The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-03-03
TEA AND TEMPERANCE.

| TEA AND TEMPERANCE.
In vast armyof women devoted to the
cause of temperance and who preach their
principles in season and out. one has at last
been found whose practice is not inconsist-
ent with the theory advocated She is a
Connecticut woman, and, though fully
aware of the ridicule and contumely which
will be heaped upon her by her own sex,
declares boldly that she is teetotaler in all
that the word implies; that she uses no in
toxcating beverage whatever. Other wom-
en- will arise in haste and say that they too
are abstainers from such drinks but they
temporize, they daily with their consciences,
and are not honest Let them listen to the
Connecticut sister. No intoxicating drink
does this practical reformer indulge in;
neither rum in any of its seductive forms,
nor tea though offered in the daintiest of
china cups, is permitted to touch her lips.
Rum is bad-every one knows all about that
and she wastes no time in arguments against
that evil, but lifts up her voice against tea.
Tea, she is convinced, is a stimulant which
is running the women of the country, and
language fails her in depicting its degrading
effects on those habituated to its use.
Many time, she says, has she seen
women as drunk on tea as any man
can get on cider, $50 drunk that they have
accused their husbands of being tipsy, when
they have not taken drop for three months;
SO drunk that they could not judge between
right and wrong in the government of their
children" This is severe arraignment, and
the natural inquiry arises why, if SO great an
evil, has not tea been exposed before The
Connecticut woman says the intoxication
caused by tea goes by the polite name of ner-
vousness. This then, explains why its real
nature has not been apparent With few
bright exceptions all women are nervous
Man. being naturally dull, has never noticed
that the few exceptions are those not adj
dcted to tea, or the other coincidence that
the excessively nervous ones are they who
indulge to excess in the dangerous decoction.
1t would hardly be correct to say in this con-
nection that women are rum creeturs, but
they are sly; and having resolved at all risks
to have tea have entered into tacit conspi
racy to prevent man from understanding the
true nature of the beverage. They even af
feet at times to dislike it, and for the pur-
pose of deception, when any male persons are
present choose instead the less insipid and
also less injurious cup of coffee. When
they are alone and free to select drinks
did any woman ever hesitate to take cup
OF tea? Are sewing circles and supper par
ties, composed exclusively of ladies' served
with anything but tea in the way of liquid
refreshment? Not that any man can dis
cover. If the Connecticut woman had not
abandoned the female freemasonry and con-
fessed the secret it might have remained
hidden still longer, but now that it stands
revealed, many mysteries begin to clear away.
The masculine mind has often pondered
upon the strange liking women had for tea,
and has also reflected from time to time upon
various characteristics not explainable from
his own consciousness, but has never thought
of the two as cause and effect. When he
has been charmed by the bright eyes and
sparkling words of some belle, and con-
trasted her wit with his own heavy ccuversa-
ton, it has not occurred to him that all this
was the effect of stimulant, that the flush
on her cheek was due to tea. When he has
listened to the female orator, as she pictured
in burning words the evils of intemperance,
he did not know that the fiery eloquence was
inspired by tea. that the fumes of tea, taken
hot and strong, just behind the curtain, had
mounted to her brain, that the fatal fra
GRANGE OF tea was yet on her breath
Many husband has helplessly wondered
at his wife's eccentricities without knowing
the cause When she has accused him of
being drunk it has never occurred to him to
retaliate by saying that she, also, was intoxi-
Gated When she has scolded the children
he has comforted himself by calling her
"cross-under his breath--and has not
known that she was drunk. And yet it was
no secret that she drank tea. Blind mani
| Thanks to the Connecticut woman. he knows
now where he stands, and the brink upon