The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-26
COCKTAILS AND LOCUSTS.
From London Cycling.

The fat man groaned aloud and descend
ed with a heavy thud to the floor, that the
might search for matches and other
things.
He said that something had bitten him.
1t was really only the business end of the
cockneys cigarette introduced strategeti-
cally beneath the bedclothes with mali
cious intent. But it served to remind the
man from Japan of a strange happening.
Something bitten your" began the Man
from Japan. "Lor',, that's nothing!
Where 1 lived in Java we used to think
nothing of those, nor of those other things
either What we used to get there was
what the South Americans call P. & O.'s
bite six times in a straight line, then
burrow an bring up a family" The Man
from Japan pulled viciously at his pipe
and winked meaningly into the darkness
while the Man form Coventry scratched
his head sympathetically
But the biggest episode in insect life
that have ever met with happened when
1 was staying with a man in Bengal.
Wozzleton was his name, and he was the
finest artist in gin cocktails within the
whole empire of India.
ANY one able to secure Wozzletons
presence of an evening would be sure of
good attendance. 1 have known men to
ride thirty miles across country at the
mystic bidding of the word Cocktails hid
den away in the left hand corner of the
pasteboard, while the Maharajah of jam
boreepoor offered him three lakhs of ru-
PEGS for the recipe. But, as Wozzleton
said, there wasn't any recipe to sell, any
more than one could sell a recipe for
Mendelsshons Songs Without Words or
one of RaphaePs pictures. 1t was a gift,
Wozzleton declared-an inspiration not to
be dulled by the debasing influence of red
gold!
''He would just take bottle of ordinary
Plymouth or Hollands with water sugar
and lemons Then he would take a long
tumbler and produce from his pocket
tiny whisk which he always carried about
with him, inclosed in a little silver and
jewelled shrine. built for it by the Maha-
rajah Then, hey, presto! There was
a gurgle from the bottle musical chink
from the sugar as it fell into the glass,
followed by the churning of the whisk as
Wozzleton let his soul fly loose in its
shirt sleeves. Then in five seconds he
would hand you cocktail that even Sir
Philip Sidney wouldn't have parted with,
though a whole brigade of wounded SOL
tom of the glass.
zone night Wozzleton and I rode out to
a party Philcox the commissioner was
giving the party. 1t was partly to cele-
brate the birthday of his wife, who was
in England, and partly in honor of four
Scotch engineers who had arrived from
Madras, via Glasgow and Shanghai to
erect cotton mill in the district.
cat 9 D. m. Wozzleton commenced his
arts and the four Scotch engineers COM
menced to sing 'Ye Banks and Braes of
Bonnie Doom in mixed Zanzibari and
Cingalese dialect, with a strong accent of
Scotch in their rendering of that delight
full ballad At 10 p. m. they commenced
to fight. They fought, drinking Wozzle-
tons cocktails in the intervals for breath,
till 80 p. M, when they commenced to
weep and to sing Annie Laurie
''Then Wozzleton and mounted our
machines and started to ride over the 10
miles of high road that lay between the
commissioners residence and Wozzleton's
bungalow. 1t was a very dark night,
and there was a dull cracking noise in
the air that almost drowned the voices of
the bullfrogs that sounded from the
swamp by the roadside.
"Wozzleton said that 1t was the mail
train coming through Jamboreepoor juno
ton for our road lay alongside the new
branch of the Jamboreepoor and Brandy
boola railroad. But l knew that the mail
train was not due for another half hour
at least And / began to feel anxious
for II was an unearthly sort of noise that
grated on ones nerves, causing them TO
ask, What next? in a most unpleasant
and disconcerting series of jerks.
Steady Where the deuce are you
riding tor said Wozzleton as my ma
chine went across the road towards him
in a most remarkable and alarming man.
ner
I'm not riding anywhere; I'm side
slipping l replied, as my machine slid off
at right angles to the other side of the
road the hollow tires giving forth pecu-
liar orunching noise foreign to that pro-
duced while running over good, honest dirt
and dust
"Then the going became exceedingly
heavy. and we seemed to be enveloped In
a whirlpool of tiny bodies
"Wozzleton struck match and applied
it to his lamp. The wick sprang to life, |