The Savannah morning news., 1901-04-09
ETIQUETTE OF DRINKING.
As the Practice of CeremOnious
Tipping is Declining, 1t is
Well to Record the An
Client Rites.
From the London Globe


From the London Globe.
When drinking was society science
that is, when men after dinner settled
steadily down to drinking as a serious
business, when a mans capacity for alb
sorbing strong liquor was sort of Hall
Mark, and when such a phrase could
take his liquor like man" sufficiently
explained the feeling of almost reverence
with which a hardened topper was regard
ed, there became developed etiquette
of drinking which was observed with a
fidelity worthy of a better cause. Drink
ing-at any rate public and polite drink
ing-has well-nigh disappeared, although
its place has been partially occupied by
a system of quiet "nipping," of which our
ancestors were comparatively ignorant,
but few of the old points of drinking
etiquette still linger. For instance, all
toasts were once drunk with mo heel
taps" Nowadays, this rule is only OBJ
served with regard to the toast of the
evening, and then by no means univer-
sally, so that the careful or moderate man
may do honor to a whole list of toasts
with a single glass of wine. If, however,
we are to accept literally the invariable
winding up of the German Emperor's
toasts, Il empty my glass;" it would
seem that in his country the principal Is
still carried out. Again. it was etiquette
of old that no guest should presume to
touch his glass until the first toast of
the evening had been given, and this is
still the rule at military messes, and at
such Eastern dinner tables where the
time honored toasts for special days are
still punctiHously given, such as the
"Sweethearts and Wives" of Saturday
night, the absent Friends" of ordinary
nights and the "Old Folks at Home of
Sunday night. The chief old custom
which still survives is that when the
health of an individual present is pro-
posed, the whole company should stand
and address him by name as they drink
his health, to the accompaniment, at in
formal gatherings, of the chorus, For
He's a Jolly Good Fellow"
When the old Beefsteak was in it's hey
day, says its historian, Mr.. Walter Ar
mold, it was the custom for the President
to propose the bealths of the visitors
separately. This done, and all
speeches were prohibited, they were ex-
pected to rise simultaneously to return
thanks as best they could, the result be-
ing that any attempt by an individual to
return thanks was cheered and applaud
ed down, and, when the confusion had
subsidized, it was gravely proposed sec
conded, and carried that the speeches
of the worthy visitors be taken down
separately and printed at the expense of
the society,"" At this same club it was
one rule that no liquor of a higher value
than port wine be drunk, and that any
member daring to present the society
with liquor without having received per-
mission to do so should be reprimanded
and made to do penance. Apropos of this
in the shepherds Noctes" Hogg is de-
scribing his visit to the Beefsteak Club
Saws Simon to him: What do they
drink port during dinner?" To which the
Shepherd replies: "They do that, Billy.
If ony member cad for aught aboon
port, 1 wadna hae been in his line for
forty shillings as the boyle said. In the
first place, he wad haze been obliged to
take a public rebuke. Ony O. them may
hae as muckle punch as they lige, or
toddy, or twist; but wine of a nominal
higher quality than port they are not al
lowed to taste" Then he proceeds to say
how Lord Saltoun, for presuming to send
a dozen bottles of sublime Highland
whisky from his own cellar, was made
to stand in a white sheet while the Re
corder' rebuked him.
The general taste in drinks has proba-
bly, degenerated. Not only is the old eti-
quette about certain wines for certain
courses becoming disregarded. so that in
these days of the whisky cult man
may take it with his fish or his bird
without laying himself open to a charge
of want of palate, but ii is a common
thing for men actually to smoke while
they are drining port wine-an assault on
the dignity of the wine which the old
time host would have classed in the same
criminal category as the shooting of a
fox. Possibly the universal prevalence
of smoking has a god deal to do with
the debased wine taste of the present day.
Of old, if men smoked they whetted their
whistles with ale, punch, or spirits. but
never with delicate vintages, and the
snuff null occupied the place of the G.
gar box.
But polite society has by no means a
monopoly of drinking etiqutte. Indeed, it
is among the lower strata that one may
note the strictest adherence to forms any
customs There is no point of breeding"
for instance, upon which the poor man
places greater stress than that which
links strict reciprocity with drinking.
Half a dozen men. after their days work,
will enter a public house together. One
of them stands drinks round, and, willy
nilly, each one of the other tive must
stand him a drink In turn.