The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-10-20
WOMEN WHO DRINK
A FAST SET HAS BROUGHT RE-
PROACH UPON SOCIETY.
But the Vice Is on the Decrease Be-
cause the Women Have Found
Liquor Destructive of Complexion
ST. PauI's Fast Set Is Diminishing.

Some one wants to know whether
society women drink and play poker.
1t is a hard question to answer for
many reasons. Society is much-
abused and often misunderstood word,
and it is not we'll to accuse persons in
groups of doing anything. Society
usually covers a large number and
many sets, which go to make up what
is known as society. And in the So
ciety of most every place there is what
is known as "a fast set" Perhaps st.
Paul society has less of this fast ele-
ment than any city in the country; IL
once had faster set than it has now.
In fact there have been women who
We're known to say that society in this
city is very dull and exceedingly SLOW
This is good fault, and If it is so no
one will regret it-that is no one who
is worth while. AS to the general ques-
ton whether society women drink ana
play poker, it can be answered by no.
There are women, however, in society
who undoubtedly drink and play poker.
But it is not particularly because they
are in society that they do so. A great
deal of poker is played in st. Paul, we
are told; in fact, Western man who
lives in Montana said the other day
that there is just as much poker played
in st. Paul as in Helena or Butte, only
it is not generally known. That may
be as it may be; but the fact remains
that we hear very little of poker play
ing, although we know that there are
a few women who do play among
themselves for small stakes, and how
many quiet games there are among
men we have no means of finding out
1t is not well for women to play cards
for money; it is undignified and de-
moralizing for many reasons. 1t sets
pernicious example, is a waste of
valuable time, and is a habit that once
formed, is exceedingly difficult to
break. And yet very nice women do
1t. Some of them make all their pin
money in this way. One trouble is
that when women who have no chill
dren live in apartment houses and no.
tells they have not enough to do, and
they spend their spare hours in play
Ing cards.
AS to drink, some one recently ar
raigned New York society women as
hard drinkers, and man came to their
defense and said they were extremely
temperate. 1t is true that about five
years ago society women everywhere
were inclined to drink too many cock
tails and there were some women who
took whisky straight, but in the last
year or two there has been a reaction
against so much drink, and now one
will find twenty women who never
bO0Sh any lHlll& " OI1G WHO taxes lOO
much. A wave of common sense and
better morals seems to have had some
thing to do with this, and then some
deplorable instances of girls and wom-
en- who became confirmed drinkers
shocked communities into realizing
sense of the peril there is in a drink
here and a drink there. AT dinner
parties it is much commoner to see
the untouched glass at woman's plate
than it used to be.
Aside from purely moral grounds for
temperance among women, there is the
further reason that they have discov-
cred that there is nothing so destruc-
tive of beauty, so likely to ruin COM
plexions and bring lines into hitherto
smooth faces, as drink. One good
which beauty doctors and physical
culture teachers have done-and not
for ethical reasons-was laying down
the law about wine to women who
would retain their youth and beauty.
The woman who would keep her good
ooks and her fgure-and above all
her slenderness-mus absolutely let
alone alcohol in any form. Every
beauty doctor is temperance advo-
cate and should be given a diploma by
the w. c. T. u.
On the whole, st. Paul society wom-,
en- drink very little, and there is less
and less drinking done among women
generally. 1t is probably more on the
grounds mentioned above than for
moral reasons, but whatever the rea-
son, it is well that it prevails