Good Cookery Versus Drunkenness.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVI, Issue VI, 9 February 1901, Page 268

Good Cookery Versus Drunkenness.

The idea has often l>een expressed that it is the kitchen where most of our drunkards are started. There is some truth in this. Undoubtedly, if more wains were taken to provide food that nourishes and satisfies the system there would be less craving' for stimulants. The craving for a stimulant comes from over-pressure of work or worry, as well as from wrong diet. It comes from a desire for some excitement to break the monotony of life; from the natural tendency of men who meet to take some refreshment together. Then, perhaps, most of all, it comes because the poorer class of men have such unattractive homes. It is not always because wives

do not provide good food and plenty of it. but the atmosphere of home Is not pleasant or alluring, while the bar-room radiates light and lively entertainment.

Temperance workers can do noth’ng better for the advancement of «heir cause than to teach boys and girls the duty of making pleasant homes, neat homes, providing little attractions there. They must be educated to enjoy good books, games, and if possible to have some agreeable hobby that can be pursued in the evening. There is not enough thought or said to children about the possibilities which lie in home life, and they grow up with the idea that the greatest “fun” can only be found outside the home Hoys need to be taught the duty of making home pleasant fully as much as girls. It has too long been a one-sided doctrine that the woman

is the homemaker. Pathetic stories are written over and over again of the man who toils all day and comes home to a wife who is not ready to devote her entire evening to his service and entertainment. But how about the wife? This is another side to the subject that needs to be presented. The wife of the working man very likely has had a harder day than her husband, with multitudinous little fretting cares, and less of physical or nervous strength to bear them. The husband probably has met friends in the course of the day, and had more to break the monotony of the hours, and the supper table should be enlivened by his conversation as well as by the wife. He has had as much if not more of interest to tell about than she. There should be a perfectly divided, mutual interest and mutual endeavour to make the reunion nt

night so pleasant tlyrt not the husband or the wife or the children would desire to leave home to find entertain ment. When the boys begin to go on' on the street the temptation to smok and to drink soon follows. Pleasant home life is the best safeguard agains’ drunkenness.