The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-09-12
ONE OF CONNECTICUT'S
GRAND OLD MEN.
Such Is DR.. Mum, Who Is Against Vac
icination of School Children and
for Equal Rights to Dogs.

DR.. S. b. Mum. who celebrated his
eightleth birthday on Sunday, is one of
the grand old men of Connecticut. lie
is still active in the practise Of his pro-
~fession, in the unmuzzling of dogs, and in
the warfare on the hellish compulsory
vaccination laws. He is vigorous enough,
mentally and physically, to take the stump
for himself for mayor this fall on a plat
form Of no vaccination of school children
and equal rights for dogs, If he happens
to think Of it. Younger men who envy his
vitality may wonder how he preserved 1t.
Wen, here is his prescription as given In
an Interview in Monday mornings Repuo-
here is the secret of long life:
Although l am eighty years old today.
L really don't feel 1t. Forty years ago I
conn enced to take about half an ounce
Of pure whisky every night and to this [
attribute my splendid physical condition"
How is that for a jolt for the Blue Rib
bon army? Can't you hear the rum demon
chuckle? procession of men filing
alorg~ Leavenworth street is the onrush of
newly enlightened Waterburians en- route
Tor the doctors office to ascertain what
brand OF whiskey he drinks. They want
all the facts obtainable on this important
subject They want to know how the doc
tor takes his medicine; whether neat, or
diluted with water land If 80, how much),
or as a seductive mixed drink, or In the
shape of the comforting hot ~toddy-the
punch sung of by the poets, the delicious
brew that gilds the clouds of the departed
day with the promise of a still happier to-
AT the rear door of the doctors resi-
dence is a smaller, but even happier,
gathering. Here w see the wholesale and
retail liquor dealers, the whiskey drum
mers, a delegation from the B~artenders'
Union, the executive board of the Mixolo-
gists' Club, and others. They want him
to accept a testimonial In the shape of a
few cases of the real thing. They want
him to say that he has tried the Green
Mountain, or the understood Rye, or the
Willow Run and found it not wanting, The
Bartenders' Union and the Mixologists'
Club want to offer him honorary member
ships. 1t is not any sense of shame at
their respective missions that brings them
to the back kitchen door, rather the fear
tnat an unfeeling public might suspect
commercial motives.
1t is true that there Ia one unha INV
quarter. The meeting behind closed doors
at the w. C. T.. u. headquarters is a COM
fortress sort of an affair. The good ladies'
had not expected this and know not what
10 do. What can they do but claim II
never touched them? But elsewhere all is
sunshine. SO let us not digress.
Still. 1t is fitting to utter a word of
warming at this suspicious moment. The
doctor takes half an ounce a day. We
have 1t straight over the telephone from
Webster's drug store that there are six
teen ounces In a pint so that In forty
years the doctor has consumed exactly
1861 pints, or 22S quarts, which is fifty
seven gallons. Less than a barrel of
whiskey in forty years. Not by any means
a new high record 1t does not follow that
the results woul nave been equally happy
II he had forty barrels in forty
years. Still less does 1t argue that II the
doctor had gotten away with it at the rate
of forty barrels a year he would now be
celebrating his one hundredth birthday in
stead of his eightieth, Moderation In all
things should be the ~watchword.
Furthermore. it is pure whiskey that Is
specified. If you wouldlemulate the doctor,
look to your distilleries.
And in conclusion let young America re-
member that the doctor was born in 1897.
His constitution antedates the Mexican war,
His tomac is a relic Of a past generation.
Perhaps they do not make such nowadays,
1t is not given to all to drink of the Foun-
tain of Youth. Ponce de Leon never
found 1t.
Bnt, anyhow, even If it might not be
good for us, 1t was good for the doctor.
May he live to enjoy many another bed
time swig! May he continue to roll up his
score until the n~inetieth and to the hun.
dredth yeari The brave old veteran who
takes his every night and is not ashamed
to say SO is a too rare figure in these
degenerate days. 1t was not so in the con.
sulship of Plancus!
Long life and good health to DR.. Mum
and may plenty fill a trimming horn fol
him. Hoch! Vival-Waterbury Republi.