The Next of Kin - Those who Wait and Wonder by Nellie L. McClung
page 28 of 169 (16%)
page 28 of 169 (16%)
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sorrow was so full now that all movable trouble should be set off for
another day! The temperance people then asked, as a corresponding war measure, that the bars be closed. They urged that the hearts of our people were already so burdened that they should be relieved of the trouble and sorrow which the liquor traffic inevitably brings. "Perhaps," they said to the government, "when a happier season comes, we may be able to bear it better; but we have so many worries now, relieve us of this one, over which you have control." Then the financial side of the liquor traffic began to pinch. Manitoba was spending thirteen million dollars over the bars every year. The whole Dominion's drink bill was one hundred millions. When the people began to rake and save to meet the patriotic needs, and to relieve the stress of unemployment, these great sums of money were thought of longingly--and with the longing which is akin to pain! The problem of unemployment was aggravated by the liquor evil and gave another argument for prohibition. I heard a woman telling her troubles to a sympathetic friend one day, as we rode in an elevator. "'E's all right when 'e's in work," she said; "but when 'e's hidle 'e's something fierce: 'e knocks me about crool. 'E guzzles all the time 'e's out of work." It was easy to believe. Her face matched her story; she was a poor, miserable, bedraggled creature, with teeth out in front. She wore black cotton gloves such as undertakers supply for the pallbearers, |
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