Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1907-05-21
THE ABSlNTHE FIEND.
WHAT he is AND WHAT FRANCE
is DOING FOR HIM.

410 DO SAPCCl0Q 1IOl1 an aQQl1QlS ira
ton that has had the hardihood to
attack the casinos and to penalize
gambling, writes the Paris correspon-
dent of the San Francisco Argonaut.
France is participating, in a French
way, in the wave of Puritanism that
has touched the whole of civilization.
1t is always delight to her to "regu-
larize' something, and when the some
thing is domestic evil, then duty
and inclination go amicably hand in
hand.
So far the absinthe drinkers are
not seriously perturbed. The green
devil is just as much in evidence
as ever it was, and the cafes are
reaping their usual harvest from its
devotees. The absinthe drinker at
tracts more attention from the TO-
reigner who is visiting Paris for the
first time than perhaps any other fea-
ture of French life. In fine weather
he found outside the cafe at one of
the little marble tables upon the side
walk, and in wet or cold weather he
is to be found inside the cafe, but
nothing keeps him away altogether,
nor ever will, except restitution or
death. He gives his order, unless he
is an habitue at that particular cafe,
in which case his order is anticipated
and the waiter brings the tall absinthe
glass, with its inch or two or nearly
colorless liquor, the two pieces of
sugar, the curious perforated absinthe
spoon, and the bottle of water. The
spoon is placed bridge-like across the
top of the glass, a piece of sugar is
placed in its bowl, and the requisite
quantity of water is then poured on
the sugar so that it may percolate
through the perforations in the spoon
and so convey the sweetness to the
alcohol below. But the fascinating
miracle of the proceeding is in the
shimmering green tint that at once
results from the mixture of the absin-
the and the water, a green that at
first is exquisitely bright and transpar-
ent, but that speedily becomes dull
and cloudy, symbolic, we may be-
lieve of the drinker. Wherever there
is a cafe in Paris, there the absinthe
drinker is to be found. He has neither
times nor seasons. He drinks before
meals as an appetizer, after meals as
a digestive, and between meals upon
general principles. After a time the
meals become superfluous, but the APP
petizers and the digestives still hold
the fort.
But it must not be supposed that
the absinthe drinker is necessarily the
absinthe fiend. Absinthe worship is
nearly universal among certain
classes, but complete surrender to it's
seductions is by no means the rule.
Worthy citizens, peres de famille, and
honest householders indulge in their
petits verres, and even urge them
upon their seemingly reluctant wo-
straint, and it would be mistake to
suppose that regular absinthe drink
ing is necessarily an offense either
against the individual or against So
ciety. But the army OF absinthe
fiends, of those who have reached the
stage of utter abandon, is upon the
increase, and the camp followers upon
that army are violent crimes, suicides,
and a moral degradation without its
parallel. 1t is this that has been
recognized by the government as
national peril and against which it is
about to declare war.
1t will not be temperance legisla-
ton of the ordinary and approved
kind, because absinthe stands alone
and apart among all other alcoholic
drinks. There is nothing like it apon
the catalogue for the insidiousness of
its attack, for the manner of its work
ing, or the utter impotence of its vic
tim. The whisky drunkard has sinned
against the light, and warnings have
attended every step upon the down
ward path. The whisky habit must
be acquired against the revolt of ma
ture, but nature seems to make no
preliminary revolt against absinthe.
There is usually no next morning."
no enforced and salutary repentance.
Absinthe is the green devil that
drives away the blue devil, that
leaves the brain in a state of de-
ceptive restfulness and that dissipates
the clouds as though before a strong
mental sunrise Absinthe rarely de-
clares the havoc that it is working
until it is too late. There are no
warnings, no portents, and it attacks
the mind and the morals before it
makes it's wound upon the body.
More than thirty years ago the
French Government tried hard to sup
failed. In 1872 it was declared that
the active ingredients Of the liquor
were poisons and must be subject to
the poisons law and sold only under
the usual regulations by registered
pharmacists The law, of course, was
ineffective, as such laws usually are,
and today it would be no exaggera-
tioI 10 say that the evils of all other
alcoholic drinks put together are as
nothing compared with those of alb
sinthe, which now threatens to de-
stroy both the national mind and the
national morals. This is hard to be-
lieve by those who have lived for
months in Paris. and VINO have never
lpon any occasion seen drunken
man or woman. But it is true. Abb
sinthe does not work in the old fam
liar way
The essential principle of absinthe
is NORWOOD, and to this bitter in
gredient it owes all Of its internal
temptations. The finished product is
supposed to contain about one-third of
one per cent Of the oil Of NORWOOD,
and it is also far richer in alcohol
than is whisky. Then there are flavor
ing matters such as anise, fennel,
marjoram and host of others, and
some of these are highly poisonous.
In some instances the harmful salts
Of copper are added to intensity the