Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1886-07-15
MORAL SUICIDE.
A Crime Committed by All Persons Al
dicted to the Opium Habit.

A Crime Committed by All Persons Al
dicted to the Opium Habit.
Whoever first administered opium to
an agonized sufferer bestowed bless
ing upon the human race that there is
no computing. But whoever first
taught that the dose might be repeated
till its pleasant sensations created a
desire that became a need. habitual
and not 10 be resisted. should be vis-
tied with the severest punishment that
tate reserves for sinners.
The opium habit Is one that has so
firm a hold now upon many that Il be-
comes the public. duty to expos.ulate.
and to rehearse the suffering it creates
and the degradation it entails, as n
measure of warning to those in any
danger from IL.
The physical effects of eating or Of
smoking opium, after a short time, are
so fearful that no one who is acquainted
with them, or who realizes them,
would ever willingly become their vic
tim. Never to be able to digest any
thing. 10 endure constant nausea, to
have heavy pains, distress and per-
petual burning sensation in the stom.
ach, to ilutter and tremhle and fair :, to
| feel as IL you were bubble rising IN
the air, TO suffer all sorts of terrifying
hallucinations, to lose much control of
the limbs, to laugh and cry at wrong
times like a simpleton. and never to DO
sure how much you have made fool
of yourself. TO have blur and blazing
kofnro tha at~au h1tN1fpnr haaHaat,a -,
gether with torturing pains in the
bones. to have neuralgia so acutely
that the sensation Of touching bare
nerve in n tooth is constant, to find
yourself in a condition generally
resembling delirium tremens--all
that is bad enough. But to know
also that II destroys the moral
life in even greater measure, so that
women of pride and wealth, and hith-
srto Of virtue, viii practice every mean
ness, craft and deception, commit
theft, forfeit modesty. all under its in
fiuence, and pause at no crime in or
der 10 obtain possession Of the drug,
il they can not get il otherwise-to
know all that, and yet to touch IL, ex-
cept by prescription, would seem TO be
impossible. In short, there is no ques-
tion that opium debauches the whole
moral nature, ruins the physical and
destroys the nervous system, and Is
the worst enemy that man has everen-
countered; for alcohol has its inter-
missions, however brief, but opium
never ceases for one moment in its
tyranny and cruelty. How terrible Il
is even the Emperor Of China declared
when, IL being within his option to
seize a large number Of chests of
opium belonging TO the British, and
worth many million dollars, turning
the price all into his own purse. he,
with sublimity Of action unequsled
in any other historical action that we
know. ordered it 10 no utterly de-
stroyed rather than sell il to his peO-
pie and enrich himself by cursing them.
There are many individuals, how
ever, who will not be deferred in sea-
son from the use Of this cruel drug by
any possibilities In relation either to
their physical or moral being; but il
would seem as II human pride, 20 say
nothing else, might cause them to
pause when they know that the end Of
it all is idiocy, for most Of us would
prefer 10 die to-day under any circum-
stances rather than come to that at
last; and that, moreover. feminine
pride in especial would shrink from
transformation into the hideous-look-
ing object that the opium-eater event
ually becomes.
That this generation drinks less in
tOxicating liquor propOrtionaely than
those that have gone before Is possibly
true, but that in one form or another il
uses vastly more opium is equally true.
Not merely the fine lady Is It's slave
but the operative also. II the innumeT-
able number OF chemists shops does
not in itself tell the story. il is said that
one would soon discover 1t in taking
up q position in their neighborhood on
any Saturday night, when the CUSTOM
crs can be seen coming in for their
little yials Of poison in whatever form
they use II. The sight might make one
tremble for the generations tO come, II
it were not that after a mother and
daughter addicted to the cruel habit.
or father and son, there will be no
generation 10 come In that family. But
II hardship and want might be pleaded
in any faintest breath as some measure
Of excuse for the oyer-worked and often
ill-used operative who resorts 20 the
drug that shaliopen 10 her an escape,
II only for the present, into land Of
dreams, there Is no excuse for the
wOmSn OF property or of education
who puts herself into the power Of this
terrible fascination II she is in trouble,
she has other resources. she is not
obliged TO drink lethe or nepenthe In
order TO forget herself Long habit Of
years, culture, friends. opportunities.
ought 10 be sufficient TO afford relief
from mental sorrow In other ways; and
IL she takes Il from idleness, or from
mere love of the effects Of the drug.
then words are too weak to reprimand
her -Harper's BaEar.
Some aspiring amateurs 10 New
Conn. attempted "Richard
ILL., the other evening. Az the PASS