The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1883-10-18
SLAVES OF ABSINTHE.
Tho DendIy Drug Becoming n Fnvorite
Drink-Its Effects on tho Brain.
from the Philadelphia Press 7

LFrom the Philadelphia Presp.1
1t was six o'clock in the morning. The
gray dawn was beginning to break and
from one end of Chestnut street to tho
other there resounded tho clack, clack
Of opening shutters as q thin man braced
up before the merble-topped bar of
drinking palace, and in nervous voico
asked for absinthe.
"Eh ?" queried the concocter of mixed
beverages.
"Absinthe," replied the cadaverous
Individual, as he felt mechanically in
| his breeches pockets for the necessary
change.
How will you have it ?" asked the
| barkeeper in q honoyed voice.
! Washed, please" was the answer.
| SO the barkcepcr reached up and
drew down from shelf behind him q
| small delicately- shaped goblet, scarcely
larger than big acorn, and balanced it
in nm ordinary-sized tumbler, into the
small tumbler he poured the absinthe.
Over the absinthe he poured some pure
Schuylkill water, allowing it to fall ar-
tistically drop by drop upon the bitter
drug until the larger goblet was half full
Of the overrunning beverage. Then he
deltly dumped the contents of the small
goblet into the larger, shook the COM
bircd contents rapidly with his trained
right hand and remarked obsequiously,
us he passed it to tho customer, "Here
you are, sir.
Next came the reporter, who asked
the barkeepcr to tell him about the ab-
sinthe drinks, and the barkeeper opened
his mouth and said:
"Well, people have been drinking alb
sinthe for now nigh going on to twenty
years in my recollection. I think,
though, that the consumption has in
c,cased of late. The calls nowadays
arc mostly either for washed or frozen
alisinthc, or for absinthe in cocktails.
Maybe you don't know it, but it is q
splendid thing to brace up on after
you've been out all night. 1t stcadies
the nerves deal better than whisky or
brandy, and is strong favorite with old
t"prrs."
do you thiuk the consumption is in
crcasingw
eyes, but chiefly among the dudes.
They call for it, but only sip n little at q
time. As for the general run of Gus
toners they don't tako to it any more
than they used to-"
"When is it most drunk"
"Why, in the morni..g and late ut
night, of course. A few old soaks want
it always in their cocktails; but they are
exceptions"
"Do you supply it without being re-
qucstcd ?"
"Generally sprinkle it in the cock
tails of the 'regulars' They like the
flavor.
A DEADLY DRUG.
A physician was next called upon and
his views requested.
'Doctor," asked the reporter, "does
abSinthe exert n specially evil effect upon
| the system?"
you must know that absinthe is the
distilled essence of wormwOod. It's ef-
fccts upon the scnsibilitics are similar
to those produced by eating opium. The
real effect upon the brain is almost iden-
tical with that of hasheesh. When
taken in excess it produces softening of
the brain. For time it strcngthens
the nerves, but this effect is soon lost,
and the latter, from having been subject
to series of false stimulations, lapse
into that unstrrng state which is sure to
be speedily followed by the strongest
and most fatal attacks of mania-a-potu.
The miserable sufferer becomes attacked
with horrible desires. His brain softens
like putty, and he dies in agony"