Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-30

Written for The Star.
The hoary plant that things are not as
they used to be- certainly holds good so
far as New Year day is concerned.
One of the most marked differences be-
tween the old and the new kind of New
Year day is the conspicuous absence OF
abnormal consumption of spirituous liquors
on the latter
Time was, not so many years ago, when
the streets of all our cities and towns were
filled from dawn TIL long after decent bed
time with men in all stages of intoxicatlon.
Not only were rowdies out in drunaen
gangs; you were as likely to meet with
bunch of your own friends. every mother s
Son of them at least half seas over. True,
they were clad in frock coats and high
hats and carried canes. and only their
maudlin conduct put them on a level with
the dyed-in-the-wool toughs about them;
but all the same tough and friend were
drunk for one purpose-and that TO cele-
brate the beginning of the new year.
The toughs got theirs in the usual
way. as a rule; your friends theirs at
their friends houses. perhaps. Who of the
oIuer generation Of iudulgers in things IN
tOXCatiDg has not taken a wee Dit 100
much while making New Year calls? 1t
was considered good form to drink heartily
then, II mt no other time of the year: and
slips of girls and young matrOns, who
would have fruwned upon tipping at any
other time Eut il was New Year, and II
was the custom, and nobody, seemingly,
found particular fault with 1t.
Or the jays were acquired at those bars
which made a specially of letting it be
known that everything is on the house
on the first day Of the year. They set out
elaborate spreads on the lunch counters,
and any one was welcome 10 step in and
up and receive whatever he'd like in the
LIQUID or food line. So il was al many
clubs, where the display of vlands was
even more elaborate than at the fashionable
srog sHops.
A Passing Custom.
But there came a time-t1 is not ten
years in the past-when society decided
that New Year calling had become passe.
That doomed the practice, and it is curious
to note that. with calling no longer fashion
able, the saloons began to stop standing
treat until today the custom has all but
died ont in the larger cities. In New York
only few of the oid-style Rowery saloons
cling to the custom; the drink palaces
have long since cut it out" in the Ian
guage of their sleek, white-coated, drink
mixing artists
AS for the clubs. let a New York man
who belongs TO about a score tell of mis- eX-
periences in search Of entertainment last
New Year:
Il decided to do the clubs IN one-two-
three order. just to find out what they
were doing to celebrate the day, and TO
celebrate a little myself. The first club L
entered was my political one. In the old
days the corridors and the bar room amd
the dining hall were crowded. There we're
Just six bored-looking men present, besides
the equally bored-looking fiunkies. At the
literary club a half-baked poet and one or
two cronies were discussing everything but
New Year over an afternoon bottle At
the business club l found not a SOUL while
the athletic club was the only one which
had provided a layout along the lines OF
the Old-fashiOned sort. But while perhaps
hundred and fifty men were present there
was enough food for five times that number
and trust you believe me-mighty ut
tie drinking was going on. 1 was as
founded"
Less Drinking Now.
Open house has gone. The saloon cele-
bration has vanished So has the club
welcome. Withal, drinking and carous-
ing have disappeared. But still there are
those who hold that were decidedly a
more Incorporate people than we used
TO be-
With the passing of these allied forms of