The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1905-10-13

would be Dette1 WITHOUT 1l-lel 1i4iii
get straight. Nearly all the whlskey
that is sold over the bar is "blended'
that is to say, poisoned. The gov
ernrnent licenses this nefarlous bus1-
ness, so pronotive pf sudden and
premature death. The blenders will
take barrel of real Kentucky bour-
bon, OF real Pennsylvania rye, mix 1t
with two barrels of that Peoria vile
ness, put little burnt sugar and
parched dried peaches in it to give
it smothness and flavor, and add to
the concoction enough "bead oll' to
give it countenance, and that is what
causes so much 'lleart failure and
Bright's disease that are so consplc-
uous in the obituary columns OF the
daily papers.
George Washington drank TIE best
LIQUOR, and he drank it straight, and
the same is true of Andrew Jackson.
Jackson, however, preferred his rath
er Young, and would drink it new from
th he worm. On one occasion it tell
to me to go to Madison county, KY.
and interview Gen. Cassius NJ. Clay.
The old lion met me at the portal and
gave me a l1ospitable reception. tie
showed me his baronial hall, his pic
lures, his books and his weapons.
Then he fetched forth some liquor.
The first was some brandy, 81 years
old. 1t was insipid and generally only
produced as a curiosity. Then he pro-
duced brandy 18 years old, and the
gods of high Olympus never quaffed
nightier mead.
Thou clears the head O dotted Liar:
Thou cheers the heart o. dropping
Care;
Thou strings the nerves o Labor salr.
Ats weary toll.
Thou ever brightens dark despair
WI gloomy smile.
took hog diver while the general
turned his back, and though it was
above proof, it was oily, mellow, CRATE
ful. generous, whatever of Imagination
I had it awakened, all my mental en-
ergies it quickened and caused me to
hang on the lips of the wonderful
old man as he gave me his impress
sions of Russia.
It was not until the King of Day
had nearly -un his course in the
Heavens that I mounted my horse TO
return to Richmond, and l am nearly
ready to say that brandy was about
the best liquor I ever partook of.
There is a tradition that James
Buchanan kept rhe, best whlskey OF
any of the presidents. I have read
the statement thar he had in his cel-
lar at Wheatland enormous quantl-
ties of the best rye whiskey in the
world when he died. 1t was said, and
the story was told with the precision
and circumstanriality that gave the
impress of truth, that whiskey-that
is, good whiskey and such whlskey
as he drank-had no other lntoxlca-
ing effect on James Buchanan than
gentle exhilaration, and that he could
drink a gallon of it day with hout per-
ceptible effect on his physique or the
SLIGHTEST disorder of his mind.
There was story that John Tyler.
when presid ent, wanted to- find Out
what the democratic party was doing
in the field of politics, and with that
end in view selecred two seasoned
Virginia topers to interview Buchanan
then a senator in congress, get him
drunk and induce him to talk. The
parties met at the Astor House in
New York and shortly after midnight
Tyler's emissaries were both under
the table and old Buck, in full possess
sion of all his faculties and President
Tyler's political secrets, trotted off to
bed.
There is story of the cellar of an
other Pennsylvania statesman, Simon
Cameron. 1t is said there were sew
eral barrels of cherry bounce" in