The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-04-07
The Boy Who Drinks.

A mother residing in a small city at
the North writes to know if the Sun
can't say something that will induce her
daughter to quit keeping company with
a young man who gets drunk every time
he takes the girl to party. If a moth
er can not say anything that will induce
the daughter to give up an escort who
insults her, poor, weak newspaper
can not do any good. The girl has got
the fever too bad, if she will not break
off an engagement with such a young
man. The girl should look about her
and make inquiries and see if she can
find a case in the experience of her
friends where such young man ever
made decent husband. She will new
er find such case. The mere fact of a
young man taking girl to party, or
sleigh ride, and getting drunk and
humiliating her, and causing her to de-
pend upon others for her escort to her
home is one evidence that he has no
respect for her, and she should break
off her engagement and cut him entire
ly. If she puts up with such insult now,
before she is married, when she is his
wife he will be liable to leave her to
look out for herself, and he will get
drunk from habit. Twenty years ago
there were hundreds of young fellows in
this State who thought it was smart to
take respectable girls to dances and
get drunk, and let the girls ride home
with somebody who kept sober. The
girls would be vexed at the time, but as
the boys were rich, and went in good
wills f0
the sprees as good jokes, and they
would laugh about it. We know some
of those girls to-day who are earning
living for several little children by hard
work, while the smart fellows that got
drunk have filled drunkards graves, or
have left their wives and are wanderers
on the face of the earth. If young
man loves a girl as he should love her
to marry her, a look of disapprobation
from her, at any act of his, will be
enough to break him of any habit that
he has that she does not like If the
words: "Please don't drink, Charley,n
from the lips of Charley's girl, is not
enough to spoil his appetite for benzine,
Farewell, Charley, forever" should be
the next and last remark she should
ever make to him. Marrying men to
reform them has never been a success
full enterprise on the part of women.
Girls are worth too much, unmarried, to
sacrifice their lives to beat sense into
the head of any man on Gods foot-stool.
Too many girls take the chances of
marrying young man who has an I'M
comfortable appetite for liquor, thinking
that the surroundings of home will
wean him. Such man does not wean
as easy as calf. He will 90 home only
to sober up, and then not till the other
places are closed. Five years of such
married life will make a middle-aged
woman of the handsomest, sweetest
dispositioned girl that a mother was
ever proud of. A girl will marry such
man hoping that next year he will be
better, but next year he will be worse.
The nose will begin to get red, the eyes
bleared, the clothes carelessly worn,
and the wife who would have been such
a proud and happy mother, with a hus-
band that had sense, becomes ashamed to
look at herself in the glass, and had al
most rather have fit of sickness than
to be visited by any of her friends, for
fear her husband will give them all
away. Whisky may be all right in its
place, and we hope it is, but the place
for it is not in the stomach of young
man who contemplates matrimony, and
a girl who takes such man for life, for
fear the young men will all be gone,
makes a foolishness of herself, and will
regret it as long as she lives. There
are sure to be sober boys enough for all
the girls, and there is no need of mar
rying drunkard, and the girl who does
do so, against the advice of her mother,
will deserve all the unhappiness she
marries. Perks Sun.