The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-07-11
A Caucasian Drinking Bout

| peareQ only TO Degln Wnen good S1Ze(
cup was brought in and handed to tn,
toolambatch, who crowned it will
wine" II held nearly bottle, and dranl
the bumper off to the health of the ladies
He then refilled it and passed It to hi
left-hand neighbor, by whom it wa
emptied and then returned to the tool
ambatch, to be again filed by him an(
passed to the second person on his left
and SO on all around the company. The
psalm chanting had become by this time
too much less dolefu1, and if the time
was not so good as at the commence
ment; and the general swing trife ir.
regular, 1t must be SAID that the whole
effect was more lively and inspiring.
Indeed, the repeated toasts were be,
ginning to tell in many instances, and
the ladies, who had behaved most adj
mirably, and had viewed the scene with
a kindly interest, begotton no doubt OF
habit, now rose to depart. Prince
Mirsky, who, by his position, had the
privilege of exempting himself from the
stringent law which allows no man to
quit the table so long as the too1am-
batch is erect, accompanied them. One
of his aids-de-camp, who knew what was
coming, managed to sneak out unob-
served, and could not be found till just
before we went away. The other re-
manned, and begged on behalf of him
self and the two other strangers that
they might be allowed to sit there
merely as spectators. The request,
however, was politely, but firmly re-
fused, until it was urged that two of us
had been, and still were, very unwell
The plea was accepted. But, alas for
my bad luck no available excuse could
be found for me, and, to my horror, I
saw myself, without hope of escape, let
in for a carouse, to which anything I
had hitherto witnessed was but a Joke
Toast now succeeded toast in quick
succession but all was done with gravi-
ty and steadiness befitting so important
a proceeding. The wine was of the
same kind as at first, but the quality
was, if anything, rather better. The
manner of drinking continued as before,
the too1ambatch, first filing the cup
and drinking himself, and then reflling
it for each one from left to right. After
two or three rounds out of one cup, an
other of somewhat larger size was
brought, and thus progressively we got
on to goblets of most formidable ca
pacity.
What need to tell how the scene pro-
gressed, what toasts were drunk, what
victims consigned to forgetfulness? Suf-
fee it that our members were at length
reduced to four, the toolambatch, my
self and two others, one the only rem
nant of the chorus, which had long
ceased to celebrate the toasts, leaving,
l suspect, the psalms unfinished. Was
the end approaching, and what was the
end to be ? asked myself with increas-
ing horror when was brought in huge
bowl, wide-mouthed, deep-bottomed,
and two-handled, into which the tool
ambatch with unfaltering hand emptied
three and half bottles, and then with
much emphasis proposed to drink to
the health of the "dead men" With
fascinated eyes, I watched him as slowly,
but without a pause, he drained the
monstrous cup, literally
"Pleno Sc proluit auro,"
and longed that he might be numbered
with those whose health we were drink
ing. But no, he finished, and, holding
the edge on his thumb-nail, showed that
only the ruby drop was left. Defec-
tions had left me Immediately on his
right, so that my turn came last. The
first on his left accomplished the task,
though with many a pause. The next
began we'll, stopped, tried again with
faltering hands, again paused, once
more tried, and then placing the cup OH
the table, sank among the dead. ] was
partially saved, for it was the law that
when any one succumbed in the act of
drinking, the person next to him should
finish what was left. My predecessor
had almost completed his task, and /
managed to finish it without accident.
We three remaining ones now sat eye
ing one another like gladiators in ring,
and measuring one another's strength
and endurance. A minute or two
elapsed, and then the toolambatch, to
whom the cup had been returned, rose
once more, and calling for more wine,
proposed to drink to the health of the
"hving." It was a desperate emer-
gency. To face again the chance of
having to swallow that awful magnum
seemed out of the question. What was
to be done, feign defeat, and fall among
the dead, and so avoid the impending
fate ? thought of the words Horace
puts in the mouth of Vibieius,
1" Nos, nisi damnose bibimus, moriemur multi"
and then as the beginning of the fol-
lowing line,
SET calices poscit maiores,"
came mechanically to mind, sudden
thought seized me. "What !" l
exclaimed, starting up, "do you pro-
pose to drink to the victors out of the
same cup as to the vanquished? Not
CO dam nd 1orcraT.
"Capacior es effer hue, puer, scyphos."
The toolambatch, though his face,
when the meaning of this outburst had
been explained to him, showed slight
symptoms of astonishment, lost none of
his equanimity, but turned to the SER
wants and asked for a bigger cup
There was none. "Never mind" [
said. my classical memories now thor
oughly aroused. "bring that here"
pointing to a large earthen pitcher
which had been used as a wine-cooler,
and which must have held over two gal
Ions, "we will drink out of that. D."
With one look of blank amazement at
the proposed fagon, the toolambatch
quietly declined the task, which would
have fallen to him first, of trying to
empty it. "Then," said 1, "we drink
no more" Such was the law, and there
is no appeal. My artifce had succeed
ed, the toolambatch was no Socrates,
and our symposium at once broke up
Macnattlttsa's magazine.
-''Most extraordinary" said Ser
geant Warren, the author of '"Ten
Thousand a Year." who was always
boasting of his visits at great houses );
"dined at the Duke of Northumberland
on Monday, and there was no fish for
dinner" ''No,' cried Douglas Jerrold,
"they had eaten it up-stcirs.
"A Partisan musical directory de-
fines shout to be sc an unpleasant noise
produced by over-straining the throat,
for which great singers are well paid
and small children well punished"
Two new stations have been opened
beyond Longview, Gladewater, 774
miles, and Hawkins 934 miles west of
Shreveport Pacific, and Texas. On the
western end of the line, the contract
from the first ten miles from San Diego
has been let to A. P. Wood, late assist