, 1876-06-18
A BISHOPS FIRST PUNCH.

! ably be able to meet the public liabilities.
A BISHOPS FIRST PUNCH
First impressions are always the strongest
and longest There are grave and reverend
men who, if pressed to it, would acknowl
edge tina: their strongest impression is OF
their first pair of boots Venerable Senators
still retain vivid Impressions of their first
rocking horse. Solemn clergymen in the
midst Of their studies of the fathers find their
first pair of breeches recurring to them, and
men of powerful minds, bestriding the world
like Colossus, remember nothing so keenly
as their first spanking across the generous
maternal lap. These early impressions are
always pleasant, yet sometimes they are
spoken of with fine feeling of melancholy
and tender regret, This WAS the case with
Bishop HAyEH,-our G11,-who, in recent
speech before the Maryland State Temper
ance Alliance, recalled an early impression,
and it was an impression of milk-punch,-
! milk-punch which he tasted one memorable
morning in harvestfeld. *sHe remen-
bered the first drink Of liquor he
had taken forty years ago. It was milk
punch, and was given him in harvest
field. He said he thought it was the best
! thing he had ever tasted He had been
tempted to drink it since, but had never
yielded" There are many noticeable facts
about this first impression. What an am
brosial punch it must have been, how pure
in its ingredients, how symmetrical in its
proportions, how grateful to the palate, to |
have lasted IN the good Bishops memory I
forty long years! Of all the fluids that have
tlckled down the clerical gullet, this milk
punch is the best and fondest in memory. |
It Is the survival of the fttest. 'sIt WAS
given him in the harvest-feld." The men,
ory, therefore, is pastoral rs well as spiritual.
It smacks of the grassy lawn as well as the
Bishops lawn. Ruth found her husband in
the harvest-feld. DoRA set her child in the
wheat-sheaves and found her fathers heart
again. Our Gu, however, found some
thing in the harvest-feld sweeter than Aus-
band and stronger than father. He
was more fortunate than most Of his
comrades Ordinarily they found nothing
but black-strap,-a vile concoction of West
India molasses and New England rum, COM
pounded in q coarse, brutal manner. Gn | !
HArEs's first drink. however, was ethereal,
pure and fine as silk. Cows who had fed
upon clover distilled the milk; and the spices
Of the Orient favored the spirit Of the sugar. t
cane. The Bishop was right; it uas the best t
Ehingh he hed ever tasted, and if he ever passes |
4 harvest-held, With its area of waving corn :.
,r golden grain, if he ever sees the harvesters b
~, 1a;,r h. - IT, r I \
10 ever hears the whir Of the harvester, with 4
nut recalling the fine favor of that first milk y
punch, or breathing silent prayer for the a
'uxon farmers daughter who mixed it in all | Il
Is fair proportions and put it to her rsd lips II
o zee if it were correct, he is no true man =, =.
He had been tempted to drink | II
since, but had never yielded" m
here IS an ineGable sadness in nj
he declaration, and Jet it speaks well for Il Il
he good Bishops resolution. He cannot find d,
: in his heart to say a word against that b:
unch. he fingers over its memory with vi
ondness. He recurs to it again end again CO CO
5 an object though lost to sight, to memory M
ear. There are hints in his speech OF what aa
light have been under other circumstances. vi
Ike some forlorn lover who has loved and | On
st, but never lights the flame again upon the er,
tar, he remains true to the memory Of th.t i'm
anch. We regret that the Bishop has never Of
sted another and revived the golden days W. wn
his boyhood, when. it WIS the best thing far
} had ever tasted, but we admire his sis
oral courage. There are other Bishops III
ho do not like liquor and yet take to them en-
Ives credit for not drinking it. There are ~h ,rt
hers who set their faces against it like val
Mt because it is wrong and then take credit ms
ito themselves for not drinking it. But out
T Gu does like it. It was the best thing he ",
er tasted He is not altogether sure =,
ch good thing can be wrong; but he is a 1.
shop, and SO he remains true to his first - Nv
7e through forty years Of travel in dry 49, 49,
lderness, untraversed BY even rivulet of D.. ~
nch. Much as we admire his courage and N1~
solution, however, We can only regret that
, Bishop cannot find it in his heart to take
other punch, and yet another, to cheer 4
n on in the harvest-felds o. humanity in sine
ich he works so manfu1ly. mar
MA,
The CHINESE PROBLEM. 1922
It the earnest appeal Of the representa- was