The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-12-23
The CRUSADE AGAINST DRINK
PROGRESS MADE BY CHAMPIONS
FIGHTING TIE RUM DEMON.


Vitality of the French Nation.
Under the heading, Some Terrible
Testimonies, the United Kingdom
Alliance News gathers up a great ar
ray of alarming facts concerning the
inroads made by the evils of intem-
perance on the vitality and morality
Of the French nation. It says IN
part:
The late Paul de Cassagnac, the
we'll known journalist and politician.
who cannot be accused Of being
prejudiced on the matter, wrote not
long before his death:
zone has to be the unwilling wit
ness of the dying agony of a country
that was formerly not the least of n
glories of France-the grand IL
Normandy-that Is sinking into the
most infamous of degradations, per-
ishing by the death of madmen and
Of WORKOUT wrecks.
parishes are being depopulated,
houses closed, tie country becoming
q desert! From 1850 to 1896 the de-
partment of La Manche lost 100000
Inhabitants. From 1896 to 1901,
$4,000 more disappeared. One hun
dred and twelve thousand gone. It Is
the equivalent of q great battle lost,
Of a portion of territory taken from
US. g = And all those are dead.
Alcohol has slain them. AS for the
living, they bear the marks Of the
fatal poison"
M. Austin de Croze, in an article in
the Revue des Revues, under the title
Of La Bretagne Paienne," shows to
what a depth of degradation the i'm
moderate use Of alcohol is dragging
that beautiful and romantic province.
It is not more than thirty years
since this fearful evil has taken hold
of Brittany, but in fifty years more,
unless the evil is put an end to-, 1t Is
more. than likely that the ace will be
entirely lost. You have terrible
'drunkards in your parish said one to
a priest. Yes, that is true, but then
they are pious drunkards!'
THE drinking that goes on among
men, women and children" says a
writer in the Baptist Missionary Mag
azine, on the occasion of a visit paid
by him to Morlaix, where the Rev.
A. jenkins labors with 80 much zeal,
1has reached the excess the like OF
which is not known in any part of the
the very fibre and life Of the nation"
While this plague is spreading al
over the land, it is in the north and
northwest of France that it has made
the greatest ravages. Not long since
the Paris paper LIE Temps sent a spe-
cial commissioner to report uponitlle
condition Of Normandy, with special
reference to the alleged alcoholism of
the country, and the articles con-
tributed by him to that journal were
truly. heart-rending.a
Mr.. Douarche, said that intemper-
ance is almost the rule. 1t Is the eI-
ception when. the workingman does
not begin the day with, a glass of
cheap brandy, "calvados." He carries
with him to work a bottle Of "alco-
holized" coffee, which lasts him until
IL O'Clock, the lunch hour, when he
hastens toilthe wine-shop. There
glasses of absinthe or vermouth are
already set out in readiness for the
quick demand. This beverage is
hastily swallowed before the lunch,
consisting of 2 II d.5worth Of food fol.
lowed by Sd. worth of black coffee
and brandy. Work over at 6, the
drink-shops along the way home are
visited, Saturday night is spent III
the wine-shops, and Sunday is given
to sleeping off the debauch. 1t is
/ usual for men thus to spend an av-
erage Of rs. a day for drink-as much
as frugal French working-class FAM
lilies spend for food.
Then the way the children are
taught to drink is described with
great detail. Infants are given a sip
of "calvados" ON the third or fourth
day of their existence. Through baby
hood they are dosed with it to make
them sleep. AT five or six they are
considered old enough to be entitled
to their ration Of liquor at meal
times. The eight-year-old children
were found to carry for luncheon
bread soaked IN branded coffee; a
third of them, boys and girls alike,
were found to be in the habit of TAX
ing their petit verre" after dinner.
Several schoolmlstresses testified. that
their little girl pupils were often in
toxicated in the afternoon to the de-
gree Of being unable to learn their
lessons!-Pioneer.
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