Morning journal and courier., 1885-07-03
BILL N VIE

appointed place in Waterville and was so we'll suited that on Thursday they were mar ried by the Rev. MT. Skeel.
 BILL ME
 Tells How to Get a Drink In Maine. From the Boston Globe.l
 Rum has always been curse to the State of Maine The steady fight that Maine has made for a century past against decent rum has been worthy of better cause. Who hath woea Who hath sorrow and some more things of that kind? He that monkeyeth with Maine rum; he that goeth to seek emigrant rum.
 In passing through Maine the tourist is struck with the ever-varying styles of myste- " connected with the consumption of rum. In Denver your friend says: ''WiIl you come with me and shed a tear?' or "Come and eat clove with me-"
 In Salt Lake City man once said to me, "William which would you rather do, take q dose of Gentle damnation down here on the corner, or go over across the street and pizen yourself with some real old Mormon valley tan made last week from ground feed and prussic acid?' I told him that I had just been to dinner, and the doctor had for bidden my drinking any more, and that l had promised several people on their death beds never to touch liquor, and besides I had just taken a large drink, so he would have to excuse me.
 But in Maine none of these common styles of invitation prevail. It is all shrouded in mystery You give the sign of distress to any member in good standing, pound three times on the outer gate, give two hard kicks and one soft one the inner door, give the password, Rutherford B. Hayes" turn to the left through dark passage, turn the thumbscrew of a mysterious gas fixture nine ty degrees to the right, holding the goblet of the encampment under the gas fixture, then reverse the thumbscrew; shut your eyes, in suit your digester, leave twenty-five cents near the gas fixture and hunt up the nearest cemetery so that you will not have to be car ried very far.
 If man really wants to drink himself into a drunkard's grave he certainly save time by going to Maine. Those desiring the most prompt and vigorous style of jim-jams st cut rates will do well to examine Maine goods before going elsewhere. Let @ man spend week in Boston, where the Maine liquer law, l understand, is not in force, and then, with no warning whatever, be taken into the heart of Maine; let him land there a stranger and 8 partial orphan, with no knowledge of the underground methods of securing drink, and to him the world seems very gloomy, very sad and extremely arid.
 At the Bangor depot a woman came up to me and addressed me. She was rather past middle age, perfect lady in her manners, but little full.
 I said: Madam, guess you will have to excuse me. You have the advantage. l can't just speak your name at this moment. It has been now thirty years since 1 left Maine child two years old. So people have changed. You've no idea how people have grown out of my knowledge. 1 don't see but you look just young you did when I went away, but I'm poor hand to remem- Der names, so I can't just call you to mind"
 She was perfectly ladylike in her manner, but little bit drunk. It is singular how drunken people will come hundreds of miles to converse with me. I have often been al- luded to as the 'drunkards friend" Men have been known to get intoxicated and come a long distance to talk with on some subject, and then they would lean up against me and converse by the hour. A drunken man never seems to get tired of talking with me- As long as 1 am willing to hold such man up and listen to him he will stand and tell me about himself with the utmost conf dence, and no matter who goes by he does not seem to be ashamed to have people see him talking with me.
 I once had friend who was very much liked by every one, so he drifted into poli- tics. For seven years he tried to live on free Whiskey and popular approval, but 1t wrecked him at last. Finally he formed the habit of meeting me every day and explain ing it to me and giving me free exhibitions of a breath that he had acquired at a great expense. After he got so feeble that he could not walk any more this breath of his used to pull him out of bed and drag him all over town. It don't seem hardly possible, but it is so. I can show you the town yet.
 If I had a son I would warn him against trying to subsist solely on popular approval and free whiskey. It may do for man en- gagged solely in sedentary pursuits, but it is not sufficient in cases of great muscular ex- haustion. Free whiskey and popular appro- val on an empty stomach are highly injuri- ouS.
 A Surgical Operation for Piano Players.
 From the Philadelphia Record.l
 The skill of a well-known physician in this city has come to the rescue of number of prominent pianists and musical students in a most singular and interesting particular. The facts have just beens.made the subject of paper read before the County Medical so- ciety To comprehend this assistance ren- dered by surgical science to musicians, very well-known fact must be understood. When the middle finger and the little finger are brought down by the hexor muscles, and their ends are held down against the keys of piano, for the purpose of producing contin- uous sounds, and it is necessary to extend and then fex or bend the third finger, in order to produce accompanying sounds, it will be found that the third finger cannot be very effectively used unless under long and con stant practice, and often not then.
 The reason for this stiffness is simple. The tendons of the little and middle fingers are connected by the tendons of the third finger by lateral or accessory tendons, so that when the two former fingers are held down the two taT, hn1 in, ahc &ha ynT of the muscular fbers acting upon the tendon of the third finger, and thus it can be but clunsily used. Such accessory tendons are sometimes found in one hand, sometimes in the other, but usually in the right hand. They are source of serious annoyance and difficulty to musical performers.
 Dr. William $. Forbes, the demonstrator of anatomy in Jefferson college, has found 8 means of overcoming these difficulties in very simple but ingenious manner. He says: "A few yeare ago young musician, and a performer on the piano, consulted mein regard to his inability to lift up, as he expressed it. ring-fnger of his right hand while the the middle and little fingers neighboring were held hexed on the keys of his piano. This restriction did not exist in the rine-fin- ger of his left hand; with it he had no trouble 1 explained to him the presence of the acces- sory tendons in his right hand, with their re- stricting power, and told him of their probable absence in his left"
 The doctor then proceeds to give an elabo- rate account of how he performed an opera tion that severed or cut off the accessory tendons from the little and middle finger. The liberation of the ring-fnger was com plete. The ball of the finger could be ele- yated an inch further from the plane of the hand, and the patient expressed his gratifca- ton at the extended and great facility with which he could use his ring-fnger on the keys of his piano.