The Washington critic., 1888-06-20
HOT WEATHER DRINKS.
Cooling Mixtures That the People
Drink.


Drink.
The horny.handed agrioulturist is not
the only man that makes hay while the
sun shines.
The druggist is the man who turns the
rays of old Sol most expeditiously into
the round nickel and silver coin of the
realm.
The soda-water business is becoming q
fine art, and instead of the soda fountain
beingan adjunct of the drug store, the
fountain is now, in many instances, the
principal part of the business.
But few sultry summers ago soda was
arefreshment absorbed almost exclusively
by children and ladies and young men
who did IL on account of the latter. Now
things are different. Men, young and
old, drink soda water, many of them
drinking 1t regularly, though most of the
regulars are old men of peculiar tastes.
Every soda-water clerk has circle of
acquaintances that he does not know the
names of mostly old men, who come TO
him periodically and expect him to re-
member their favorite tlpple and concoct
it without being asked. They always
drink the same mixture, and almost
equally always "kickr because there is
not enough or 1t is not made right.
Here comes one,n said soda drawer
to CHTic reporter this morning in an
uptown uIuB htOIei 'Dut ne An
kicker. He never has word TO saw"
A thoughtful looking, middIe-aged
man came up TO the marble counter,
pushed a nickel toward the clerk, pic ked
up the glass oil simple mineral water that
the clerk had drawn for HIM, drank il
slowly, felt for towel under the counter
in an absent-minded way that showed
that his habituaf drink had not always
been soda water, turned and went out
without having said word.
BEST place In the world to study hui
man nature" the clerk said as he put on
his coat TO go to lunch "Al sorts of
people, from the methodlcal kind like the
man who Just went out, TO the people
who don't know what they want and
make you wait while they make up their
minds, always coming back to the most
commonplace drink on the list. Lots of
prominent people drink soda, more than
you would think. Men usually drink
mineral waters without any flavoring un-
less 1t is some bitter tonic"
There are lots of new drinks this year.
The favorites are milk shake, which
Isl just what its name indicates, with the
men, and ice-cream soda, made the same
which is the ladies' favorite.
There are lots more new drinks and
more are being invented all the time.
Every soda-fountain keeper Is constantly
inventfng new combinations which he
chnstens and launches at the soda-drink-
ing public by means of card placed in
his store window or on the fountain.
There are two kinds of soda water, that
made in q factory and delivered to the
drug stores in reservoirs--which is by far
the kind most used-and that that the
druggists themselves make, which is said
to be superior. The apparatus is ex-
pensiye, however, and there are probably
not more than dozen druggists who
make their own soda water. The amount
of soda water drank is surprising. From
one of the larger fountains hundred
gallons is often sold i'll single day.
Soda water drinking is becoming more
prevalent every year, and there are now
hundreds of soda water drunkards,"
people who drink the carbonated water
regularly. Many of them do so for some
fancied beneficial effect on their health
or because they think soda water ''cools
them off," The proprietor of soda
tirely. so. The mixtures sold from the
soda fountain are for the most part devoid
of any medicinal effectiveness. Some of
the tonics, such as coco and iron are
however, really beneficial, as are also
some Of the nerve stimulants,
There Is new dyspepsia cure coming
before the public too, An Avenue mer.
chant discovered IL year or SO ago and
has been taking it ever since. Some of
his friends have tried it, and it has
already become quite popular, and quite
q number of people use it. 1t is simple,
consisting merely of glass Of vlchy
water and salt, but is said to afford im-
mediate relief.
Some people are in the habit of going
to q soda fountain for all sorts of reasons
The ''lushern drinks yiohy and ammonia
to sober him up, oyer-worked reporters
drink picon tonic, Coleman Il Rodgers
tonic or something of that sort, nervous
ladies call for bromo caffeine. a prepara-
tion Of bromide, for headaches and
nervousness, and dyspeptics often want
vichy and bi.carbonate of soda for heart
burn, and all of these things dogood to
considerable extent.
The soda fountain is really a desirable
hot-weather institution and would be
missed If it was gone. A single clerk on
busy day often sells 1000 glasses of soda
or mineral water.