St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-01-22
WINE-DRINKING IN NEW YORK,

sat In an uptown cafe last night, smoking
thoughtful;y His face had the raw beef
steak color which is said tn be the result OF
imbibing too much Burgundy. His blonde
mustache curled naturally AT the ends, and
he looked complacent and comfortable. A
thousand duplicates of the man may be seen
in the popular clubs, in the hotels, at the
opera. and on Wall street any day. He was
an admirable type OF the everyday New
Yorker in easy circumstances.
''Drinking,'' he said, among men about
town, club men, brokers and business men
is not what it was ten years ago By any
means. Within few years the custom of
drinking in the middle of the day down
town has been reduced enormously, and the
number of men who now make 1t cast-iron
rule not to drink before diuner-time is
larger than is supposed. used to drink at
all hours of the day, cocktail before break
fast to kill time, and from that on to night
/ swallowed everything that came in my way.
Very often downtown, when l first became
a member of the board, the boys used TO ask
me out at all times, and | reciprocated. The
result was that at 8 O'Clock in the afternoon
usually felt about fourteen feet high, and
forgot tue worries and cares OF the day from
the flowing mug. Then four or five OF us
started uptown to get rid OF the tunes and
nave au appetite for dinner, with the usual
result. When got to the club was usually
nalf-seas over, and was not able to eat any
thing, and the rest OF the night was spent In
an am bilious effort to make Rom howl
81 kept this up for several years, and then
began 10 discover that 1t was bad form.
Then stopped it. The fact that II was sure
death, that 1t spoiled my business prospects.
! and that it ruined my reputation had not hall
| the effect ON me that the simple discovery
that it was not the proper thing 10 do did.
| noticed that all the sweils on the street, BY
which mean the men who fooled coaches
up and down the avenue, made tia rule
never to drink before dinner time. After
struggle, l, too, adopted that plan, and Eve
congratulated myself on IT ever since. Ii
drink In the middle of the day of course
there are many occasions when man must
walk up to bar or else appear churiish or
ill-natured Il take simple Rhine and settler
or thimbleful Of sherry, which is mpara-
lively harmless. Then o man gets up town
| in some kind of shape.
'New York men don't drink wine in the
| DAYTIME that is, before luncheon. There
arc occasional wrecks-men who habtually
stay out ali night, and who come to break
fast without any appetite in the morning
who drink u pint of Cnablis for breakfast. 1t
is light wine, which sort OF tones them up,
but u the majority OF men nothingis so re-
pusive as wine in the morning. Breakfast
in New York Is a more important meal than
1t is In any other great city that have visit
ed, aud, by the way, l have been nearly
everywhere. In England, breakfast is sort
| l,,aI IN n r.
houses. 1t is com posed of meat, rarely with
vegetables, and always Of eggs. The table
is laid, and we can go down to breakfast
whenever we choose, but the breakfast,
though substantial, is seldom invigorating.
In Paris, breakfast consists Of coffee and
rolls. / mean. OF course, the everyday
breakfast OF ordinary people. The elaborate
breakfast is at noon, or Tor 2 O'Clock, and
consists Of many courses there, just as il
does here, and light wines are in order; but
you can put IL down for solid fact that New
Workers do not touch wines at breakfast. AS
for lun cheon, that meal Is in general such a
hurried one TO New Workers that the Idea Of
wine never presents itself. But even men
| of leisure, who lunch at their clubs at ] or
O'Clock, seldom bother with wine, unless the
weather happens to be very hot, when they
perhaps have pint Of frozen champagne.
DuwD-to the scheme Is to get rid OF
luncheon as soon as possible, aud the custom
Is to eat without wine. When any OF my
| clerks take an out-of-towu customer to
luncheon, by way of allowing him u little at
tention, bottle or two OF wine Is opened,
but that doesn't count"
"Is wine-drinking becoming more popu'
lara"
"CnouestIon ably. The table d'hote had 9
good deal to do with It. Cheap table d'hotes
with wine, all the way from 80 cents 10 81,
are advertised all over town, and great
many people who get tired Of the customary
cuisine, 90 TO them for the novelty Of the
thing. Then they find what an admirable
aid To digestion even the thinnest wine is,
aud before long they become appreciativer
and take 1t regularly. know many young
fellow Of 22 or "a who Is capable of telling
good glass If wine when be tastes IL to-day
and who drinks carefully and iutelligently
Youngsters oil that age ten or fifteen year.
ago poured down whiskey and rum 81 the
bar, and seldom had any taste for wine
You NAV depend upon 1t that there Is 6
, growing appreciation Of good wines In New
, York. As for cham payne drinking, II seem
to me that that grows more popular constan'
". This Is the great champagne-drinkin KIM
. country now. | am rather Interested II
, wines myself, and when run across a IN an
who knows about them, make II a point u
chat about them. Last night, when at Del
monlco's met 4 son 9th bead Of famou
, champag firm, who was on bis first vlsi
, to America. / asked him casually bow
; many acres his vineyards covered, and b
I told me- Later asked him how much wins
be produced to the acre, and subsequently,
| multiplied one by the other, which, OF course
> gave the total yield OF the vineyard. This
did quietly aud slyly. Later be was boastin
I OF the sale OF there champagne 10 New York
, and, according to his figures, .ney sold 90
bottles n year more in New York city thar
were manufactured by the entire vineyard
That may give you some idea OF the adulters
{ ton OF cham pignes.
"As far as | am personally concerned
: champagne Is not a fayorite drink with me
o It tastes precisely like sweeteued settler
But to the majority Of people it Is the win
Z above all others. When a party Of youn
b men start out for the purpose Of maxim
e things 20, they never drink anything oI
= champagne. It's effect on different people
? curious. was impressed with this On Ne
. Years eve in Delmouico's. A party Of me
I sat down TO drink the new year IN. The
drank nothing but champagne, aud as the
4 commenced several hours before 1854 el
4 PRED they we're about nine sheets In ii
70 wind when 's5 arrived. They had reache
% the hoop-la stage Of the game then. tt
,e fat mau Of the party rolled around in b
chair and laughed perpe.uaIly. tall an
n somber man, deadly pale aud melanehol
= one Of the dudes who made up the par
l. wanted to fight, and the rest roared at The Il
st Of their lungs at every punuy joke. The
Is is nothing that leaves 50 villainous head
n ache as cham payne. ! doubt IL that par
e has got over It's New Years celebration We
r There are some men who drink ehampagr
|. constantly. Bouciczult told me once ih