The Helena independent., 1889-06-16
THE MooN AND THE BOTTLE.
Curious Circuzstances That Induced a
Man TO swear on Drinking.

/ Curious Circu stances That Induced a
Man swear on Drinking
New York Herald: Among the fayOrite
resorts of the anglers hsreabouts is Green
wood lake. This beautiful sheet of water
lies partly in New York and partly In New
Jersey, ana it attracts daily during the
season the famous anglers Of this section
Of the country. Coming down on the train
the other day q Newark man told me a
curious story, which shows that even
liquor may be blamed for things Of which
il is not guilty.
sit is now several years ago. said my
acquaintance, .siLce have touched drop
of liquor, and have not the remotest idea
Of ever touching II again. | am not pro
hibitlOnist, and my abstinence IL due 10
some rather peculiar circumstances. l
was spending a week at the lake, stopping
at the club house of the Greenwood Eake
association The weather was miserable,
as u rained most Of the time Finally We
had bright day, but the flsh did not bite
we'll Sitting ON the pOrtico OF the CLUB
house that evening | was watching the
fi-eting clouds and the unusually bright
moon, which appeared to be about hrst
quarter. My guide was lOunging near me
and | was anxious for sport l called 10
him 10 get ready and started across the
lake.
IL cast for awhile, but as the bass did not
rise ! took u trolling. | never mad IVeiier
sport and 1 whIled away a couple of hours
In the most intense enjoy ment, such as only
an enthusiastic angler can have. cou!n
not let out twenty feet of line without
catching a brOnZsback. l considered this
rather curious, but was thunderstruck
" hen | looked up to the moon and found II
IN The glory of fuilness. Was | dreaming
The moon certainly was at first quarter
about two hours ago and the fish were not
biting at all. Nobody has ever yet ex-
planned the vagaries of the bass, and so l
thought little of this
but the moon perplexed me. Naturally
| blamed it on the bottle. / had purchased
quantity of very fne old whisky. and had
bottle of IL with me. The hsh lost all OF
their interest for me, and my guide won
dered why | sat there musing- The more
thought about IL the more Vas worried. |
Finally l handed my guide the bottle and |
asked him 10 imbibe. l have newer in my |
fe met guioe, no matter how limited MS |
knowledge of the habitat OF nsh, VINO was /
not a good judge Of whisky. The guide i
took hearty pull and smaeked his lips;
then he declared it was the finest whisky /
he had ever drunk. Icalled ms attention
To the moon, and be remarked that he had
noticed il on the previous evening and
spoken of its brightness. He said that the
moon bad reached its full on the previous
night l concluded that something sim
liar had happened 10 me about twenty-fOur
hours later.
Il was all broke up and returned to the
club house. l went TO bed without saying |
a word 10 anybody, wondering what vag-
aries my mind would cOnjure up next.
Every few minutes | looked out of the
but the moon remained exasper-
atingly full. 1 did not dare 20 say a word
to any body for fear of being put into a
but l solemnly declared
that never would touch another drop. |
went home by the morning train consider
ably worried. When | arrived in the city
| bought a paper in order TO divert my
mind from the moon, which l was cOntin-
1ally seeing before in all stages of full
ness and emptiness. The first thing my
yes encountered were the headlines,
l. sst Nights Eclipse of the MoOn-Valua-
bic Astronomical Observ ations'
The people on the ferry boat probably |
wondered why | looked so happy, but 10
this day have kept the vow | made on the