But see how it betrayed me
at last.'"
Mr. Birtwell had been sitting during this relation with his head
bowed upon his breast. When Mr. Elliott ceased speaking, he raised
himself up in a slow, weary sort of way, like one oppressed by
fatigue or weak from illness.
"Dreadful, dreadful!" he ejaculated. "I never dreamed of anything
like this. Poor Carlton!"
"You see," remarked Mr. Elliott, "how easily a thing like this may
happen. A man cannot go to one of these evening entertainments and
indulge with anything like the freedom to which he is invited and be
in a condition to do his best work on the day following. Some of
your iron-nerved men may claim an exemption here, but we know that
all over-stimulation must leave the body in some degree unstrung
when the excitement dies out, and they suffer loss with the rest--a
loss the aggregate of which makes itself felt in the end. We have to
think for a moment only to satisfy ourselves that the wine-and
brandy-drinking into which men and women are enticed at
dinner-parties and fashionable entertainments is a fruitful source
of evil. The effect upon body and mind after the indulgence is over
is seen in headaches, clouded brain, nervous irritation, lassitude,
inability to think, and sometimes in a general demoralization of
both the physical and mental economy. Where there is any chronic or
organic ailment the morbid condition is increased and sometimes
severe attacks of illness follow.
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