The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-05-02

WIZ ndu watched the operation. he
been hard, steady drinker for twenty
| years to my knowledge, but | don't think
he was ever any nearer drunk than he is to-
night. Plenty of men who have known
and done business with him for years would
| De surprised to hear anyone call him hard
drlnker, and yet in that time hundreds of
fellows who haven't drunk quarter as
much as he, have gone through all the de-
greeS clear down to drunkard's grave. be
has stood it magnificently, but his time is
coming. Did you notice that set, stolid look
on his face and the way he moves along
! W ell, you remember what boyish, jolly,
hght-footed fellow he was even three years
agos In three years more he will be a
wreck, if he doesn't quit He can stand more
| than any man l ever knew, but he can't
stand it forever" and the speaker tilted his
bottle and then his glass, as if to emphasize
the moral Of his lesson.
DIDN'T KNOW HE WAS HARD DRINKER.
"Well. do you know it has never struck
me before that he was a hard drinker," said
another of the group. "In fact, never
thought about him as drinking man at
all, although l have had good deal to do
with him in business way. l have found
him inclined to be grutf and uneven-tem-
pered of late, and now l understand the
cause"
How many drinks do you suppose he
takes dayW said the man who had spoken
first, addressing the bartender.
well, he'll average a dozen a day over
this bar, think" the bartender answered,
land don't doubt that he takes as many
more in other places"
''RegularlyP'
"Yes, right along"
A reporter, who happened to be in the
barroom looking for a racing man of his
acquaintance approached the bartender as
the three gentlemen went out, and asked:
Are there many men that you know of
who keep up that sort of drinking ?"
PLENTY of them. can name you-well,
| dare say, fifty, a good many of your own
acquaintance. l know several who take as
high as forty and fifty drinks a day right
straight along"
"But they have to be carried home every
night {"
mot bit of it. They walk home general
ly, and if you met them you wouldn't be apt
to notice particularly that they had drunk
more than was good for them. OF course,
these men aren't going to last long if they
keep 1t up at that rate. But they aren't re-
garded as drunkards by any means, and
most of them never miss day from bust
ness. I've got a friend here who has aver
aged forty drinks day for four years to
my certain knowledge, and he attends to
OAoAAACSSs wv liz 10 SOllS W pl6CcS ldSUN
but he can't stop. As soon as he tries it he
has the tremenS.
THE BARTENDER'S RECORD.
81 was as hard drinker as they average
for six years of my life. Pm certain | took
forty drinks a day, and for two years
drank nothing but brandy. thought moth
ing Of from SIX to ten drinks before break
fast The result was that / became
paralyzed from my waist down, and never
stood on my feet for months. Ny stomach
got completely knocked out, and has never
recovered, although l haven't drunk any
thing now in years
eff you're a drinking man at all, it
doesn't take long to run up to twenty
drinks day." the bartender continued
Suppose you stop in here in the morning,
say on your way to the Capitol You meet
friend and have a drink with him; of
course then he has to have drink with you
Your friend is going to the Capitol, too.
Along about Twelfth street there is another
place whore the boys drop in a good deal.
You and your friend stop to have another
drink. Then probably you turn in for
another at one of the down town hotels If
you didn't halt again before you got there,
you are apt to take a parting nip before
separating at the Capitol Then during the
day you certainly don't go dry. If you
walk down town in the evening with your
friend you make about the same stops you
made going up, and when you reach here,
of course, you want a cocktail or some sort
Of an appetizer Tor dinner And how far
are you from twenty drinks by that time.
''H you want to drink" the bartender
continued, the reporter breaking in for an
instant to protest that he did not, "just let
me tel you two things. Never drink before
breakfast and don't take a cocktail before
dinner. The cocktail is no good What
sort of stuff is bitters and sugar to put into
a mans stomach before eating7
''Oh, yes, we sell as much straight whisky
over the bar as ever" he continued, in
answer to a question SIN fact, we sell
more than ever in proportion to all our
sales. The young fellows just beginning to
get around drink whisky, where in my time
boys of the same age would not have drunk
at all, or if they did, would take only beer
Boys of 16 or Is nowadays are as tough as
men of % were before the war"
SOME INTERESTING FIGURES.
A man of mathematical turn of mind
made an interesting calculation as to the
amount of whisky consumed by a steady
drinker who takes on an average twenty
drinks day This would give $40 drinks a
week, or 1880 year. Surprising it true
that man can keep up such an average for
twenty years. he would have taken at the
end of that time, the enormous total of
145, 900 drinks. The average drink is about
seventy to the gallon. Dividing 145, 600
by 20, it is seen that the man has imbibed
2, $50 gallons of whisky, or about 81 barrels,
allowing SO gallons to the barrel. Suppos-
ing that the mans las, 900 drinks cost him
on an average 10c. drink, it is seen that
he has spent a handsome little fortune in
the course of twenty years.