The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-05-12

| case did not strike me with any shock.
/ I merely feel that the wife who accepted
/ a consideration in cash for giving her hus-
! band his freedom must be conscious that
she Is driving a good bargain.
The sooner all husbands of that order
| sell out their matrimonial claims, the bet
! ter for all parties concerned. One must
know the details of both lives, however,
before forming opinion in the matter.
| Divorce is a fire escape from domestic
| hell, and should not be used as a mere
athletic diversion. When so used 1t is
| liable to become a continuous perform
! ance
If two persons cannot live together in
! love and peace believe in divorce 1t is
more moral regarding the attitude of the
public to this couple. 1t would be we'll to
consult ones visiting list and study the
| lives of ones friends before deciding
hastily.
The ultra fashionable circles of New
York regard divorce as a mere incident. A
new wife or new husband is common
to encounter in the smart set as a new
gown or vehicle. The woman who sports
a blond husband one year is apt to appear
with brunette the next. Styles of wives
change in families the styles of hat
brims.
When our social leaders set fashion
all circles follow it eventually. The case
under consideration is but the latest. 1t
is only a part of the general chaos of our
| social conditions. They will be worse be-
| fore they are better.
Here, says the New York Times, is
story for bird lovers. There had been
diptheria in the family; one child had had
the disease, and the house mistress was
congratulating herself that no one was
the worse for it but the child who had
taken the disease in the first place, when
she noticed that one small member OF
the household seemed out of sorts. 1t was
the canary. The poor little fellow droop-
| ed Is head half closed his eyes, and
| would not sing a note. If he made a
sound at all it was harsh, rasping noise,
! and he seemed In distress. He would
grasp the bars of the cage with his bill
and pull and pull upon them as if he
were trying to pull them out.
Poor little fellown' said the canary's
mistress, after watching him for time.
He certainly is ILL., and 1 believe he has
| the diptheria."
Thereupon, making up her mind that
she had discovered the trouble. she de-
| cided to apply remedies. She had in the
house a preparation of belladonna that
had been given to the sick child. She
| dropped a little of this into the water
| dish in the birds cage. The effect was
| almost immediate. In an hour the little
| fellow had frightened up and in an hour
| and a half he was singing as gayly as
usual Now, the writer of this little story
| is not bird expert, and the miraculous
effects of the medicine may seem lit
tie startling, but that is the story exactly
as it came from the owner of the bird,
a woman whose veracity is not to be
doubted.
The woman of to-day who desires to be
| fashionable must wear brown tresses,
whether she seeks to shine upon the stage
or In society The change is not due to
the initiative of the stage, however. The
| mania for blonde hair some years ago
was most evident among the footlight IA
vorites Then came the more recent rage
for all shades and grades of auburn hair,
of which Zaza was the spectacular ex-
| ample The quiet, domesticated brown
hair tf so m my player women to-day re-
| fleets the vogue for it in all classes of So
| cdety Miss Mannering, Miss Marlowe,
Miss Anglin, Miss Eleanor Robson, Miss
| Tyree. MISS Bates and many more have
| won success in spite of what would once
| have been considered a tremendous hand
| icap-brown hair
| It is the blonde actress-whether ac-
tually or artihcially so-who is handicap
| ped to-day. She not only suggests the
socially fast and furious, but she is old
| fashioned-which Is even worse. Most
| light haired actresses, such as Miss Ad-
ans, are light-haired and nothing more
| They are careful not to hint at the word
blonde. II is noticeable that the brown
| haired actresses are as a rule. recent re-
cruits to the profession. They represent
| the new order Of things. Among women
| in private life that one meets on the
streets. at the shops and in cafes, brown
| hair is much more common than 1t has
| been for years. 1t is the fashion, and a
| good one; 1t stands for the real rather
than the false.
| Joshua L. Bailey, president of the Ma
tonal Temperance Society of Friends de-
| clared before a large audience in Phila-
| delphia the other evening that 'if there
| is any one feature of the drinking custom
which at this time is occasion for alarm
1t is the appalling increase of inebriety
among women"
"I was told a few days since by a pu-
pil of one of our most fashionable young
| ladies' seminaries," continued Mr.. Baily,
| that their principal, in counseling them
| to avoid extremes, declared that 1t was
| Just as vulgar to be total abstainer as
| II was to drink 90 excess; that one was
| indication of a weak character just as
much as the other. What must be eX-
pected as the results of such tuition,
when these young girls enter society and
| become members of the fashionable set ?
"Intemperance among fashionable wo-
| men, as have learned from some of their
| own class, is much more observable, even
| In Philadelphia, than 1t was some years
| ago. In New York a social leader, who re-
| fused to allow her name to be used be-
cause of her family connections and her
personal relations to the 400 says that
the drinking evil among women Of the
highest circles has reached an alarming
| state.
1T is nothing unusual, she declares, to
see in leading hotels and cafes beautiful
and handsomely dressed women OF Fifth
avenue absolutely pouring down cock
tails and other mixed drinks. Nor is New
York the only American city where such
conditions exist. Workers of the w c.
T. U. of Chicago report finding hundreds
Of women drinking in the saloons at oil
hours of the night.
THE increased use of liquor among wo-
men Is a sad but generally admitted fact
in Great Britain. Dr. Haywood Smith, a
noted English specialist, furnishes facts
and figures to prove that British women
are drifting toward inebriety. He asserts
that the vice is increasing with greater
rapidity among the rich and well-to-do
women than among those of the lower
strata of society He adds: TN this So
called upper class drunkenness is cpl
demic
II have long believed. and each year