Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1889-03-15
woMEN WHO EAr TEA.


WOMEN WHO KAT TEA.
Discovery Of . New sud Dangerous wee
Reported from Boston.
Two servants who were hauled up
before a police justice here the other
day charged with creating a rurnpus,
Indignantly denied having been DRINK.
They said that they had been some-
what under the influence of tea, which
was responsible for their eccentric be-
havior.
But, " remarked the judge, Il never
knew that any one could become really
intoxicated from drinking tea
mo more they can. yer Honor, . was
the reply. 1--WE ate it.
1t is becoming quite a popular vice
in Boston, and presumably elsewhere
this tea eating. And, curiously
enough, its victims are mostly found
among the help" who, having the
household tea-caddy always accessi-
Bile, get accustomed to helping them
selves from it, pinch at time, OF
the dry leaves. These they chew,
thus extracting the alkaloid, which is
a toxic agent OF a most powerful de-
scription Its first effect is no agree
able exhilaration- Ultimately it in
duces sleeplessness and an abnormal
condition Of mind, with strange wishes
and delirium- II is an amusing fact,
by the way, that when tea was first
brought to England. about the year
1865, it was served experimentally for
eating in bowl. like spinach For a
long time after that it was regarded as
a deadly drug, and people who sold it
were considered disreputabie.
1t is positively wonderful how the
demand for new and particularly de-
structiye vices gives birth to an appar-
emily exhaustIess supply. One in par
ticular that is said to be making
great progress among women is the
habit of ether drinking. This chemical
product, so well known for its virtues
as an anasthetic, is an ethereal
spirit of alcohol, containing that ele-
ment of alcohol which has the effect of
deadening pain. Most people have
had opportunities of observing this eff
feet in drunken men, who suffer Sc
we're hurts without feeling them, APP
parently.
Ether, taken internally, produces a
feeling of exaltation. which is not fol-
lowed by the disagreeable after-symp-
toms arising from overindulgence in
the crude whisky or other spirits. Its
results are slower, affecting the mind
by slow degrees and depriving the vic
tim of all moral sense. The confirmed
ether-drinker will murder her own
grandmother, without so much as a
qualm of conscience, to get fifty cent.
wherewith to purchase bottle OF her
favorite intoxicant.
In its effects upon the moral being.
ether bears a strong likeness to opium
which might be called poison for the
soul. The use of this latter drug is
said to be fearfully prevalent among
the wives of New England farmers.
who devote the pennies they earn by
selling eggs-always the private per-
quisite of the country women in this
region-to secret purchases of the
deadly stuff from itinerant peddlers.
One woman in small rural commune
ty will spread the vice among all her
female friends, who. wearied by tn.
endless monotony of their lives, are
eager for any excitement.
The experienced eye can detect the
habitual eater of opium by an uncer.
tainty of gait, sallowness OF skin, and
other symptoms. 1t is likely that the
sallow complexion and weakly appear
ance SO universal among the Chinese
one sees are due to this cause.
Everywhere throughout that part Of
China which Is familiar to travellers
the fields of rice are checkered with
wide areas OF growing peoples, the
seeds Of which the natives steep to
make an intoxicating liquor. This ii
the most primitive method of consum
ing opium. For commercial uses it i:
gathered by cutting open the poppy
seed heads with knife, leaving the
gum 20 exude. Ropes, held taut, arr
then dragged across the tops of the
plants by pairs of laborers, and the
gum sticks to the hempen strands
/ from which it is subsequently takef
and packed for sale. The people o
the far-away mountain region in China
where opium is neutrality-suspicious..
in the rugged North-are big, stro ms
and healthy. Boston Letter
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