, 1884-02-07
1.-THE MODERN BARTENDER. q
mo Things which go to Make Up a
Professional OF h Period. y

NAe| lENCnanRe.I Has .N.a.
Just in proportion as the elegance of the
saloon predominates, so does style" obtain
among those who are employed to serve up
the decoctions. The modern hotel clerk with
his dazzling diamond and beautiful buttonhole
bouquet is no more of a swell in his way than
the barkeeper Of the period There are
various grades Of bartenders, as there are
distinctions in the young men who preside in
the offices of first-claRs hotels A young man
who asPires TO the hohors has to begin by
washing glasses, freeing them from the
aroma of all that is beautiful in a bibulous
way. and leaving them so that there is no
faint of what has been TO interfere with the
flavor Of what is to be.
A probationary period enables the bar
keeper to gauge the merit Of the Hedgling,
and IL "he has the material In him. he Is
taken in hand and put through a course of
object study. He is permitted TO draw beer
and ale and wait upon such customers az
take it straight. He also fills the bottles, and
when opportunity occurs he watches the
man of experience make the drinks which
call for nicely in choice of quantity of the
various materials used, and a high grade Of
taste in the selection of the ingredients them
solves He is educated, too, in the aesthetic
side Of barkeeping, the artistic placing of
crystals and other bar decorations, the dis
position Of such works of art as may lend
grace to the "bacR bar" He also imbibes
lessons of politeness to customers, for in the
higher classes OF bars courtesy is the rule, and it
isn't once a year that a person requires a
dexterous twisting toward the street. Every
thing is supposed to be on a higher plane,
and even when the customers "get over the
bay"-that is to say, excessively stimulated,
or, as common people call 1t, @~drunk"-they
are expected to do it in a gentlemanly way,
and TO violate lone of the proprieties, as
proprieties go, in the company they happen
to find themselves in.
A year behind the bar is supposed to en-
able the youngster to emerge from his cub
hood He then becomes second barkeeper,
and can afford to put on a fow airs-a few
subdued airs. He waits on merchants and
professional men, and finally they begin to
take notice of him. II his eyes are wide
open-and they usually are-he has begun
to observe ~humanity's follies and weaknesses,
and his first year has taught him more than
mixing drinks. He knows by this time u
thing or two OF the social under current He
has branched out, got "tips" on races and
elections, bought some unfortunate pools,
probably, but still looks forward to the days
when he shall go to wood caryers and deco
rators and hand them over, 81 900 or 81, 900
to fit up a little place OF maguificence in the
way of a bar-room for himself. In short, he
Is developing into a frst-class barkeeper.
A frst-class tailor makes his clothes, and
his linen is always spotless. Possibly he may
'knock down" a dollar now and then, invest
it in IA policy, and make a fortunate hit" II
he is not lucky this way, OF course 1t is so
much worse for the proprietor. He know
just what customers to salute with famil-
iarity, whom to treat with Difference, and
whom to simply stare at. The couple of
years he spends as assistant barkeeper are his
experimental period. After the training he
has had, and granting that he is sober and
gentlenlanly, he is always eligible to a posi-
ton in some first-class bar.