The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1890-11-01
Of France. 1t is champagne or nothing

Of France. 1t is champagne or nothing
with him now.
I suspect that this new penchant Of
Vests comes frora his intimate friendship
with Senator Quay. It is an odd compan-
ionship this, but q very warm one. Vest
declares Quay, Notwithstanding all that is
written and said about him, Is one of the
best fellows in the world, and Quay re-
turns the compliment with interest. The
Pennsylvania is perhaps u most noted
champagne drinker now that Gen. Belknap
is gone. To his notion there is no other
beverage in the world. He buys his cham
payne by the case, and with his friends
manages to consume a great number Of
cases in the course of u twelvemonth.
There is no man in Washington more fond
Of entertaining his friends at dinner than
Senator Quay, and there is plenty of cham
payne for them whenever they call, whether
by special invitation or not.
This Shoemaker saloon of which l have
spoken is one of the interesting institu-
lions of Washington. 1t is not only a ia
nous resort of public men, wherein sena-
tors and representatives and generals and
occasionally cabinet ministers may be
found hobnobbing together, but it has dis
tinctive features of its own. In the first
place it is a drinking place without any
affectation of the elegant or the glittering
in it's appointments. The bar is as plain as
a bar can possibly be. No gilt, no display
of natural woods, no mirrors nor pictures.
The walls are dull; the floor is rough.
Even the tables and chairs are of the com-
monest sort. If it is a palace of sin, it GER
tainly is not a gilded one. There is NO effort
to charm the senses, to tempt the eye or
the appetite.
If tact on the part of the management
can prevent it nc n will get drunk in this
house, but if a man does become tipsy a
carriage is called, and the luckless arouser
is sent home at the expense of the owners
of the saloon. A certain congressman,
whose name it were not just to mention,
used to get drunk in this place, or pretend
to get drunk, about once a week, thereby
saving so much carriage fare. One night
he was more han unusually violent, and
the manager, having dropped to the states
mans little game, rang for. the patrol
wagon instead. When the "hurry" came
dashing up, and the congressman was told
he was to be it's passenger, he was so badly
frightened that he quickly became sober,
and has never since tried to impose upon
the generosity of the Shoemaker saloon.
A safe is kept in this house for the use Of
customers: that is to say, when foolish fell
lows with money persist in getting drunk
their troll" is taken from them, sealed up
in an envelope and carefully put away in
the safe. A receipt for the sum thus taken
is written out and put in the pocket of the
owner, who is then bundled into a cab and
sent to his lodgings. One of Shoemaker's
receipts is as good as a Bank of England
note.
There is very little drunkenness in this
place considering the large number of GUS
toners it has. OF course Shoemaker's is a
gold mine. 1t is owned by a stock COM
pany, one of it's shareholders being Joe
Hickey, the we'll known St. Louis politi-
clan. A popular summer drink. a mixture
of whisky, a%pollinaris and lime juice, was
named the "Joe Hickey" and had a great
run, not only in this house, but in others
hete. The profits of this famous saloon
are not less than $4,000 a year.
Shoemaker's is the only drinking place l
know of that has for it's manager a Sunday
school superintendent. The manager Of
this saloon is the superintendent of a Sun
day school, a prominent church member
and a worker in the field of charity. He is
one of the most highly respected citizens Of
the capital, and has yet to taste his first
drop of intoxicating liquor and to smoke
his first cigar. ROBERT GRAVES.