The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-06-15
Protect the Drunkard's Wife.

The following letter is sent to US from
West N~inety-third street. New York City.
The name is omitted, although the writer
does not request the omission:
Editor Evening Journal:
For six years | have borne the wretch
edness of a d%runkard's wife. My husband
recently went on a debaucb and, alter
spending the last dollar we owned, came
home, stole a garment Of mine. and, while
drunk, pawned it for S. in order to pro-
long his spree-then lost the pawn ticket.
the hope that / might claim my garment
by paying him the S. and interest, or that
| might punish him for accepting property
from a drunken man. / was informed that
[ must get bonds, and then by paying the
man | could regain my clothing. As | do
not know any one owning real estate or
cash to spare for my bond, what am l to
do? I am a breadwinner and need the
garment for my personal warmth.
us the law so lax as to allow a drunken
man to pawn his wife's clothes for rum,
while the innocent wife and mother Of his
child tolls and suffers, half clad:"
Many a miserable woman could write
the same story, with endless variations.
Unfortunately, it is the oldest and the
,ommonest story in the world. Such a
woman lives on every block, IN every big
tenement house. As long as they can,
their suffering and shield the man that
| makes their lives a burden.
The letter that We print was written
some time ago, when the weather was eX.
tremely cold. 1t presents a close view OF
civilized life in a great city. .
A woman, working hard to take care OF
her child, goes about in cold weather. in
sufficiently clad, becai.se her drunken hus-
band has pawned her clothes.
Une concrete suggestion occurs to us
upon reading this letter. We think that
our readers will indorse it.
Why should any pawnbroker be al
lowed to take household articles, and espe-
| cially the clothing of women or children,
from a drunken man..
The law says that # a thief pawns his
booty the ~nawGbroker that takes IT must,
| give it back and lose the money that he
lent. .
Why should whisky, that worst of
thieves, be not included with thieves Of
! other kinds? .
When a pafwnbroker secs a drunkard
stagger il with the clothing Of his wife or
his children, he knows perfect" well that
whisky stole those clothes.
He knows perfectly well that, for the
sake of a little miserable profit he is add
ing to the suffering Of q family, exposing
the helpless.
The laws should DE so arranged as to
make it impossible for a drunken man to
pawn anything. And they should prevent
absolutely and under all circumstances the
lending Of money to any MAJ on the cloth
ing of women or children.
The law puts all kinds of safeguards
around what it considers important prop
erty.
The soberest, wisest man cannot pawn
his real estate without mis- wife's consent,
proved by her signature. Without that
signature, no mortgage on real estate is
valid; the wife can recover her right IN 1t,
although she may never have paid a cent
for the real estate herself.
Would it not be a good idea to protect
the wife's and the chiIdren's clothing from
the pawnbroker, as thoroughly as the real
estate is protected, even from the most
legitimate mortgage transaction? New
York Evening Journal.