Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-29
THE
BRITISH
CRISIS


| LONDON, July 20.-Tradition tells of
| an Englishman who visited America and
| went back home to report that the CHIEF
| difference between England and the
| United States was that in his own
| country the barnaid measured your
whisky and let You pour your own wa
| ter, while in America a barman. meas
ured ycur water and let you pour your
own whisky. Startling as this difference
may have appeared in his eyes. it is GER
| tain that an American in England, even
| if he confined his Investigations only to
barrooms, would find many differences
quite as amazing.
Everybody who knows anything at all
in that intangible pigment called local
| color AS the traveller faring in a
strange country, if he be courteous, is
wont to pledge his host in the wine of
that country, so every nook and corner
of the tipping world has it's own pc
culiar methods and customs of selling and
| drinking liquors. The New Yorker in
San Francisco is astonished when in
vited by a bartender to pour his poison
out of an innocent silver teapot directly
|
| vention of a small whisky glass for
| measuring purposes. The San Franciscan
| in New York is none the less astonshed
| by the appearance on the bar of the use
! less small glass, and he pours his drink
| awkardly from the bar bottle upon the
| ice with an accuracy of Judgment that
| is its own reward.
| But the barrooms of England, particu-
larry those of London. are wholly I'M
| like the saloons of the United States.
| In all OF her countries wpSt all
men are equal before the shrine of Bac-
chus. and there is democratic freema-
sonry among drinking men which wipes
out all distinctions of caste.
| There was once a learned lawyer in
| Mississippi who sometimes looked too
| long upon the wine when it was red. His
| family and friends attempted to shield
| him from temptation. and when there
| was work for him to do none of the local
| bartenders would supply his demand when
| when he had gone beyond a certain mel
low stage. One day, being possessed of a
| terrific thirst, he gave dollar to a mis-
cradle hobo who CHANGED to pass by and
| asked the tramp to buy a bottle of
whisky and bring it back to him in the
| courthouse yard.
The Judge was an aristocrat of the
| ante-bellum southern type, whose or
binary bearing was dignified 20 the point
| of auSterty. But now he was in his
| cups. The ragged hobo brought back the
| liquor and he and the judge drank deep
| ly. Then, thick as thieves, they went to
sleep together on the courthouse green.
After while they awakened. each with
| a burning thirst The judge in his cava-
| lier fashion asked the tramp to drink
| first. AS the bottle left his lips it fell
| from his shaking fingers to the ground
and was broken into bits. Instantly the
judges demeanor changed. He drew him
self up to his full height and in voice of
steel said: Sir, | ask you to leave me.
| The tie that bound US has been broken >
| London is devoid even of this demo-
| cracy of drinking. Its barrooms are
| stratified and
Democracy of Drinking classified. not
Unknown in England. with ,heiS
situation in the various quarters of the
city, ranging from the sums of White
chapel to the palaces of West End. but
| each particular barroom in itself accen-
| tuates the class distinction of it's Gus
| toners.
| Possessed of penny. which rs two
cents in American money. the poverty
stricken, but thirsty Hooligan, may enter
at the door labeled Public Bar" Inside
he may impinge upon the polished oak OF
| the bar and for his one penny the bar
maid will serve him with glass of bitter
ale. And then he may take his ease in
the inn. the equal. socially and otherwise.
| of every other man in that particular
room.
| But if he will lean over the bar he will
| see another room, but half concealed by
a separating partition and a narrow glass
| screen set on the bar. That room is
| entered from the street through a portal
bearing the legend Private Bar The
| same barmaid serves the same bitter ale
| from the same cask over a continuation
| of the same bar to the patrons of this
more exclusive nook, and for each glass
she charges tuppence, which is, being in
| terpreted, two pence or four cents.
4 If the Hooligan has another penny, and
will buy another glass of bitter and
| will crane his neck over the bar and look
| in another quarter he will discover still
| another room, a much more pretentious
room, a room fitted with tables and
| chairs, and perhaps with a bit Of carpet
This last room is also reached from the
| outside, perhaps through a long corridor
| and over its entrance is the sign Saloon
| Bar" This is the very haunt of the
aristocracy. for once within it's sacred
| walls the same glass Of bitter" served
by the same barmaid from the same cask
| over a continuation of the same bar will
cost the purchaser no less than ''thrup-