The Opelousas courier., 1890-08-23
Mrs. J. MeNair Wright.
~ ExCELLENr TEMPERANcE STORY.

AN EXCELLENT TEMPERANCE ToR
Temperance! 1t is a good thing. And /
can give an excellent temperance story with
out adding a particle of fiction to the facts,
says g New York correspondent of the Gin
cinnati Enquirer. As / was walking with
one of the house surgeons through the alco-
holic ward of Bellevue Hospital the other
day l saw a face that was familiar TO me.
The owner was q young woman who had
been brought in several days before, suffer-
ing from the ailment that afflicted all the c-
eupants Of the alcoholic ward. She lay in a
cot, looking quite peaceful, her eyes closed,
the white coverlid drawn close up under her
chin. Save for a great pallor and a certain
old, faded look that came not of years but
OF reckless living, the face would have been
pretty, as it lay framed in the spotless pillow,
n~otionless as a picture. The patient was
asleep, and with every minute that she slum-
bered was putting the fever ard the frenzy
further away. She had slept uninterrupted
lY for seven hours, the nurse said, and it was
believed that when she awoke she would be
hungry and far along or the road to recoy-
cry. l cast about in my mind to think
where / had seen the face, and at length I
remembered.
Four years ago last winter / lived on East
Eighteenth street, near Second avenue, and
it was my habit to go of an evening to
Schmenger's beer saloon, on Third avenue, to
pass a social hour over a glass of the Munich
Royal brew and a cigar. Schmenger's was a
family resort and a very quiet and respecta,
bic place. Among the many groups that used
to establish themselves there with more or
less regularity was n consisting of an ell
Derby woman, a young man and a girl l
took them to be Germans. The woman and
the young man were Enthusiastically that, but
Of the girl I was in doubt. My curiosity was
not very great, and it was only after observ"
ing them for several months that | accl-
dentally learned something about them.
One rainy March afternoon was throwing
dice with John Meyer, the bartender, when
the trio came in. TIL girl looked very pretty,
The wind and rain had had their way with
her face, and it was rosy with bushes.
should say that she was about twenty years
of age. She had a superb figure and black
hair and eyes. 1t was hard for me to keep
her eyes Off her and to follow the dice, upon
The turn of which the best cigars in the
house depended. Johns attention was also
frequently diverted by the three, though not
in the same way. They kept him measafably
busy supplying them with what they wanted
to drink. 1t occurred to me after a while
that they were drinking a good deal. l SAID
as much to John, but he only shrugged his
shoulders and said that they were used to it
When they first came in they had a pony OF
1 brandy ali round to take off the chill of the
weather. 1t was not quite sufficient, and
they had another, and then a third. From
the brandy they turned to beer, choosing the
heavy Bavarian variety, and they drank SIX
glasses each of it before going home to sup
per. As they passed out, John, who was
smoking a Reina that / paid for, told me thai
the Young maj was a musician in Danlroschs
Orchestra at the Metropolitan Opera House
that the elderly woman was his mother, ant
that the girl was his wife. They had beer
coming to Schmenger's for a year, John said
and what they had drunk that afternoon wa
nothing unusual for them. He had served
the rosy checked girl with twenty glasses O
heavy beer in the course of an evening OF nv
hours. Shortly after that I removed from
my Eighteenth street lodgings, and changed
circumstance interrupted my habit of going
to Schmenger's. I did not see the girl again
until I saw her j nthe hospital.
T felt an interest in the case. The patlen
had been brought to Bellevue, %sufferinI
from acute alcoholic mania, by two officer
of Captain Clinchyss police, which patrol
The district IN which Schmenger's is situated
7 called at the station in Twenty-secont
street and asked Detective Carey what b
knew about the girl.
The police knowledge of her, " said Carey
is concerned with q single fact; she is
drunkaTd. She is a widow and lives wit
her mether-in-laW in Nineteenth street. III
husband. who was a skilled musician, died {
alcoholism a year ago. The mother-in-la'
is d tough old knot of German. she keE
a boarding house here on the East Side fe
twenty years and saved enough to make be
comfortable for life. She is as good g drlnl
en- as her san was or as her daughter-in-law
!. but she stands it better. She is sixty yea
old at the least and well and hearty. 81
o'clock every morning finds her out marke
ing. She was always a thrifty soul; Whe
!. her son was alive they used to do their drill
ing in saloons and he paid for il, but l
died she and her daughter-in-law have fo
lowed the kettle and bottle plan, which
cheag1or. The girl, who is a native Ne
YORKER and o very pretty ones stood her @
: eesses very well until a few months age, whs
she went to pieces all of q sudden. lsuppo
/ cur men have carried her home twenty TIM
since last May-found her drunk in the street
She was always stupidity drunk, fetching
on doorsteps in q state OF quiet collapse. IN,
!. the last time when her complaint toek y
| lent turn, About 8 o'clock one evening s
-vent Hving along under the electric lights
! rhird avenue. CRYING and c1lTsing and sWea
: ing and striking peopleWith her Umbrella rig
md left. When Roundsman Hagan bfoug
her to-a man who is the idol of the une
!, gaaed women of this neighborhood-she drs
! her nails across his face and called him t
WbibechapeI murderer. She won't last mu
longer. Isuppose she will come out of TIL
] but the marks are on her. Six months ago s.
was plump as partridge; now she's lean al
hound. i am an observer and when the file
dreps OFF at that rate under habits like he
I know what's coming. II Christmas m
her with us I'll give you new hat
8 The Giant Arbutus Tree Of Californi
The genus really belongs to the 9