The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1907-05-31
|NEBR|ATES.
Increase of Drunkenness Among
EngIishWomen.
DIFFICULTY OF RECLAMATION.
Victims Feel keenIy the Sense Of Deg
radation-DepIorabIe Effect of Drink
on tho Nervous System Of the Gentle
Ses-Tends to Moral Deterioration.

radation-DepIorable Effect of Drink
Ses-Tends to Moral Deterioration.
Careful observers Of social conditions
In both the upper and the lower classes
Of society cannot fail to havexaoted of
late a decided increase In the addiction
to alcoholic liquors OH the part of wo-
men. Published statistics relating to
the number and ages of women con-
victed OF drunkenness give one no real
idea Of the extent of the evil, for only
very small fraction of the intemper-
ate fall into the hands Of the police.
Moreover, though a woman does not
became drunk unless she has been in
temperate, she may easily lie highly
intemperate without ever becoming
drunk. 1t Is notorious that a drunken
woman is reclaimed only with the
greatest difficulty, for she knows that
she has unseXed herself The inebriat-
ed woman Injuries her reputation, the
Incorporate woman her health.
Many women take to secret drinking
the bane Of womanhood-by reason
of the lonely lives they live, to soften
the sorrow which is the lot of SO many
women or to deaden that anxiety about
the future which IL so harassing to
the, timid minds of SO many Of the
weaker sex. 1t is surely an evil sign
OF the times when the very factory
girls, who think lightly Of the present
and. still less of the future, form what
are called spirit. clubs" into which
the girls make small payments to ac-
cumulate until Christmas eve and then
to be spent in spirits, wine and cakes.
Increased facilities for drinking are
to be numbered among the causes OF
the increasing intemperance among
women. Women travel alone to a far
greater extent than was formerly the
case; women's clubs afford every op-
portunity to those who wish to indulge
In potent liquors; some Of the big
stores and mammoth drapery estab
lishments have licensed refreshment
rooms; restaurants and railway buffets
continue to multiply, while the pastry
cook with a wine license is very much
trict. A woman In good position In
life may be Incorporate to a degree
without ever having recourse to the
ordinary public house. 1t is not pre-
tended that all the places enumerated
above have spirit licenses, but intem-
perance In port or sherry or even in
bottled ale Is almost equally destruc-
tive to health. '
Intemperance has a deplorable effect
on the nervous system Of women,
whom'i it tends rapidly to degrade NOR
ally as well as physically, uniting
them for those duties and respOnsibili-
ties which should he the first care Of
the women Of every race. Intemper-
ance among men liz bad enough, hut
among women 1t is far more serious
matter. since In their case the future
Of race. kingdom or an empire may
be imperiled. Intemperance among
women Is i1Sompatible with the vel.
fare Of the children. who. even II they
are unaffected by a bad heredity, must
be affected by evil parental example.
1t is because of this that the drunken
mother is regarded as curse to her
family and menace to the state.
Even the most unprejudiced and tOler-
ant Of moderate drinkers on the male
sides looks upon drunken woman
with a horror and loathing that are al
most instructive.
Among the lower orders gin Is the
beverage Of election or, failing that,
-four ale" In unimaginable quantities.
The liqueur Is another prime favOrite
with those women who can afford 1t
and Is certainly the most destructive
Of all. containing. as 1t always does,
essary to mask the taste of the cheap
alcohol. which is so raw and fiery that
1t could not be swallowed in its nat
ural state, These essential oils and
alcOhols act as powerful nerve poisons
II taken In sufficiently large doses and
over sufficient period Of time. and In
the seductive fiavors Of the liqneur
containing them lies their great danger
to women.
Hope for the future OF our woman
kind lies In the fact that all women
! are to some extent the slaves of fash
ion, and once 1t becomes no longer the
fashion for women to drink freely Of
potent liquors at dinners. dances and
other convivial assemblies intemper-
| ance among them will receive a check.
But against the pet vice OF secret
drinking the only remedy is In the
teaching OF temperance and hygiene
London Chronicle.