The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-01-29 00:00:00

EXPERIENCES AT AN INN IN PORTLAND.

With the pleasant consciousness of being in a perfectly free
country, where every one can do as he pleases, I entered an
hotel near the water, and sat down in the ladies' parlour. I
had not tasted food for twenty-five hours, my clothes were
cold and wet, a severe cut was on my temple, and I felt
thoroughly exhausted. These circumstances, I thought, jus-
tified me in ringing the bell and asking for a glass of wine.
Visions of the agreeable refreshment which would be produced
by the juice of the grape appeared simultaneously with the
waiter. I made the request, and he brusquely replied, " You
can't have it ; it's contrary to law." In my half-drowned
and faint condition, the refusal appeared tantamount to posi-
tive cruelty, and I remembered that I had come in contact
with the celebrated "Maine Law." That the inhabitants of
the State of Maine are not "free" was thus placed practically
before me at once. Whether they are " enlightened." I
doubted at the time, but leave the question of the prohibition
of fermented liquors to be decided by abler social economists
than myself. I was hereafter informed that to those who go
down stairs, and ask to see the " striped pig," wine and
spirits are produced ; that a request to speak with "Dusty
Ben" has a like effect, and that, on asking for "sarsaparilla'
at certain stores in the town, the desired stimulant can be
obtained. Indeed it is said that the consumption of this drug
is greater in Maine than in all the other States put together.
The subterfuges of the abstinent Maineites to
obtain " intoxicatinc, liquors," narrated in the con-
cluding sentences of the preceding extract, savour so
much of what we are told of " Yankee 'cuteness,"
and taste for circumvention, as to obtain ready
credence in most circles of intelligent British society ;
but when advanced in the unostentatious manner in
which they are placed by our authoress before her
readers, few will be inclined to dispute their verity.
They in some degree remind us of what we have read
relative to the Turkish abstinence from wine, and the
mode in which that difficulty is surmounted in
Stamboul. The devout Mussulman,

" Whene'er to drink he is inclined,"

betakes himself to the Greek quarter of the city in a
state of mental unconsiousness. In this oblivious
state he accidentally. enters a cafe, and seats himself
near a small table, without seeing or knowing where
he is. Speedily a small bottle, containing something
concerning which he has not the slightest knowledge,
is set before him, by an individual, who retires. The
Moslem, a profound believer in ordination, sees in the
circumstance of the uncalled-for wine being placed
before him, a gift from the Prophet, which, with
grateful veneration, he unhesitatingly applies to his
personal gratification ; and, duly thankful for the
miraculous gift, he deposits an alms on a small salver
which has unaccountably been placed beside the bottle.
This little oblation the ministering Greek carefully
notes ; if his customer is completely satisfied, he walks
away, and both parties are pleased. If a further
libation is required, the oblivious Turk retains his seat,
and the gift of the Prophet is again mysteriously
repeated, till occasionally it is said the wine-denounc-
ing Mahomedan reels off his seat. Such, alas ! is the
frailty of human nature, that practically artificial
stimuli appear indispensable to man's enjoyment; and
he, we fear, is but a sorry moralist who thinks that
" because he is virtuous, there shall be no more cakes
and ale."
__ _

Not to dwell longer on the social impossibility of
the Maine anti-liquor law, we shall quote another
illustration of an American peculiarity, in this in-
stance selecting one peculiarly illustrative of the
national partiality for " going a-head." It may
be described as--