The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1883-05-02
THEY DO DRINK IN MAINE.
a Mysterious Language Which the Father
OF Prohibition Has Never Learned
New YorkSun.l

New YorkSun.
will you turn your back?" courteously
inquired a gentleman prominent in Maine
politics of reporter OF the Sun who had
called at his hotel.
Nervously wondering what April idiot had
been decorating his oveTcoat, the reporter
painfully twisted himself INFO position ia
vorable to overlooking his own back.
mo, no; you misunderstood me-" and the
Maine man hastily checked the contortionisi
on the ragged edge OF strabismus. Il mean,
shall we shut our eYes?'
shut our eyesl" repeated the mystiied
reporter, land why?'
"Pshaw man, you say you have called to
ask me about the workings of the Maine
liquor law, and yet you do not seem to un-
derstand the alphabet of prohibition.
mean will you take a binder? win you
drink"
After absently touching the electric bell,
and allowing the reporter time to assimilate
his first lesson in q new language, the citi-
zen of the cold water State continued: ITO
properly understand Maine prohibition, or
to thoroughly appreciate pure whisky, it is
necessary TO live in Maine"
lis it, then, rte that LIQUOR is scarce
there?'
"Pure liquors are scarce, but intoxicants
and intoxication are not at all So"
lilies as some Maine men cali him-yes,
go on"
by General Dow, that the sale of liquor
is confined TO the lowest and most degraded
of your foreign population
"Yes, know; these assertions are more
than twice-told tales to us at home; but Mr..
Dow is not the best evidence on that point
see that the Sun ie calling his attention
pretty sharply TO the issue of some ], 200
wholesale and retail United States internal
revenue licenses to Maine liquor dealers in
single year. Now, the lowest and most
degraded would find it difficult to obtain OF
pay for such licenses. Do you suppose that
the heroine in Mr.. BOWS favorlte fable, the
woman who, as he says, carried her whole
stock of liquor under her pstticoats, stiff
fened her skirts with a Government IL
censor
"Then you regard prohibition as a fail.
ure?'
Morally, perhaps; politically, no. It is
a most invaluable political engine, generally
out of order, bat always capable of being
tipkered up about election time; al ways dis
organized, and therefore always ready to be
recognized in the interest OF any or all OF
the political parties in the Suate;" and here
the politicians hand moved mechanically
toward the decanter and closed trustfuly
about its neck.
w no sell Dquor In Manner"
Druggists, hotel keepers generally, and
restaurant aud saloon keepers to customers.
by the glass openly2'
more frequently by the bottle or pint,
and secretly. Secret drinking is one OF the
triumphs of the Maine law. There is a
feloniOus flavor about stepping behind the
bar and into q closet to take drink that is
too apt TO attract a very young or very fool
ish man into violating law he can not re-
spect."
Does General Neal Dow know of these
tricks?'
well. he is fine example of the rudder-
less reformer, and you can imagine just how
far such men go in selt-deception. Then,
too, he never drinks himself, and probably
has no means of knowing how freely liquor
is obtainable, or how generally wines and
liquors are offered at balls and parties, wed
dings and dinners, and at social gatherings
and merrymakings Of all sorts, public and
private"
Has General Dow ever been accused OF
using liquor himself?"
mot TO my knowledge, and such an accu-
sation would be utterly false. The surgeon
of his regiment is my authority for the sta G.
ment that the combined tortures of Hatteras
and sea sickness never conquered Mr.. Dow's
repugnance to liquor. No, we ought TO be
proud of Mr.. Dow. As long as he lives we
can say there is one man in the State
of Maine who does not know the taste oi
whisky"
And the rest of your inquired the re-
porter as he rose to leave.
Eve turn our back and shut oul
eyes,"