Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1895-12-19

not celebrated these days in the way
our great great Eran0tathers and their
srandtathCrs celebrated Ii, Hut, II
cheese grumblors took the trouble to
hunt through the old books which tell
ABOUT the Christmas times of long ago
they would probably be very we'll sat
Istied With The existing conditions of
affairs.
lN England during the times o.
Queen Elizabeth and Charles ii. there
was mighty h,tlc religion or christian
lty shown in the Christmas festivities,
Every one celebrated the great day, but
the principal aim OF most Of the men
was TO get as drunk as possible. There
are many degrees of intoNiCation, and
from all accounts the gentlemen OF
those days established records which
have never been approached since
Some OF the clergy fought aho cua-
tom vigorously, but to little effect, tor
/ the reason that the good men were
sadly handicapped by fellow -occlcsias-
I tic who joined the drinking bouts
with as much fcrNor IA the most de.
generate layman In fact, several Of
the most potent beverages of the time
were named after church dignttarics
notably the bishop" cardinal"
pope" and lawn sleeves"
Considerable art was displayed by
the men OF that period in CoucoCtinR
drinks of wonderful power, The
famed ''stone fence" of Jersey, or the
weird "tangletoot" of the Georgia
moonshiner are harmless playthiuSs
compared with the intoNiCants Of
Queen Bess time, A mixture OF wine,
ale, cider, coghaC, fruit aud spice tia
vors was common drink Any ono
familiar with the effects of mingled
liquors can easily imagine what II
drink of this kind meant
d The ABOVE liquors were used to make
the Christmas "wassail. Il, gardtng
the origin Of this word, now almost
obsolete, Ncrstegun says, "lIongtstus
having invited King Nortgor to II
supper shee Qowena) came into the
kings presence with n cup of gold,
filled with wine, in her hand, and max
ing Il low rev eronco s uulo the hina,
said; Waes heal iiatord CyninE
which is. being rightnlly eXpoundcd
according to our present speech, BE OF
heal,h, Lord King.
These gentlemen drank out OF
glasses or cups called ma@os noggins,
whiskins piggins, cruises bowls anu
tankards all of prOdigious size com
pared with the small glasses used to-
day. They imported their Christmas
drinks from far and near and also the
habit of drinking at Christmastide, Tor
II is claimed that the boisterous fcs-
tiyities originated with the Scandina-
Wan and TeutoniC tribes. II Is on re s
ord that one brave Tcuton gave hi
guests at Christmas time bacon to cat
and beer ana mead from the udder OF
n goat. This mead was very sweet
liquor, thick and heavy like the wine
of the ancient Greeks, and astonishing
as an intoxlcant.
7 England also had its mead, but Il
was comparatively harmless, being
very much like the porter Of today,
They also had II beverage called "Ufsa
Dutch" II was n Dutch beer OF con
siderable power and those who sue
oumbed TO II were In the polite Ian
Ruage Of the times, said 10 have drank
like pigs. A similar drink was called
Use F'recse," and originated in Fries
land. Others were "rowsa," Of Dan
ish origin; stoop, of Rheinish origin,
pimlIco, mumgroats foBs and too ale.
AS companion TO the wide variety
Of Christmas beverages there was a
generous diversity Of expression to
draw upon when 1t became necessary
to tell how very drunk IA certain gen
tIcman was. He was pictul esquely de-
Bcrbed az being either fCXt, famed
iiustered, cutie cupshot cut In the leg
cut in the back, seen the French king
swallowed a naire, swallowed tavern
token Whit the cat, been at the Scriv-
eners, learned to make indentures, bit
his grannane, bit by barne vessel.
Were these expressions reappropri-
ated today they would certainly vary
the monotony OF police court life
which Is largely composed OF reitcra-
ton OF drunk and disorderly." II
some policeman, when he arraigned
his prisoner at the bar, exclaimed 10
the justice, when asked for the charge;
Suite cupshot, Your Honor" or
"whipt the cat. Your Honor" the
culprit at least would cnjcy the emo
ton OF establishment. II would also
afford a pleasing relaxation 10 the
headline writers on newspapers, who
nightly tackle the problem of creating
something new for Il drunk and dis
orderly case
During these Christmas celebrations
no one was permitted 10 shirk the
bowl, and various artful measures
were adopted TO guarantee that eacn
man in party should irbibe his full
share. Two gollants who started out
one Christmas morning In the reign Of
Queen Bess TO celebrate the day In be-
fitting style made mutual pledge
that in event OF one leaving any
"heel-taps" In his glass the other
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