Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-17
Its Evolution From Cheap Gaudiness
to Present Beauty.
PATRONS ARE BOTH YOUNG AND OLD
Delicious Cool Drinks That Suit
All Tastes.
ARE HELPS TO TEMPERANCE
Written for The Evening Star.

A man need not be old to remember the
| beginning Of the evolution of the soda
| water fountain. Less than a quarter of a
| century ago it was a small, shabby, crab
| bed affair, generally of smoky polished
| marble or cheap FURNISHED red granite with
| four or five flavor spigots. The small fruit
| dealers first took them up, and then the
druggists. The article of soda drawn from
| the old time fountains would not pass mus
| ter today. Fruit f1avors-that is. the actual
| juices crushed from fruits-were then I'M
known, and the favorings were insipid, per-
| fectly obvious chemicals bearing little or
| no resemblance in taste to the fruits whence
| they pretended to proceed. At the outset
| soda water as drawn from the sticky foun-
| tains seemed to be the holiday LIQUID chief
| ly Of little girls and boys, who combined
| the assuagement of thirst with the gratifi-
| cation of their love for sweet things. The
| mother of children would occasionally be
| seen at a soda water fountain sharing a
| glass of the weirdly -colored stuff with her
offspring, but man was seldom or never
| seen at soda water fountain. The sharp
| acid, non-alcoholic liquids that appeal to
| the tobacco-bunted palate of the male BIZ
| ped then formed no part Of the eXuding
| repertoire. as 1t were, of the soda water
| fountain, and ;he man who wanted some
thing coli and Notwithstanding to drink in
| hot weather sot the same at the bar of
saloon in the shape of bottle of pop or
ginger ale or sarsaparilla.
The soda water fountains became hand
somer in appearance as time went on.
| FIavors were invented and added fruit
| juices were substituted for the chemicals
| that had been running from the splgots:
| the tart, nippy, soft drinks. stiffened with
phOSphateS, suitable for the masculine PAL
ate were devised; the shaved ice machine
came along: young men trained in the mix
ing of soft drinks took their posts at the
fiavoring faucets, and-after all of this
gradual evOlution-behold the consumption
of soda water at any of the big fountains
today! On hot day it is about as difficult
to wedge your way up to the counter of a
soda water fountain as it is to buy circus
ticket at the rear end of the ticket seller 8
wagon. 1t is no uncommon thing to see a
lot of people standing in line, waiting for
their turn at the chairs drawn up before
the counter, and the druggist who has a
patronage like this will frankly admit that
his soda fountain does as much business
during the hot months as his prescription
filling plant does Throughout the entire
year Il M
| Some of the fountains cost literally thou
sands of dollars, and the purveyors of soda
water vie with each other in arranging at
tractive, cool-looking and generally invit-
ing soft drink refectories The fountains
are patroniZed byJalmqst many men as
women. and the Sbda water habit has be-
come an adult fad, justas it was at its in
ception juvenile LUXURY. Some of the
medical men HeTcS1y dSSall the SODA water
habit, shake theiR heads gloomily over it,
talk about the destruction of the coatings
of the stomach, The laying of the founda-
ton of dyspepsia and all that sort of thing,
but the soda water fountains go on getting
more of the public nickes and dimes every
year, and, in truth, nobedy seems to be any
the worse for it. 1t is favorite argument
of the medical man who depiores the extent
of the soda water habit that soda
water seriously affects the appetite One
or two glassessDf soda water may tempo
rarily dull the appetite of a man, but 1t is
one of the most ordinary things in life for
woman to drink three chocolate ice cream
Scdas and thenSit down and enjoy hot soup
as prelude to a sizabe dinner-for 10,
there is mighty difference between the
stOmachic pecuiarties of the sexes. Were
the same any part of this article mention
might be made in a properly respectful
spirit of the young woman who is able to
consume pound of rich candies twenty
minutes before dinner and Their sit down
to that meal with brave an appetite as
If nothing had happened.
Agent of Temperance.
The soda water fountain is temperance
agent of a genuinely potent character
The good. palatable and yet not insipid
things served out at the soda fountains of
! today have weaned countless numbers of
men away, for instance from their former
allegiance to beer. A man who doesn't
drink alcoholic beverages for the effect
of the stuff the delusive spiritual exalta-
ton of the same, but for what he thinks
exists of cooling properties In his alcoholic
tlpples, Is very likely to resort to the soda
water fountain for his LIQUID cooling when
ne hnds out the advantages to be derived
therefrom. Since the soda water fountain
became an 1nsstent summer institution
at almost every street corner, sleWS and
slathers of level-headed men have discover
| ed that while the merry high ball and the
iohg; cold bottle of beer work a temporary
check on the heat of their bodies, they
soon Degln reactionary tendency toward
| degree of heat greater than before TAX
| ing when the liquor begins to die" that
Is TO say The long. cold glass of soda
| water these same men find has no furnace
| aftermath. which Is why they pass up de
| stun DAT makes de circulation cirk," in the
| patois or the eminent Chuck Corners, and
| 1aH INTO line at the soda fountains The
| superlhduction Of alcoholic beverages to
| extreme perspiration in hot weather is an
| other factor that has led many a man with
| consideration or two for his personal
| comfort to the soda water fountain.
| =" men the musicians of band. for exam
| PIC, deliberately stalk by numerous beer
| saloons IN order to lire up before soda
| Water fountain at a corner drug store it
| may reasonably be maintained that the
| SOFA water fountain has a pretty decided
| clutch in Washington. This happened
| ABOUT a week ago within the vision of a Star
| man At the conclusion of an open-air con-
cert fuily one-half of the musicians took up
| IL
| Dig scda water fountain, where they cooled
! tnelr fevered threats with limades and
| lemon phoSphates and innocuous wet things
OF that character Twenty years ago the
| Dandsm3n who did not assuage his after
| the-coilcert thirst with several large, dank.
| vertical draughts OF beer would have fallen
| under the suspicion of his comrades.
| washington is q soda water town all
throrsh Everybody seems to be addicted
| TO TIE harmless lamiable soda water vice
| mere Not only DO the downtown foun-
| Jams appear to require refilling many times
| a day, owing to the demands made upon
lhem by the patroiling workaday popula-
uon ana the shoppers. but the uptown drug
| stores seem to be continually busy in
their soda water departments on hot days
on not nights particularly. There is
| Psychologlcal moment on a warm night
when the young man sitting on the front
| steps OF Her home uptown feels the i'm
pulsion toward the corner drug store. and
| even married meKi have been known to in
| VIE their soouses5 thitherwards or evenings
| When the Thermometer has been comfort
| ing near the apex. Strangers from other
| citles coming to- Washington to indulge
themselves in feast iof beauty have but
10 take their stand near an uptown drug
| store WhiCl hasa well-cOndit soda