The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1870-10-26

A TREATISE ON Urea TING.-W
copy as follows from the Chicago Eve
ming Post:
No American custom causes more
genuine surprise and amusement with
travelling foreigners than that which is
known in orr saloons as "treatingn-
consisting in the entertainment of two
or three with refreshments for which
one volunteers to pay. 1t is pure
Americanism and all over the repub-
lie it is as common as in Europe 1T Is
unknown. There is probably no min
ute of any day in the year when two or
three hundred citizens of Chicago are
not guiding something stronger than
water at somebody else's expense.
| The casual meeting of two men who
have ever exchanged word together
is signal for both instantly to eXclaim,
"Come, let's take something" and for
both to dive down into the nearest sub
terranean cavity below the sidewalk.
The one who spoke first usually insists
upon "paying the shot'-the word
''shotr being a metaphoricai reference
to the deadly character of the contents
usually taken into the stomach. Ii
two old friends meet, the regular thing
to say first is, "Let's drink to old
times" and the resident must invaria-
bly, "treatn the stranger. If n man be
well acquainted, it is considered the
generous thing to seize upon all his ac-
i9uaintances as often as possible, take
them to saloon, and give them COM
plicated stand-up drink at the bar.
= If there is anything more absurd than
this habit, we are unable to put our fin
ger on it. Men do not always ''treat''
one another to car tickets because they
happen to meet on the same seat. We
never saw a man take out his pocket
book on eucountering an acquaintance
and say, "Ah, George! Delighted tt
see YOU! Do take few postage
stamps! It's my treatw Do me,
t have q mania for paying each other
board bills? And is drinking togethe
, more "sociaW thon eating together, o
e sleeping together? A traveller may g
I all over the continents OF Europe, o
q Asia and Africa without seeing man
n except Yankee, offer to "treat," am
# the Frenchmen are quite social enough
n but, when they turn into cafe to 81
g their wine and branded coffee togeth
q er. each man pays for his own. Vine
!. two Germans, long separated, NEE
IS they will be very likely to embrace
e and then turn into an adjacent beg
If cellar, sit down, and drink lager an
y. eat pretzels and chat, but when the
Of part again each man settles his oW
ne score Independently. So in Italy. I'll
l. Italians are proverbially merry al
rs proyerbially generous, but each pa,
ye his own wine, macaroni and cigars,
ne They never go into each others pocl
10 etbooks in the sacred name of frien
ID ship. They would as soon think
r transferring to each other their was
of erwomen's bill.
he The preposterous fashion of " trea
It, ing" is responsible for the terrll
to drunkenness in America. There won
ev be as little need of temperance soc
fv ties and as little work for the Go
re Templars as there is in German
IS France and Italy, if this pernlclsc
and insidious habit were abolished
on 1t is, take it all in all, the most ride
all lous, the most unreasonable, ana
ers most pestilent custom that ever Ii
he it's tyrannical hand on civilized hum
nv beings,