ALCOHOL AND MOTHERHOOD.

White Ribbon, Volume 29, Issue 345, 18 March 1924, Page 6

ALCOHOL AND MOTHERHOOD.

At a conference of women convened by the \\ <■ T. 13 -f Hobart, held in the Ma\or"s loom, and presided over by the Mayoress, the following paper was read h\ Mi i Rowntree:

Mrs Rowntree read i papei m hoi in relation to Motherhood," in winch ■tie said, inter alia : "There art mam Kinds of material we find detrimental to our best building, and the worst of these b ale.dr.l There are vaiiotivraya m which thla may affect ous

motherhood I ufoi tuna'. in< i ihe . \p. ctant mot hei who tend with a hushand who |s a d-link ard. Just When she llee.ls care, aHell Mon, and io\. moat ol all, perhaps, her uppoi cm! i in. a home to abus< ami ill-treat h- r. How, then, • in sin do well this wonderful bit of (lod'a work: Instead ot being tranquil In mind and w i I. she is iull ot foreboding worrj la hei portior ei her companion da) and night. Some iii-n ttei tempered when dl unk than . I :iin ol hei tune. hut. : so. tin r .ast is left, for hereditj remains. It i woman Is sumcientl) enlightened, she must look forward with tin greatest anxiet) t<» the con Lkeuing, blighting, and doforming ti'erts of this vice in her hus hand II she hei Belt is a \ let \iw of In toxicating drink she ma) personal 1) suffer iess at the time, foi drink dulls the perceptions, but th< on the unixun child are as bad or even v than il her hushand drinks. It is proven that an alcoholic mother makes an i . oholised child. The alcohol directl) to the little forming body, weakening the i Injui Ing brain and nerves, and it ma) even '-- come intoxicated. The:. ma> be atual deformity, or the child ma) i* ushered into the srorld with a for alcohol. Drinking among women to I>.' on th.. in. n.l tho expe< I iin mothei is perhaps Ihe n liable; at any rate, it is a more deploi able t hing foi hei t han f<»r ot in is. At a time when the strongest is taxed utterly, and if she yields to this tempts tion she is weakening her own powers, not onl) physical, but moral an-! and untitt Ing i.- i nelf foi the woi k (led meant her to do "