Arkansas weekly mansion., 1884-03-08
FEMALE INEBRIiTES.

v,
little appreciated by the aycra.rc indi-
vidual. That the custom of the free use
of stimuants is upon the increase
amongst women, especially in our lar
ger cite, is easily demonstrated. A
cursory visit to any popular restaurant
will result in the visitors seeing ladies
both alone, in parties, and with and
without escorts. who ten wears ago
would not have tasted an alcoholic bcv-
era~e of any kind. even in their own
homes. taking beer, wine or spirits
with their meals, almost rs 4 matter of
course, and apparently with no idea
that they are doing anything unlady-
like or unusual.
Beer, and especially bottled beer, mas
OF late years become immensely popular
with all classes. Ladies' stop at restau-
rants often with the sole purpose cf hay
ing a bottle of beer to refresh Il nd in
vi@oratc them after Il long walk, or
when tired from shopping: families take
it regularly by the box; boarders have
it privately at table or in their rooms;
and servants, pitcher or pail in hand, no
longer make a secret OF their trips to
the corner groggcry or the avenue beer
saloon. Groccrs keep it, and sell it to
families by the bottle or box. The same
sentiment that has made the German
style of open-air concert SO popular in
this country seems at the same time to
have brought with it a love for conviyi-
ality, and to have popularzed the Gus
tom OF bccr-d linking.
Beer has been the entering wedge,
and following close upon it has come
the more or less free use of spirits.
And this was natural and to be expect
ed. One thing almost un consciously
leads to another III matters of this kind,
and beer has proved itself Il stepping
stone to the use of strong liquors.
Women who formerly would have used
spirits only under medical advice. and
even then reluctantly, now resort to
them without Oh icct on and upon the
slightcst.grounds, simply because their
previous use OF beer seems to have
broken the ice. To many a poor
wreck, the first glass of beer has
proven 4 costly experiment., and will be
looked back to as the first step in Il
career the incidents of which make her
shuddcr.
1t has been urged by some that the
Germans, than whom there is not Il
more hard-working, frugal and studi-
Gus people. are Il nation of bcer-drink-
ers. and that the introduction of their
amuScmcntS, social customs and the
like, would prove not only not 4 mis-
fortune. but = positive boon to Amcr:-
cans. The fact, however, that for
many reasons Americans differ from
Germans in point of nervous organiza-
ton, or rather lack of nervous ciluili-
bration, if we may be permitted to use
the term, makes that which would
prove of signal benefit to the latter cX-
trcmcly dangerous for the former.
That American women are placing
themselves in position of peculiar
danger by admitting beer, and later
wine and spirits. to their homes and
tables, as well rs indul@ing in them
VIII lc away from home. is a fact beyond
qIc ton. Tine peculiar satisfaction wit h
which n tired. exhausted or unstrung
nervous system receives the stimulation
thus dnrivabIc leads almost invariably
to Il further resort to it. The fact that
a woman bodily or mental condition
is such that tie slightest effort causes
exhaustion and calls for stimulation be-
speaks, as torcibly as nature can posi-
bly, express it. Il very unhealthy, not TO
say dangerous, state OF affairs, for
which Il physician should lie consulted
without delay. In such conditions the
chances are in favor of the woman'S he
coming. after 4 time, wholly dependent
women to become in time the vcricst
sots through this same originally oc-
caSional resort to StiniulantS. Others
OF the same class are known to us to-
day who are fast travelling the danger
otlS incline. TO some the consequences
of the course they are pursuing are evil
dent: but the craving which has become
firmly established seems to be too great
for their Inaidcd powers of resistance.
They cry, wiring their hands in agony
and hcmOan their cruel fate in their in
tervals of sobriety. make rash promise
to their husbands, and fondly carcss
their little children that alcohol
is fast robbing OF Il mothers love and
care. and whom she is daily robbing OF
their birthright of a good name and
responsibility. How many Il poor
wretch of this class curses the first Swal-
low that ever passed her lips Coniinc-
mcnt and close surveillance in some of
these eases seem to do good for a time,
but the old craving appears never to be
thoroughly crushed out, for it keeps
cropping up every little while, some
times in its old fury, sometimes modi-
fled. Not few of lhcSc unfurtunatcS
take to opium. or chlOral, or both, and
while us NO them manage TO abstain
from liquor. They arel content to do
thi and their friends, hopeless of n
radical cure, are willing to 81 low them
the narcotics. on the ground that though
one form of incbrictv is virtually aS bad
as the other, still that from the hahitual
use OF narcotics is less painful to the
view, and not nearly so prone to result
in open disgrace as that from alcohol
Some, however, after acquiring crav-
ing for narcotics, relapse into the old
l., a L. nj
and then their state becomes desperate
and diSg1 accful in the extreme. Be
tween the class of occasional tipplers
and habitual users there is one that is
not, after all, SO peculiar when under
stood. Women there are who, being in
a condition of ''ncurasihenia,' crave
some form of stimulation. and crafty
it on preparations containing a certain
percentare of alcohol. Ii is "a fact not
generally known, but nevertheless true,
that thousands OF bottles of essence of
ginger are consumed by individuals of
this class. Others use some form of
popular ..btters;'' while still others,
under various pretenses, consume
quantities of various ''tinctures' and
the ike on physicians prescriptions.
Women who are perfectly healthy, or
rs near so as it is possible to be i'm this
age. certainly 90 not need ana should
not use stimulants at any time. Let
well enough alone applies to such very
aptly. And. indeed, in many of us, APP
parentiy healthy and robust, there are
inherited tendencies and latent cravings
that only need for their development
some slight indul gences. Any woman
who is at all conversaDt with the sad
histories of SO many of her fellow
women now swelling the ranks of
criminals, paupcrs and insane, or, what
is even worse, of those poor wretches