STRONG DRINK AMONG WOMEN.
By C. M. S.
THE Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America held its annual convention at Philadelphia on August 9. From the report of the third vice-president we quote the following startling statements:— “With the virtues, purity, patience, and endurance of local women drowned in the punch bowl and wine glass of wealth, and the beer can of poverty, God pity our children, our homes, and our country! At many afternoon teas, intoxicating liquor has taken the place of tea to a noticeable extent. There is where the young debutantes acquire the taste for stimulants. It is added to by the wines served at their dinners. Soon they do not care to eat unless they have their cocktails first. The rest follows as a matter of course. “There are many women from the higher classes of society going to the House of the Good Shepherd voluntarily to get away from liquor. The number is increasing all the time, the ratio having gone up frightfully in the past few years. Treatment for the drink habit among the ‘Four Hundred’ is now almost as common as treatment for coughs and colds. “Many women acquire the taste for alcohol from9cologne, which they drink constantly, and which contains 96 per cent. of alcohol. They drink all the essences which are for toilet use—compound tincture of lavender, for one thing. They also drink the essence of cinnamon and cloves. A well-known physician has written us that this habit is growing to an alarming extent among women. “Peppermint drunkards are usually women. They are very difficult to cure. When drunk to excess, the peppermint preparations have the same effect upon the system as has absinthe. The habit of drinking light wines among the women of the upper class and of beer among those of the lower classes is growing. They all meet on the common level of whisky, however. Radical measures are needed to check it. “Who can contemplate the future without a shudder if this and other vices which undermine and destroy the life-bearing force of the world are permitted, not only to exist, but every opportunity and means for developing them receive the sanction of society and the protection of law?” After reading her report, the lady stated that the picture was not overdrawn, but that the conditions were worse than painted, if possible. Certainly the picture is dark enough. With the source sapped, weakened, and polluted, the stream of life can hardly be expected to be clear, healthy, and robust. With the vital forces of the system drained, what strength of body can the mother expect to impart to her child? With all the better feelings, thoughts, and aspirations of the mother drowned in beer and wine, what kind of moral force can the child expect to exert in the world? And perhaps the most alarming fact in connection with this matter is that the conditions are growing worse instead of better. We are in the days that were to be “as the days of Noah,” when the people of this world would be given up to “eating and drinking.” And that condition of things, according to the words of the Saviour Himself, was to be a sign by which His followers might know that His coming was right at hand. Matt. 24:37-39. This sign is not a local one. It is seen all over the world. There is more liquor of all kinds drunk now than ever before in the history of the world, more gluttony, more heaping together of treasure, more vice and sin of all kinds. We are in the time of the end. C. M. S.