Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1873-07-18
TRYING AN EXPERIMENT.
The Effect OF Pouring Cold Water
Down u Drunken MANS spine.

The Effect OF Pouring Cold water
Down u Drunken MANS spine.
From the Utica Herald.
He came in with an interrogation
point in one eye and stick in one hand.
One eye was covered with a handker'
chief and one arm in sling. His bear
ing was that OF man with settled pur-
pose in view.
81 want to see" says he, the man
that puts things in this paper"
We intimated that several of us earned
frugal livelihood in that way.
well, / want to see the man which
cribs things out of the other papers
The fellow who writes mostly with
shears, you understand. q"
We explained to him that there were
seasons when the most gifted among us,
driven to frenzy by the scarcity of ideas
and events, and by the clamorous de-
mands of an Unsuitable public, in mo-
ments of emotional insanity plunged the
glittering shears into our exchanges
He went off calmly but in a voice trem-
ulous with suppressed feeling and indis
tinct through the recent loss of half a
dozen or so Of his front teeth.
Just so. | presume so. don't
know much about this business, but |
want to see o man, the man that printed
that little piece about pouring cold wa
ter down a drunken mans spine OF his
back, and making him instantly sober
If you please, want to see that man.
| would like to talk with him"
Then he leaned his stick against our
desk and moistened his serviceable hand
and resumed his hold on the stick as
though he was weighing it. After study
ing the stick minute, he added, in a
somewhat louder tone:
Mister, / came here to see that ere
man. | want to see him bad.
We told him that particular man was
not in.
Just so. / presume so. They told
me before come that the man | wanted
to see wouldn't be anywhere. I'll wait
for him. | live up north, and I've
walked seven miles to converse with that
man. / guess I'll sit down and wait.
He sat down by the door and rehec-
lively pounded the floor with his stick,
but his feelings would not allow him to
keep still.
II suppose none of you didn't ever
pour much cold water down any drunken
mans back to make him instantly sober,
perhaps" j.,
None of us in the Office had ever tried
the experiment.
"Just so. / thought just as like as
not you had not. Well, mister, | have.
/ tried it yesterday, and | have come
seven miles on foot to see the man that
printed that piece. 1t want much of a
piece, / don't think; but l want to see
the man that printed it, just few min
utes. You see, John Smith, he lives
next door to my house, when I'm to
home, and he gets how.come-you.so
every little period. Now, when he's So
ber, he s all right if you keep out of his
way: but when he's drunk, he goes home
and breaks dishes, and tips over the
stove, and throws the hardware around,
and makes it inconvenient for his wife,
and sometimes he gets his gun and goes
out calling on his neighbors, and 1t ain t
pleasant.
I" Not that want to say anything
about Smith; but me and my wife don t
think he ought to do so. He came home
drunk yesterday, and broke all the kitch-
en- windows out of his house, and fol-
lowed his wife around with the carving
knife, talking about her liver, and after
a while he lay down by my fence and
went to sleep. had been reading that
little piece; it want much of piece,
and thought if could pour some wa
ter down his spine, on his back, aud
make him sober, it would be more COM
Portable for his wife, and a square thing
to 90 all around. So poured bucket
of water down John Smiths spine of his
back"
"Well," said we, as our visitor paused,
"did it make him soberP Our visitor
toek frmer hold Of his stick, and re-
piled with increased emotion:
Just so. suppose it did make him
as sober as Judge in less time than you
could say Jack Robinson; but, mister, il
made him mad. 1t made him the mad
dest man / ever saw; and MIR. John
Smith is a bigger man than me and
stouter. He is good deal stouter. Bla-
bless him, l never knew he was half 30
stout till yesterday, and he's handy with
his fists. too. / should suppose he's the
handiest man with his fists | ever saw.
Then be went for you, did hef we
asked innOcently.
Just 50. Exactly. suppose he
vent for me about the best he knew, but
I don't hold no grudge against John
smith. suppose he amt a good man
10 hold a grudge against, only want to
see that man that printed that piece. ]
want 10 show him how a drunken man
acts when you pour water down the
spine Of his back. That's what ! come
for
Our visitor. Who had poured water
down the spine Of . drunken mans