; in merchants, brokers, lawyers, matters, ] tinkers and writers. No one can go anywhere on any business without 8 drink. Why, the habit is so strong that clustered about the gates of Greenwood l Cemetery are number of gin-mills and | beer-shops, where the hack drivers alway nd the mourners often stop to water their horses and wet their own whistles. The moment theatre is built half dozen rum-shops are started. You can t name one in New York which is not the centre of half dozen gin-mills. l What for?
 Look at the audience as the act curtain descends. Eight men in every ten get up and get out. What for? Fresh air !? Nonsense To see man? That's old. What then? Rum, gin and seltzer, Santa Cruz sours and rye and rock. It's disgrace to civilization. The neighbor- hood of the theatres is perfect nest of groggeries. A majority of them are well conducted and attractive. In the day time they have a. few regular customers, but in the evening between the acts they are packed. Men who are not generally regarded as drinkers take their 1eds with refreshing gusto when ever they go to the theatre or the opera All along the avenues of trade are res- taurants. Every restaurant has its bar and at certain hours of the day the bar rooms are thronged. The customers in- clude ell grades of men. Bankers and insurance folks, actors and cheese mongers, editors and lawyers. They all do it, and the rising generation of boys is just as bad as the bald headed old codgers with one foot in the grave and enc hand on bottle If I had my way and could, with wave of my hand, sweep it all into the Atlantic Ocean I'd do it with pleasure. Not ten minutes ago l met stumbling along Ann street 8 man who is as well known throughout the country as my signature (thanks to your circulation) is. Hello" said he.
 "Hello," said I.
 "Say, old fel, let me have $5. I'm nearly broke. Been on big spree and ain't over it yet"
 @Why Thought you were playing in - with the Theatre Com pany."
 ''So I was got drunk raised the dickens got discharged here am"
 We'll, of course, helped him and off he went; but have been arguing with myself ever since as to whether did my duty or not. Oughtn't I to have taken him to hospital or an asylum? Should I have put it in his power to still further abuse the magnificent physique nature has blessed him with? Oh, don't know. Fate is against him. Whoever sent him to this world packed him with intellect and packed him with appetites. His intellect has put him four times in the front rank of his profession, and his appetites have dragged him down below the level of the brutes as many times. I have seen him charm and entrance an audience in the most refined centre of this land. That was Gods work, for
 "God gave him his brains. have seen him dead drunk in the gutter, victim
 of his taste and passion. Whose work
 was that? Who gave him his taste and
 passion? These are awkward analogies, l
 know, but thinking men must face them,
 though defy thinking man to answer
 them.
 My friend don't lift your eyebrows, for he is my friend, high or low, and ii . you knew whom mean you'd touch the
 rim of your mental hat to minis not an
 exceptional instance, save in his great , fall. The city and country are full o1 l such cases. I tell you that the cigarette ) smoking boys of New York are growing , into vice faster than they grow in
 stature. The next generation will be , born of puny- -chested, slim-legged, small } necked chaps, and what kind of genera l tion will it be? Idiots and monkeys 3 There may be some doubt as to the origin of the human race. There can be 3 none as to the destiny of New York l part of it. We may not have sprung 3 from apes, but ten dollars to cake oul t grandchildren won't be many degrees l above them if our children continue to sap their life blood and belittle theil g stock of sturdiness as they are doing to 6 day. The whisky part of the danger Ii 6 not so offensive to the decent public a' d the smoking. Is there anything worse j, than bad cigar Yes-a bad cigarette n So great has become the demand fo e cigarettes that the market is flooded
 with limitations, made of cheap pape t and refuse filling. That they sap thu s strength of the smoker is the smoker It affair, but that they stench our streets e make hideous our cars and render ou o steamboat decks disagreeable is unfor d tunately too true. Small boys, lover n and young men about town affec is cigarettes. They can't sit still witl s their friend between the acts, becaus d their little souls are filled with longin ,t for their tobacco.
 l wish they could see what cigarette ,r are made of. I had occasion to make n n trip last week with a Distinguished Pel 'O sonage. In the car everybody smoked
 That was bad enough, but after whil 8 Cigarette Fiend jolned the party. H 's infected the air with terrible smell an 1T it knocked me fatter than founder
 The Distinguished Parsonage is and hs
 been smoker during twenty-five yeari