The Republican., 1891-11-13
TEMPERANCE NOTES.
TEMPERATE eARKEEPERS.
Men Who Deal in lntoxtcants and Never
Drink.


a drinker, although he has passed the
larger part of his life among the most
depraved people of the city, The
keeper of saloon, he is in a rum
soaked atmosphere all day. There is
rum at the back of him, rum in
front of him, rum at the right of him
and rum at the left of him, but not "a
drop in his skin.
Rum is the one thing I don't take.
See!' said Allen the other day. and he
seems to have no craving for it what
ever. But he is also cunning enough
to know that to retain the leadership
of the gang which backs him up in his
political and business ventures, he
must keep clear head.
Allen, as the keeper of ginmill and
strict teetotaler, is by no means an
exceptional case in this city, and incl
dents occasionally occur that prove it
The other night a party of well-dressed
young men were having merry time
in saloon not far from Printing
House square. They had had round
after round of drinks Each man in
the party had set 'en up once and it
was time to begin again.
"Hello!" said the one who had or
dered the libation that was being dis
tributed by a bright looking bartender;
we've forgotten Bob. Come, old man,
what will you have?"
THANK you, Sir" replied he of the
white jacket and smiling face. 81 don't
think that | will take anything, sir"
'Oh, come off, Bob" was the chorus.
mo, thank you, gentlemen"
answered Bob, but it's against the
rules of the place"
Now, hang it. you've got to drink
with us; see?' began one of the party
with drunken carnestncss, as he
banged his glass on the counter.
mo, SIR" said Bob, with q CLEAN of
anger in his eye 81 said that the
rules of the place forbid my drinking.
Then again. never drank a drop of
liquor in my life, SO you must excuse
me-
Every man slammed his glass on the
counter in amaZemcnt and the oldest
man in the party hummed a few notes
from "Everything's Not AS 1t Used to
Be" Bob laughed and said:
This is business with me; there's no
sentiment about it. l accidentally be-
came bartender five years ago, and
as the work is easy and the wages
good | have remained in the business.
/ don't crave for liquor, and, therefore,
don't drink. But it is not strange
when you look at it from business
point of view. l was always some
thing of an athlete, and was in train
ing large part of my time before
became a bartender. Now, when
got job here l found that | met the
big politicians of the town. like to
talk with them, but they would not
want to be served by bartender who
drank. That's fact gents, but, of
course that's not my real reasons for
not drinking. don't care to drink, and
bartender must keep sober if he is
going to attend to business There are
lots like me-"
As matter of fact, there are many
bartenders in the city who are prac-
tically teetotalers. And in very
great while man is found am ong
them who never has drank in his life:
at least he says So But there are
scores of cases where bartenders
practice temperance in drinking. AS
Bob puts it, it is matter of business
with them. There are, roughly eSti-
mated, six thousand saloons in this
city, and each one employs from one to
six bartenders. There are, therefore,
at least twelve thousand men in this
city who earn their living by dispens-
ing drinks. Their wages range from
ten dollars to thirty dollars a week,
and there is naturally considerable
competition among them. In large
saloons which have the theatcr trade,
for example, drunken bartender
would not hold his place long.
NO. sir" said bartender in a sa-
loon near the Casino, II don't drink
once in dogs age, and none of my
mates do. We have the theatrical busi-
ness | come on at six p. m, and from
eight p. IN. until midnight things hum.
OF course it's livcliest between the
acts. and then / don't have minutes
breathing spell. Suppose | should take
something and go off my base after the
first act--what would happen? The
other week we had a gent named Tom
my, who came from Philadelphia,
guess. He used to take a nip before he
went to work. He had never done the
theatrical business before, and he
didn't know what stampede for
drinks meant. Well, sir, Tommy drank
several Manhattans one night when he
was beginning work, and was pretty
fly when the first act was over. Two
fat men came mp 70 him for sherry cob
blers. One of them was an American
and the other was an Englishman, who
had never drunk sherry cobbler.
First thing | knew there was Il spout
ing as if two whales had been speared.
looked around and seen the English
man; red as fire in the'face, splitting his
drink out and yelling for waterfall at
| once. The other man was black in the
face and gagging. They was full when
they come, but they was sober now.
Tommy had put rock salt into their
sherries instead of cracked ice. The
last heard of Tommy he was saying
Beef andn down in the Bowery. lie
won't get no job in n first-class place
for long time to come for trying to
murder those people"
Rut thare orn rnaOu bo rtnndnrc ypbO