Evening star., 1901-11-23

Of the toasts, when they would. at a gen.
orally understood signal, execute discreet
withdrawal.
Gradually the idea of having the women
participate in the feasts on the same basis
as the men erept into vogue, and now 1t Is
virtually the general custom.
Question of the Availability of 1t.
Conclusions as to whether the plan is
precisely a good or bad one are scarcely
yet in order. It may be argued, on the one
hand, that the presence of the women ex-
ercises a restraining influence upon the
men when the tendency or inclination Of
the latter tends to too boisterous a degree
of festivity, but it is not entirely certain that
this is the usual effect. There have been
several notable banquets recently in New
York in which this restraining influence,
so far from being present, has not only
been conspicuousiy absent, but the women
themselves around the board have forced
that would be termed highly uncon-
ventional were not the persons thus
moved along to vinous mirth of un-
exceptionable social position. The wo-
men,. it should be explained, are dis
tinctly averse on these occasions to being
regarded in the light OF restraining influ-
ence, and they invite, in terms. the men to
"act just as they would if the feminine
element were entirely absent. There are
many men who possess sufficient discretion
to decline to take such suggestion liter
ally, but there are others who are liable to
take advantage of IT, and the result has
been some scenes at these mixed affairs
along toward their waning for which some
of those involved in them have been more
or less regretful the next morning.
The "GoOd Fellow Woman.
1t is a fad of the average New Yorker,
the New Yorker with the care
fully cultivated blase air, to speak in terms
of warm, If occasionally too generous, ap-
proval of the type of woman known in the
vernacular as good fellow" The care
full student, however. will observe that
none Of these men ever alludes to any fe-
male member of his own family as good
fellow" and 1t is fairly certain that the
average male, whether he live in New
York or elsewhere, would be inclined to
become perky if he heard any skirted men,
Der of his own family alluded to a good
fellow" Oldfashioned folks. therefore. are
inclined to regard these mixed banquets as
being just trifle too much of a good
thing. and as possessing tendency to con-
vert too many of the women VINO attend
them into members Of the somewhat over
done" genus of feminine good fellows
Negroes Users OF Cocaine.
The attention of the health authorities
has lately been called to the rapid spread
of the cocaine habit among the negro pop
ulation of New York The habit is an i'm
poi tdlioi, IL SeeHlS, ITOm ne" CTieaHS,
where thousands of the black population
are said to be addicted to the drug Nearly
all of the negro criminals Of record in New
York are now said to be cocaine fiends,
and a physician of the board of health staff
who recently conducted a quiet investiga-
tion of the abuse of the drug among the
negro tenements wrote in his report that
nearly all of them have their devotees OF
the drug. and that the havoc and misery
the swift spread of the habit is causing
are indescrbable. The blacks get vi
ciously poor quality of the drug from pur-
veyors who get it direct from mysterious
New Orleans sources, and once they get
well into the habit they seem to become
to obtain supplies of the drug. Nearly alf
negroes, men and women, arrested for
petty offenses in New York lately have
been under the influence of cocaine when
taken and most of them have required
hospital treatment before being in shape
to stand trial. c, l.. G.,