ABSINTHE IN PARIS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1692, 31 January 1888, Page 3

ABSINTHE IN PARIS.

Absinthe is used by nearly all the moderate drinkers in this capital as an appetiser before dinner, and its opaline tint in the tumbler set before the Boulevardiers at the “absinthe hour” is pleasant enough to look upon, but its moderate use is productive of untold evil, as the chronicle of the hospital can vouch for. Its slaves are becoming more and more numerous every day, particularly among the poorer classes, who fly to it because it is cheap and soon intoxicates. A man known in the neighbourhood of the Military School as Pere Frederic, who was once a “ prime-tenore ” of repute in the provinces, has just died from the effects of the noxious decoction, thus adding one more victim to the long list of persons called buveurs d' absinthe. Prederic destroyed his larynx by his favorite drink, but he managed to eke out a miserable existence by singing in third class cafes, lie was engaged lately in one of these places, but the proprietor of the establishment became bankrupt and paid off his tenor with “ a bottle of absinthe,” The broken-down singer, who had no money for food, went home to his garret and poured the contents of his quart bottle down his throat. In the morning he was quite dead.