John's Wife. By Maude Jeanne Franc. (Sampson Low and Co.)—
This is a very doleful little story, written in the interest of the total abstainers. "John's wife" is a young lady who has been brought up in a home where too much drinking is the rule. The father indulges just short of excess; the son is a confirmed drunkard, and the beautiful daughter has accustomed herself to the excitement of stimulants. The habit grows upon her ; doctors who recommend Strong drinks to keep her up, and nurses who administer the remedy with sympathetic readi- ness, encourage it. In vain John's sister intervene; with her infallible remedy for drunkenness (the recipe for which is given at length). The infatuated creature will have nothing to do with it. She goes on from bad to worse ; tries to murder her little boy, and finally murders herself. Well, Mies Franc has a great deal of truth on her aide. Has not a great physician lately been saying that he has known in his own practice five hundred cases of ladies turned into hopeless drunkards by the prescriptions of their doctors? But if she could have her way, what then What strange form of wickedness might yet develop itself in a world of total abstainers?
Previous page
