ENGLISHWOMEN IN PUBLIC-HOUSES. (To rim EDITOR Or THE " SPEOUTOR."3
wonder could you find space in your valuable paper for the following. I am an Englishman, and at the age of twenty- two I emigrated to America, and now after being away twenty- nine years I am back in England. I have had great pleasure in thinking about this trip to dear old England for a long time, but there is one thing here that is far from pleasant, in fact it makes me real miserable, and that is the sight of the continual stream of women and girls going in and out of the public-houses. I see it along Edgware Road and Harrow Road as I come home about 9 p.m., and to say the least, it is disgraceful to see the women, some with children, standing in crowds in the doorways, as the saloons are so full, and they don't seem to mind being mixed up with the crowds of men, some of whom look pretty tough, and I wonder if the people of London have got so used to it that they do not mind. But to a man from America it does look awful, as you don't see any women or girls go in the saloons there. I wish you would have one of your reporters to take notice of older women as they go in and out of the "pubs" and see what wretched- looking things they are. Their faces have degradation stamped right on, them, and it seems that if the-young women that go in could be made to see how quickly they will lose their good looks if they keep it up, it would be the means of checking the evil to a great extent. It seems to me that they are being taught that it is good for them to drink beer and stout. Well, all you have to do is to look at the women that are old hands at it and you can see it is great stuff to make them look ugly. I hope you can put this in your paper, and if you can add to it and make it more plain and forcible, as I suppose other Englishmen are like myself, that when they come back after being away a long time, we want to see England the best and most civilized country in the world, and it is an awful jolt to see so many, many public-houses and so much drinking, especially, as I say, the women and girls. In America most every chemist has a nice, large soda fountain, where you can get the best kind of drinks that are noieintosioattng, and it iw pleasant to take womenfolk to them. left an impossible thing to do the same thing in England?—I am, Sir, &c.,
20 Holland Road, Harlesden.
ALGERNON SALT.
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