The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-07-07
OUR TEMPERANCE COLUMN.
REPORTS OF PROGRESS OF THR
BATTLE AGAINST RUM.
The Woman Who Drinks.

Mans ideal of what women ought
to be is based upon his belief of what
she normally is-better than him.
self. His own selfish desire is the
chief factor in dragging her down
from the pedestal upon which he him
self has placed her, and yet with
that strange inconsistency which
characterizes him, he will idoliZe her
If she resists.
If sin seems blacker in woman than
in man it is simply because she Is by
nature purer and has further to fall.
IF man seems to condemn sin in the
more than in the man he Is
paying to her for that reason his
highest compliment.
Tntoxicants are dangerous enough
to men, to women they are especially
so. The virtue Of the woman with
the drink habit is always in danger.
Romulus sentenced women to death
for intoxication as the beginning OF
unfaithfulness to the marriage vow.
The effect of alcohol upon woman's
will power and sense Of moral re-
sponsibility is we'll known and util-
lied by the mar ofithe world.
The lack of moral balance and de-
fective will produced in the woman
by drink are more marked than in the
man. Woman's emotional organiZa-
ton is more susceptible than that OF
man, hence the special danger OF
drink to the woman.
The disastrous results of tippling
among women are already too well
known to the physicians, and expert
ence shows that, while men who
drink often reform, women who be-
come victims Of drink seldom do.
That women drink as freely and as
frequently as the men Is a sight that
you can see for yourself in the fash
ionable cafes of our cities, where
wealth abounds and beauty smiles.
1 speak from what I have seen as
I have mingled in society. I dare not
trust myself to describe the things I
have seer among women, young and
tender, upon whose more impression
al temperament and finer organiza-
ton the destroyer had taken firm
hold. and among women no longer
young but whose souls and n
were dead long before their eyes were
closed. .
Did delicacay permit, I could detail
at length heart-rending stories
coming from the homes Of the out
wardly respectable and rich-of
ruined homes, broken hearts, hopes
destroyed, affections crushed, reputa-
lions blasted, prayers silenaed, grief
sitting on the vacant seats Of pa
ternal care, tormented souls, cheer
less graves, dishonored lives, untold
sorrow-and drink did 1t all.
I could, II I had the heart, detail at
length cases which have come under
my own observation and IN which
my advice has been sought during
my long experience in New York
which would make your hair rise,
your breath catch, your blood chill,
and which would call forth your
deepest commiseration on behalf OF
the victims, and rouse your just In
dignation against the social custom
WHICH produces such misery.
The doctors, If they dared tell
their story, in the words Of Shakes
peare might say: But that I am
forbidden to tell the secrets Of the
prison. house, I could q tale unfold
whose lightest word would harrow up
your SOUL"
Exaggerate? Impossible! AS there
are grand, bold, beautiful scenes IN
the physical world which no fight
Of fancy, no stroke Of brush, no
graphic powers Of language can ade-
quately describe, so, in the moral
world, there are scene Of sorrow,
vice, cruelty, disease and death OF
which we can give no adequate idea.
DIR. Madison G. Peters, in the New
York Evening World.