The morning call., 1893-01-20
DRUNKENNESS, NOW AND FOR
MERLY.

In a recent sermon a popular city divine
deplored the spread Of drunkenness in this
city, and contrasted it eloquently with the
sobriety which, according TO him was. prac-
tieed by our ancestors. Nothing could be
In better judgment than the spirit Of such
discourse; but, rs matter If fact, our rev.
erend fellow-townsman comDlimented our
forefathers at our expense without as COM
plete an acquaintance with the facts as
might have been wished.
A little book has just been published by
Charles Francis Adams, fourth or fifth of
the dynasty. on the manners and customs
of the early New Engianders, and it sheds
good deal of light upon their drinking nab
its. They had three drinks-water, of
course, not being counted. These were
beer. cider and rum. Beer was brewed
from barley malt, and was divided by law
into three classes-beer in which six BUSH
els Of malt went to hOgshead. which was
sold at pence per quart; beer with four
bushels of malt to the hogshead, which was
worth pence a quart, and beer with two
bushels of malt to the hogshea which was
worth penny quart. Modern brewers
would consider all these pretty stiff beers,
more like Alsopp's or Bass ale than our
lager. 1t must have been quite feasible for
topper TO get drunk on penny's worth of
III EN-.
Cider was made from the first apples
grown in Massachusetts and was worth
81 40 barrel. or 81 cents a gallon. This
cider was mild enough when it was year
old. but before and after that period it
could lay It's man ont as fat as whisky.
When il was new, or as the Normans who
drink it in preference to wine describe il,
gros cidre, it was very potent, aud when it
became hard cider it carried I6 to 20 per
cent Of alcohol and was qGite as intoxcat-
ing as sherry. The farmers of Massachu-
sets were great cider drinkers, and at their
town meetings they always had pitcher
on the table.
Inc first wine consumed In Massaehu-
sets was made from corn and bore the
name Of bay rum-tne article which now
purports to figure on BARRIERS shelves. But
this was superseded early in the eighteenth
century by West India rum, made from
molasses, which was sweeter aud smoother
than the native product. At the time when
New Bedford and Boston were great ship
ping ports and New York was the rendez-
vous Of the buccaneers rum was the chief
article dispensed at 'public houses" and
exhibited on hOspitable sidebOards. Eyerv-
body in New England drank rum, though it
was expensive. beng often worth Sd
quart or shillings a gallon. Mr. Adams
has not told us the average alcoholic
strength Of The Jamaica rum of those days
at the present time the ordinary rum which
is sold in barrOoms carries about As per
cent Of alcohol, like cheap whisky, but
arraek rum is nearly full proof. 1t is safe
TO suppose that the rum which used to be
sold in New England carried about 30 per
cent Of alcohol. which implies that a man
could get very comfortably drunk for about
pence.
That people did get drunk when the lux
ury was thus within the reach of the most
modest purse we have ample contemporary
testimony. Increase Mather deplored the
fact that 1.-THE poor and the wicked could
for penny or two pence make themselves
drunk" One of the standing com plants of
the Bost0nians against the British soldiers
was that they were always drunk. To
which the British officers replied that the
troops were no drunken than the people.
As matter OF fact, wherever intoxicating
LIQUOR is cheap and there is a loose class
unrestrained by considerations OF self
respect drunkenness will prevail, and pre-
vail very widely. ln the eighteenth century