The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-01-30
knew that any one could become really
intoxicated from drinking tea"

intoxicated from drinking tea"
mo more they can, yer HOMER" was
the reply. "We ate it."
1t is becoming quite popular vice in
Boston, writes correspondent of the
Chicago Tribune, and presumably else
where-this tea eating. And, curiously
enough, its victims are mostly found
among the "help," who, having the
household tea.caddy always accessible,
get accustomed to helping themselves
from it, pinch at time, of the dry
leaves. These they chew, thus extract
ing the alkaloid, which is toxic agent
of a most powerful description. Its first
effect is an agreeable exhilaration. Ul-
timately it induce sleeplessness and an
abnormal condition of mind, with strange
wishes and delirium. 1t 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 a bowl, like spinach. For
long time after that it was regarded as
deadly drug, and people who sold it
was considered disreputable.
1t is positively wonderful how the de-
mand for new and particularly destruc-
tive vices gives birth to an apparently
exhaustless supply. One in particular
that is said to he making great progress
among women is the habit of ether
drinking. This chemical product, 30
well known for its virtues as an anTs'
thetic, is an ethereal spirit Of alcohol,
containing that element Of alcohol which
has the effect of deadened pain. Most
people have had opportunities of OBJ
serving this effect in drunken men, who
suffer severe hurts without feeling them,
apparently.
Ether, taken internally, produces a
feeling of exaltation, which is not fol-
lowed by the disagrceabe after.symp-
toms arising from ovcr-indulgence IN
the crude whisky or other spirits. Its
results are slower, affecting the mind by
slow degrees and dcpriving the victim of
all moral sense. The confirmed ether
drinker will murder her own grand.
mother, without so much as quaIm of
conscience. to get fifty cents wherewlth
to purchase bottle of her favorite in
tox;cant.
In It's effects upon the moral being
ether bears strong resemblance TO
opium, which might be called a poison
for the soul. The use of the latter drug
is said to be fcarfully prevalent among
the wives of New England farmers, who
devote the pennies they earn by selling
eggs-always the private perquisite of
tho country women in this region-to
secret purchases of the deadly stuff from
itincrant peddlers. One woman in a
small rural community will spread the
vice among all her female friends, who,
I wearied by the endless monotony of their
lives, are eager for any excitement.
The experienced eye can detect the
habitual eater of opium by an un-
certainty of gait, a sallowness of skin
and other symptoms. 1t is likely that
the sallow complexion and weakly ap-
pearance so universal among the Chinese
one sees are due to this cause. Every
where throughout that part OF China
which is familiar to travellers, the fields
of rice are checkered with wide areas
of growing poppics, the seeds of which
the natives steep 10 make an lntoxl-
eating liquor. This is the most primitive
method of consuming opium. For COM
mercial uses it is gathered by cutting
open the poppy seed heads with knife,
leaving The opium gum to exude. Ropes,
held taut, are then dragged across the
tops of the plants by pairs of laborera,
and the gum sticks to the hempen
strands, from which it is subsequently
taken and packed for sale. The people
of the faraway mountain region in China,
where opium is unknown particularly
in the rugged north-are big, strong
and healthy.