Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-09-29
THE OCTOBER MAGAZINES.


THE OCTOBER MAGAZINES.
A Graphic Description OF California
Cattle Ranches.
WHAT DIR. oswoLD SAYS OF THE ALCOHOL HA-
BIT-A PLEASING ACCOUNT OF THE HIGHLANDS
OF NORTH CAROLINA-A REGION AND A PEG
PIE as YET NOT WIDELY KNOWN TO TOURISTS.
II. H. (Mrs. Helen Hunt Jackson) writes in
the October Century of the "Outdoor Industries
in Southern California" and says of sheep
ranches:
The sheep ranches are usually desolate places;
| great stretch of seemingly bare lands with
fenced cOrrals, blackened and foul smelling the
home and Outbuildngs clustered together in a
hollow or hillside where there is water; the less
human the neighbOrhOOd the better.
The loneliness of the lite is. of itself, a salient
objection to the industry. Of this the great
owners need know nothing; they can live where
they like. But the small sheepmen. the shep-
herds. and, above ALL the herders; it is a terri
BILE life-hOw terrible is shown by the frequency
only few months of the life, herder goes
suddenly mad After learning this fact, it is no
longer possible to see the
PICTURESQUE SIDE
of the effective groups one so often comes on
| suddenly In the wilderness: sheep peacefully
grazing. and the shepherd lying on the ground
watching them, or the whole flock racing in a
solid fieecy. billOwy scamper up or down steep
hill side, with the dogs leaping and barking on
all sides at once. One scans the shepherds face
alone, with plying fear lest he may be losing
his wits. A shearing at large sheep ranch is a
grand sight. We had the good fortune to see
one at Baldwin's, at La Puenta. Three thou
sand sheep had been sheared the day before, and
they would shear twenty-five hundred on this
day. The faces OF the sheep being
shOrn were piteous, not struggle, not q bleat.
the whole of their unwillingness and terror
being written in their upturned eyes. GAS a
sheep before her shearers is dumb" will always
have for me new significance.
The Alcohol Habit.
DR.. Felix L. Oswald has paper in the Pop
uldr Science Monthly on 1.-THE Alcohol Habit, ~
which deserves to be committed to memory.
1t is phlosophic, reasonable and WISE He says
of alcoholic tonics
Alcohol fingers in our hospitals as slavery
fingers in the West Indies, as the witchcraft
delusion fingers in southern Europe. Has alco-
hol any remedial value whatever? Let us con-
slider the matter from purely empirical stand
point. Does alcohol protect from malarial
feversF 1t is a we'll known fact that the hui
man system cannot support two diseases at the
same time. rheumatism can be temporarily re-
leved by producing an artificial Inflammation;
headache yields to severe tOothache For
the same reason the alcohol fever affords tenn
pOrary protection from other febrile SYMPTOMS
L. e., man might fOrtify himself against chills
and ague by keeping himself constantly under
the stimulating influence of alcohol. But
sooner or later stimulation is followed by de-
preston, and during that reaction the other
fever gets a chance and rarely misses it, the
history Of epidemics prove that pyretic diseases
are from eight to twelve times more destruc-
tive among dram drinkers than among the tenn
strength? Does it benefit the exhausted sys-
tenn? If worn out horse drops on the high
way, we can rouse it by sticking knife into it's
ribs but after staggering ahead for couple of
minutes 1t will drop again, and the second
det,qt'un, will be worse than the first by just as
much as the
BRUTAL. STIMULUS
has still further exhausted the little remaining
strength. In the same way precisely alcohol
rallies the exhausted energies of the human
body. The PROSTATE vitality rises against the
foe. and labOrs with resistless energy till the
poison is expelled. Then comes the reaction
and before the patient can recover his organism
has to do double work. Nature has to overcome
both the original cause of the disease and the
effect OF the stimulant
ALCOHOL HAS NO REMEDIAL VALUE
But that would be trifle, if it were not for the
positive mischief which the wretched poison is
haoe anu very ilaoie 10 cause. FOur repetlt1OnS
of the stimulant dose may inOculate a child with
the germs of the alcohol diathesls and initiate
habit which years of anguish and despair will
fail to cure. BY single glass of medicated
brandy thousands of cOnvalescing topers have
lost their hard-earned chance of recovery; door,
struggling wretches swimming for their lives,
anG, at last approaching a saving shore, have
been pushed back into the surging whirlpool and
perished almost in sight of the harbor The
only chance of
CURING THE POISON HABIT
consists In the hope Of guarding it's victims
against oil stimulants; and l would as soon
snatch bread from starving man as that last
hope from a drunkard.
Abstinence Is easier, as we'll as safer than
temperance. 'In freeing themselves from the
bonds of an unworthy attachment" says
Madame de Sew gne, "men have one great ad-
vantage-they can travel" If young Lochin-
vars suit had been hopeless the rurtive inter-
view with his lost love might have soothed his
sorrow for moment, but for his ultimate peace
of mind it would have been better to stay In the
west The anchOrtes of OLD knew well why they
preferred the wilderness to the humblest village:
they found it easier to avoid all temptations.
vices, as we'll as virtues, are cooperative.
In the cure of the alcohol habit, the total re-
nunciation OF all stimulants is. therefore, the
first and most essential measure A change of
diet, Change of climate, of employment and
general habits. will help to shorten the distress
ing reaction that must precede the re-estab!ish-
ment OF perfect health.
The Highlands OF North Carolina
lady who has summered in the Highlands
OF North Carolina, region but comparatively
little known as yet to the tourist, describes the
scenery and the people in very readable arti-
Gle in the October number of LippincoHs Maqa-
zine. She says of the region:
The western part of North Carolina is a region
of wild and picturesque beauty. Mountains
stand-purple shoulder to purple shouder-all
| over it.; shaggy forests of oaks, pines. stately
hemlocks and immense chestnuts clOthe all their
slopes; down the narrow glens. dark with the
shade of rhododendron and laurel, rush clear
bright streams, fed by gushing springs, and
everywhere rich profusOn Of wild flower is to
be met with In their season. Botanists who
have been attracted to this region by the en-
thusiastic though vague description of the flora
given by the few tourists who have penetrated
Its wilds. have found their expectations far sur
passed both as to variety and beauty.
Health and pleasure seekers have come sum-
mer after summer to Asheville and other resorts
on the French Broad, and sportsmen have pene-
| trated the Balsam and smoky ranges in search
OF the deer and bear to be found in the remote