The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1908-09-18
THE DRINK HABIT


long years before, all sorts OF ehos's
have been made to cure the drink had
ito conquer the evil-but II mas
baf1ed all efforts. and still fiOurisEes.
Having occasion recently 10 loon
over the old files of the Ocala Banner
we came across the following sugses-
tons from Theodore Tilton. AMI re-
publish them for what they are worth;
What do men find at Mataran S. al
Pfaff's. at John Dufys. that taxes
them there? Look curiousIy in the
open door many times in going by
these favorite resorts and one VIII
see nothing that seems very inviting
"a black walnut counter. coloFed
! floor and stOut-arm chairs. walls Win
! fresco borders and theatrical prints.
The charm is inc that can't b seen
putting aside the question OF liquor
/ One thing. men have said when asked
what drew them there. is the socla-
bility of the place, its perfect freedom
and equality, for men are all ON a lev
/ Ell around a bar.
There entire frankness Of express
sion is allowed, and if it runs into
/ grOssness sometimes, yet il some
times brings out the best of man
the freedom does this, mind you. not
the liquor One meets good fellows
there who are the happiest and most
natural away from the CONSTANTS OF
society, just as women are most anna
BILE and confidential as they meet IN
each others rooms in dressing gowns
and hair brushes after they have es-
capped from company below. Did the
ladies find it irksOme to be polite and
enchanting? No, but the neglige con
Clave was none the less sweet one
cannot tell what delights the most.
the effort of society and being at ones
best, or the luxurious ease Of one
chamber, but we like them both. Such
is the great charm of drinking saloons
to men of social temperament II this
idea is wrong they will be only too
ready to gainsay it.
If soup and coffee are to cOunteract
the craving for strong drink, they
must be the best of their kind. that
is, more than trifie better than is
commonly served at family tables
If the coffee house is to prove more
attractive than drinking saloons, i'll
viii have to be a vast improvement
on present models Decent cheap eat
ing houses, of any sort, are a bOOn
to the virtuous poor in summer no
less than winter, though It is impos-
sible to see why they should be called
charities, when they pay expenses and
interest besides. 1t would be an in
justice not to have them, that is all
But the coffee house that would draw
men away from the rum shops must
have every charm that the latter can
boast, save one, and make the place
of that good with something better. /
not in our educated, refined sense. +
but better to the half raw stupid
tastes of the fellow men ami brothers
that pious men and happy women
would fam see there.
There is a power to liquor so pen
etrating, so uplifting for a time, that
it is hopeless to combat the desire |
for it except by stimulating agencies I
that do its work without it's reaction. 4
Food that supplies the nerves directly
will do this, sleep and baths and /
pleasant excitement will do it, not
alone, but taken together. Give men /
some place where they have a right. |.
the best right to be, where cordial
cheer presides, where they may sing. I
joke, dance, not with the restaint of /
a moral asylum upon them, but in !.
the freehold spirits that make men
laugh and sing in the streets. II is 1
not reading rooms that men want. /
where they are not allowed to speak !
above whisper, and the lustling of |
a paper calls down the librarians has
ty warning. but conversation rooms |
and singing halls, and wrestling
matches, where the esprit is enough
to keep decent order without so much
as a placard on the wall. Every soul
whether wealthy, or workingman. has
right within limits to be happv in
its own way, and good people ought |
to beware how they pass upon these |
limits.
Give the free impressionabIe row.
sterer chance to be rollicking and |
free, give the quiet man his corner
where he can snatch the rest and
laugh at his joke. Give the world
amusement of the most genuine sort
fun that is not at all instructing or
elevating, but fun pure and simnIa
that sends it's potent shock through
all the nerves, setting them to rights