The Portland daily press., 1864-11-22


al. In very hot weather a cobbler or ulep
is occasionally taken; but throughout the
States, and in all classes of society, the two
universal drinks are, early In the morning the
cocktails mixture of alcohol, bitters and
sugar-and at any period of the day or night
dram OF Bourbon whiskey very slightly di-
luted with ice-water. The drinkers rush into
a bar; the bar-keeper hands them whiskey-
bottle; they pour out as much or as little as
they choose, add 3 dash of water, and swallow
the mixture as though it were seidlitz pow
der. No other mystery is there in the grand
ceremony of "taking the oath, ,""putting one
self outside suthin'," or "liquoring up" And
then they bolt away from the bar, to meet,
perhaps, on the threshold friend, with whom
they Immediately return, and "take the OATH"
or put themselves outside suthin'" again.
To revert to the exemplary conduct which
ordinarily prevails at public meetings, let me
finally add that the order preserved Is NANNY
due to the greater number OF the spectators
being educated and intelligent persons, not
given to taking the oath" ilnmoderately, and
Very many of whom never take it at all. At
the first blush, the Americans strike for
eigner as being an exceedingly drunken peo-
Dle. Yon hear of cabinet ministers, clergy
men, Judges, barristers, senators, members of
the legislature, being habitually s'tight.o You
cannot fail to observe an immense amount of
'tightness" during your walks abroad. But,
on closer acquaintance, you become aware of
the existence OF very large section of the
community who are total abstainers from ev-
cry kind OF fermented beverage. Nor are
they necessarily temperance orators or pro-
tessed teetotallers. They do not drink, that
is all. Drinking and 'taking tobacco" are
looked upon in decent society in the country
towns as simply vicious and shameful habits,
and nothing is commoner than to hear per-
son spoken of as ''having no vices" meaning
that he neither drinks, smokes, nor chews.
As regards the other sex ninetY-nine women
out of a hundred never touch anything
stronger than iced-water, tea, and coffee,
whence, among other causes, their wasted
forms, their pallid complications, and the un-
healthiness OF their children. Given, then,
this very strong element of sobriety, and this
stronger one of education and intelligence,
among an auditory, it is plain that the noisy
and the unruly can have tut very slender
chance of indnlging in their vagaries. The
discipline which prevails in the body of the
meeting is nevertheless quite consonant with
the disorder which often reigns in its purlieus
and after its termination. The rOwdy who
has been forced to behave himself for whole
hour and half hurries to bar, aud takes
the oath until he is mad drunk. The citizen
who shot the young man in Uni0n-square
had probably been "putting himself outside"
Bourbon until he "felt his liquor" and expe-
rienced the necessity of shaving crack at
somebody
Ii is under these circumstances that you
must beware of the Yankee. In the under
ground bar, "tight," and with a pistol or
knife in his pocket, he is about the savagest
creature TO be found out OF the country Of the
gorillas And, concerning pistols and bowie
knives, / know perfectly well that English
travellers have fallen into very absurd errors
as regards the American habit of carrying
deadly weapons. / know that the warnings
as to the expediency ofeither shooting or ske-
daddling so soon as the adversary with whom
you are holding an argument puts his hand in
to his coat-tail pocket or begins to scratch his
neck in the vicinity of his vest collar, is bit
fun, and nothing more. There are coward
ly ruffains all the world over, who will shoot
or stab an unarmed person unawares; but in
the settled part of the States such dastardly
bravoes are not more plentiful than they are
in Europe. Even in San Francisco, the habit
of carrying firearms is dying out; and gen.
tleman recently arrived from thence, told me
that, in the course of years sojourn, he had
not fired pistol in anger halfa-dozen times.
Brush 1p5ff adigner table, however strong my
never expected my opposite neighBofA fAf 70 lese me
Ell a slx-shooter at my head because / differed,
with him on the question of miscegenation !:
and at New York club you do not see the
oungers picking their teeth with bowie-knives.
or Offering to rip you up because you are not
member of the Loyal League. A well-edu-
Gated American gentleman would as soon
think OF painting his face or scalping the hack
driver who overcharged him, as OF carrying
pistols and daggers on his person. aaa :. .