The Red Cloud chief., 1884-03-07
FEMALE %INEBRIATES.

The now common custom of resOrtino
to the Use of spirits in times Of pleasure,
rs we'll as for the relief of pain and de.
| spOndency, is fraught with dangers but
little appreciated by the average indi-
vidual. That the custom of the free use
of stimulants is upon the increase
amongst women. especially i'm 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 years ago
would not have tasted an alcoholic bev-
craze of any kind. even in their own
homes. taking beer, wine or spirits
with their meals, almOs: as a matter of
course. and apparently with no idea
that they are doing anything unlady-
like or unusual.
Beer. and especially bottled beer, has
of late years become immensely popular
with all classes. Ladies stop n restsu-
rants often with the sole purpose Of hav-
ing a bottle of beer 10 refresh and in
vigorate them after n long walk. or
when tired from shopping: families take
it regularly by the box; bOarderS have
it privately ut table or in their rooms;
and servants. pitcher on pail in hand. no
longer make a secret Of their trips to
the corner grogggery or the avenue beer
saloon GrocerS 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 il a love for convivi-
alify. and to have popularized the Gus
tom of beer-d. hiking
Beer has been the entering wedge.
and following close upon il has come
the more OF less free use of spirits.
And this was natural and to be expect
ed. One thing almost un.Onsciously
leads tn another in matters Of this kind,
and beer has proved itself u stepping
stone to the Use of strong liquors.
Women who formerly would have used
spirits only under medical advice. and
then reluctantly. now resort to
them without objection and apon the
slightest 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 a costly experiment. and will be
looked back to as the first step in a
career the incidents of which make her
shudder.
1t has been urged by some chat the
Germans. than whom there is not a
more har,twOrking. frugal and studi-
Qua people, are q nation OF beer-drink-
ers. and that the introduction OF their
amusements. social customs and the
like, would prove not only not a mis-
fortune, but n positive boon to Ameri-
cans. The fact, however, that for
many reasons Americans differ from
Germans in point Of nervous organiza-
ton, or rather lack of nervous equili-
bratiOn, if we may be permitted to use
the term. makes hat which would
prove of signal benefit to the latter ex-
dangerous for the former.
That American women are placing
in q position of peculiar
by admitting beer. and later
and spirits, to their homes and
as well as INDUCING IN them
lie away from home, is "a facs beyond
one ton. the peculiar satisfaction with
a tired. exhausted or unstrung
system receives the stimulation
thus deriVable leads almost invariably |
to a further resort to it. The fact that |
q woman's bodily or mental eondition
IS such that the slightest effOrs causes
and calls for stimulation be- |
as fHrcibly as nature can posi-
express it. q very unhealthy, not to
say dangerous. state Of affairs, for
4 physician should be consulted
delay. In such conditions the |
chances are in favor of the wOman's be- |
after a time. wholly dependent
upon alcoholics. We have known such |
to become in time the veriest
lots through this same originally oc-
casiOnai resort to stimHlants. Others
Of the same class are known to us to-
day who are fast travelling the danger
ous incline. To some the consequences
Of the course they are pursuing are evil
dent; but the craving which has become
established seems to be too great
for their unaided powers of resistance.
They cry, wiring their hands in agony,
Ind bemOan their cruel fate in their in
OF sobriety. make rash promises
10 their husbands. and fOndly caress
their little children that alcohol
Is fast robbing of q mothers love and
care, and whom she is daily robbing Of
their birthright of q good name and
responsibility. How many q poor
wretch of this class curses the first swal-
low that ever passed her lips Confine-
ment and close surveillance in some OF
these cases seem to do good for a time,
but the old craving appears never to be
crushed out, for it keeps
cropping up every little while, some
in its old fury, sometimes mOdi-
led. Not q few of these unfortunates
lake to opium. or choral. or both, and
while us nc them manage to abstain
from liquor. They arej content to do
this, and their fir ends, hopeless of q
cure, are willing to allow them
The narcotics. on the ground that though
one form of inebriety is virtually as bad
Is the other. still that from the hahitual
use OF narcotics is less painful to the
riew, and not nearly so prone to result
n open disgrace as that from alcohol
however, after acquiring a crav-
ng for narcotics. relapse into the old
habit of drunkenness from alcoholics.
md then their state becomes desperate
md d~isgracc!ul in the extreme. Be-
the class of occasional tipplers
md habitual users there is one that is