The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1886-10-06
DRUNKEN WOMEN.
The Terrible Evils Which They Are Bring
ing Upon Their Children In England.

INC 1eTTlDl0 I1viAb WhiCh 1hCy hTc
ing Upon Their Children in England.
One of the most Objectionable forms
of the drinking custom in England is
the drunkenness of women. 1t has to
a considerable extent grown out of the
sale of spirituous liquors in the groceries.
There are husbands in England who
are to-day nearly driven crazy by
reason of the habit of drinking, into
which their wives have fallen.
One gentleman told me. that some
five or six men had come to him quite
lately and, manifesting the greatest
distress, asked him for advice. Our
Canadian ladies visiting some of the
towns in England have been shocked,
in passing some of the public houses,
to see women at the bar drinking with
the men, or hanging in groups about
the door, apparently waiting for an
invitation to drink. The Christian
women are beginning to move in this
matter. They are beginning to see the
enormity of the evil. l had the honor
Of dining with and spending a few
hours at the residence of Mrs. Lucas,
sister to John Bright. She is now the
president of the Worlds Women S
Christian Temperance Union, and her
sentiments, her consistent example as
a total abstainer and her energy in the
promotion of the temperance cause are
arousing others of the higher classes OF
English women to combined action
against this foe to their sex, and to
humanity in general.
The sad effects of this phase of drink
ing in England is not seen on the wom-
en- themselves merely, but on their
miserable offspring. | had, myself,
noticed this, but might not have vent.
ured to speak of it here, il my observa-
| ton had not been confirmed by that of
others who mentioned it without any
suggestion from me. was, on this
account, all the more impressed with
this phase of the evil. From what
saw myself, and from what learned
through the oberservation of residents
in England, | am prepared to believe
that there are thousands of poor little
wretches now in their cradles, or jus,
growing up toward maturity who art
mere wrecks, physically, because o.
this habit on the part of their mother
or worse, of both their parents. l trieC
to expostulate with one who told mt
that she could not get on without hel
beer. She had such an "all-gone'
sort OF feeling every day. which appar
emily nothing Gas she thought could
meet or rectify but beer, while by hel
side sat little puny creature, whose
legs and arms were not larger than the
big finger of full-grown man, yet the
child was five or six years old. Sucf
specimens can be produced by thu
dozen in almost any of the streets o
Liverpool or London, and other places
where the public houses alternate will
the dwellings of the working classes
Macaulay must have had some sucl
result as this of the liquor traffic in hi
mind when he suggested the possibili
| ty of the New Zealander one day sit
ting on London bridge viewing tn
generation of the people through evi
social habits must necessarily be fol
lowed by national loss. national decay
national ruin. Those who uphold tn
liquor traffic are not the friends but tn
enemies of their country and thei
race. 1t is a cause for JOY that Their
always have been faithful few VIII
have opposed, and still larger numbe
now opposing, with all their might thi
great evil.-D. y Lucas, in Montreo
Witness.