The Washington herald., 1908-03-26
FROM WOMAN'S
POINT OF VIEW

A worse state than intempeTance threat
ems the country. according TO the state
rnent OF men who are in a position 70
prove their words. II is not confined. like
drunkenness, 10 men and women who
have reached the age OF understanding,
but prevails largely among boys, the
boys who can earn their own living. Bu;
back Of the dreaded cocaine habit are
dealers who can be punished. II the au-
thoritles OF State and city so viii IL.
Drunkenness is now classed as a dis
ease. and so treated. II has been met by
medicines that allay the craving and
habits of living that destroy. Tho per
centage of hard drinkers has been de-
creased where nourishing food and warm
/ drinks like tea, cocoa, and coffee are
supplied II has been declared that the
lack of home comfort and cheer has driv-
en- men 70 drink and kept them at II
despite the unceasing efforts OF temper
ance workers. till common sense took its
place in the home. There IS plenty OF re-
form work yet 70 be done in this line.
and great deal more among the VIC
tins Of the insidious drug. cocaine.
Boys have been buying It under the
guise of catarrh snuT. probably without
the slightest knowledge Of danger. Il
does not require very great deal OF
time 20 become "a slave TO any drug. and
if any Of you have ever had an oppor-
tunity to note its destructive power. you
win have some idea OF the grave danger
threatening the thousands Of boys who
earn money out in the world. Manv OF
them have mothers or fathers, sometimes
both. and all have future of some
kind depending on Individual character
and effort.
I never want 70 see another case Of
drug destruction. 1 saw one. and the VIC
/ tim was a beautiful girl with the bright
est prospects. She had good health in
abundance, but was not protected against
| sickness, because she was mortal and
lived under the conditions that affect us
all. She was stricken with a painful all
ment, for which her physician prescribed
morphine, and thereby doomed her to a
terrible life and an early grave. She got
up from her sick bed with an appetite
for the drug so strong that she gradually
threw away all that had made life pleas
ant 10 her in the past
Her grief-stricken family placed her in
an institution for the cure Of such habits.
after they had exhausted all easier means
OF restraining her, and were overjoyed
when she was discharged as cured.
Hardly more than week elapsed before
her mother was Frustrated by the dis
covery that the fearful craving had seized
her again, ard she had not the strength
to resist it. Back to the asylum went
the girl. more of a wreck than before.
and time dragged on till news was again
received by the family that the girls
cure was real that time. and again she
was received with open arms. But there
was change in her which her mothers
eyes were quick to discern. Her intellect
had weakened and her second fall from
grace was not wholly unexpected.
Three such changes with constant dis
sipatioE in morphine. unbalanced her
brain. and she died in a sleep occasioned
by overindulgence in the drug she craved.
think the family was glad TO lay her
away with the knowledge that she was
safe from temptation, and parents and
sisters were free from anxiety concerning
her There are scores Of HOSPITALS al
ways filled with such sad cases. and
thousands Of drug iends who never see
the inside OF such places. and there are
sorrowing relativec belonging TO most or
them Is it any wonder that thinking
men and women see a menace TO the
country in an umestricted sale OF drugs
and thoughtless Use Of them?
BETTY BRADEEN