Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-12-07

After this ought 20 come orange Roman punch
and then stewcd terrapin with fine Madeira:
cGnyashack ducks To follow with old Burgundy
and Clos Neugeot Salad will come after the
ducks and then fruits and creams IN individual
moIds. with coffee. nuts and coxnac or pousse
cafe and Rosa Perfecto cigars. Give your
friends-not fewer of them than the graces nor
more than the muses-a dinner on that bill OF
fare well cooked and served, and you will have
offered them a banquet in the highest style Of
modern gastronomic art
Il should think that If a man partook of all
those wines you mention at n dinner he would
ind himself under the table at the conclusion
of the repast."
WINES OF OLD TIMES.
There is no reason why a man who has not
a very weak head should be perceptibly af-
fected by such course of drinkables as have
suggested. Their arrangement is the rssalt OF
a careful calculation based on long experience,
the result aimed at being the readiest possible
npsorptlon OF the various fluids with view 10
the maintenance OF desirable degree Of cheer
Iuiness short of intoXication. The time has
gone by when il was considered the thing for
gentlemen TO get drunk at dinner. as was the
FASHION seventy years ago in England. l have
read that the ancient Romans had a theory
mat the more they drank the more they could
ear, and the more they ate the more they could
drink; so they ate and drank until they were
helpless and then they were carried TO the baths
where they soaked their bodies in hot water
ana got ready for the next meal Some of
them used to be able to drink gallon of wine
AT draugh;. The wines OF those times were
very Inherent from the yintages of today.
Most OF them were reduced to syrup by boil
ing down and had TO be diluted with water be-
fore they were drinkable. The most extra
ordinary ingredients were introduced such as
salt water, resin. tar. turpentine, myrrh and
many other curious things, all of which were
supposed to be necessary to give the wine a
proper flavor. When a rich man of Rome gave
"A dinner party the first course was oysters
olives and lettuce. Then came the first cup"
OF wine and honey mixed. With the meat fol-
lowed the ordinary wines, the richer ones
being reserved for dessert. The arrangement
OF the dinner, the succession of the courses.
and the manner in which the toasts were
drunk have come down to the present day
almost unaltered. The very toasts were drunk
then very much as We drink them now. Some
times the wine was drunk hot; pounded
oyster shells and marble dust were frequently
used TO give 1t an artificial flavor"
MODERN HARD DRINKERS.
''Who are the hardest drinkers Of modern
times!"
The Russians, undoubtedly. Next come
the Germans. TWAS in Germany that the
celebrated 'Bleachers' club was organized
The club met every evening, and before each
member was placed a large vessel filled to the
brlm with red wine. OF this he drank one
half, replenishing the vessel with white wine,
again drinking one-half, again replenishing
with white wine, and SO until the liquid in the
glass was without vestige of color. This oper-
alton was called bleaching and so fashionable
aid 1t become that 'Bleachers' clubs sprang up
all over the fatherland. The natives on the
Malay peninsula have the most cheerful drink
ing habit known of; they imbibe fiery spirits
until one of them gets wrought up to the
proper pitch Of frenzy, and then this merry
mailman starts off to run amuck and kills every
one that he meets until he himself is killed.
Some times a whole party of them will go of
in this way together, if the occasion be one of
especial festivity. Running amuck by the way,
is the favorite Malay manner of committing
suicide"