Extent. Numbers.
Do not drink liquor 359
Drink moderately 647
"intemperately 754
Habitual drunkards 240
Totals 1641 359
—— 1641
Aggregate 2000

It may be assumed as an almost invariable rule, that courtesans in all countries are in the habit of using alcoholic stimulants to a greater or less degree, in order to maintain that artificial state of excitement which is indispensably necessary to their calling. One of the class in London said to Mr. Mayhew, when he was making the inquiries alluded to in the chapters upon English prostitution, “No girls COULD lead the life we do without gin;” and drinking is undoubtedly universal among abandoned women. Even according to the most favorable view of the replies to the query now under consideration, and admitting them to be strictly correct, it will be found that five sixths of the total number confess they are in the habit of using intoxicating liquors. But with the knowledge of facts already ascertained in other cases, the inquirer will be compelled to believe that this is not the whole truth, for it is almost certain that the three hundred and fifty-nine who claim to be total abstinents indulge themselves in occasional potations. In prosecuting investigations like the present, there are many difficulties to encounter. A woman who is found residing in a house of ill fame will scarcely attempt to deny that she is a prostitute, although even this has been done in some cases, yet she will equivocate upon other matters. The facts of her birth, family, and life will probably be given correctly, because there exists no motive for concealment; but the answers to any questions which she deems degrading, such as relate, for example, to her habits or the state of her health, must be received with some considerable allowance, and compared with well-ascertained facts.

Among the more aristocratic prostitutes it is considered a disgrace to be absolutely intoxicated, and the keeper of a first-class house would scarcely retain a boarder who was addicted to habitual inebriety. Still, the most fastidious are ready and eager to sell champagne, or what passes for it, to any visitor of liberal disposition, and will generally condescend to assist him to drink it, of course inviting all the ladies to participate. In the lower grades it is not deemed disreputable to be inebriated, but the proprietors, knowing intoxication would interfere with their business, interdict it until late at night, when “the mirth and fun grows fast and furious,” and when visitors, women, proprietors, bar-keepers, and servants frequently all contrive to be drunk, and close the night with a general saturnalia. The following morning, every thing is changed. The proprietor takes his stand behind the bar, and tenders the inmates, as they appear, their “bitters,” namely a bumper of raw spirits. The visitors depart about their business, and the women await, with all the patience they can command, the result of another day’s campaign, anxiously watching for any contingency which may arise likely to bring them another glass of liquor. Even in this case they are narrowly watched, and as soon as the depression from the previous night’s debauch has been overcome, they must either take “temperance drinks,” or colored water, when any stray customer invites them to the bar. Our decided impression is that not one per cent. of the prostitutes in New York practice their calling without partaking of intoxicating drinks.

The effects of this habit are well known. In the first instance the woman drinks but little, probably just enough to cause a slight artificial excitement, and bring a color to her cheeks. After a time the proportion must be increased as the effect upon the system is diminished, until the finale is a habit of confirmed and constant drinking. As a general rule, the horrible consequences then become apparent. The whole frame is relaxed, and every movement of the limbs is a motion of uncertainty; the brain is impaired; the reasoning faculties are destroyed; the powers of the stomach and digestive organs are weakened, and an attack of delirium tremens is the ultimatum, usually cured, if cured at all, at the public expense in a hospital or prison.

A work of fiction, published some ten years ago, gives the following truthful account of the effects of drunkenness on prostitutes, by one of whom the words are supposed to be used:

“I must have drink. Such as live like me could not bear life without drink. It’s the only thing to keep us from suicide. If we did not drink we could not stand the memory of what we have been, and the thought of what we are, for a day. If I go without food and without shelter, I must have my dram. Oh! what awful nights I have had in prison for want of it.” She glared round with terrified eyes as if dreading to see some supernatural creature near her, and then continued: “It is dreadful to see them. There they go round and round my bed the whole night through. My mother carrying my baby, and sister Mary, and all looking at me with their sad stony eyes. Oh! it is terrible. They don’t turn back either, but pass behind the head of the bed, and I feel their eyes on me every where. If I creep under the clothes I still see them, and, what is worse, they see me. I must have drink. I can not pass to-night without a dram. I dare not.”[396]

Although this is an imaginary picture its counterpart can be seen at almost any time in the hospitals under the charge of the Governors of the Alms House on Blackwell’s Island, New York City, where large numbers of such cases are constantly treated. In 1854, in the Penitentiary Hospital alone, more than fourteen hundred persons received medical assistance for delirium tremens and other maladies arising from excess in drinking. This fact induced the remarks in the report for that year, that the “cases actually treated here during the last year were directly caused by the lowest and foulest kinds of dissipation and vice, a fact which speaks trumpet-tongued in favor of shutting up ‘grog shops,’ and shows the absolute necessity of adopting some plan whereby the enormous amount of prostitution now among us shall be decreased.”[397] Since then an alteration in the law has sentenced drunken persons to an incarceration in the City Prison, and the number sent to Blackwell’s Island has diminished, but not to the extent which would be supposed, as, during 1857, the hospitals thereon afforded relief to seven hundred and ninety-one inebriates.

The fearful havoc upon the constitution is produced as well by the quality as the quantity of the liquors consumed. Let any man not thoroughly informed on these subjects taste a glass of the compounds retailed at these places, and he will be immediately convinced that it would be quite as judicious an act to swallow the same quantity of camphene or sulphuric acid if diluted, sweetened, and colored. The various liquors, gin, rum, brandy, whisky, or wine, having nothing in common with the genuine articles of commerce but the name, are so many varieties of the cheapest and most poisonous “raw spirits” that the markets afford, and are manufactured in this city in large quantities to meet the demands arising from such places. Instances have been known where liquors subsequently sold in houses of ill fame as pure French brandy have been furnished by wholesale dealers at prices ranging from thirty-six to fifty cents a gallon. There may be exceptions; some few brothels of the higher rank may sell what is called “good liquor,” but they are very rare indeed. Is it any matter of surprise that drunkenness, or, more properly speaking, stupefaction and insensibility are so rife; that so many constitutions are ruined and so many characters destroyed when agencies like these are tolerated?

Question. Did your father drink intoxicating liquors? If so, to what extent?

Fathers’ habits. Numbers.
Did not drink liquor 548
Drank moderately 636
"intemperately 596
Unascertained 220
Totals 1452 548
—— 1452
Aggregate 2000