The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-06-09
BLUE MANUAL IS l. THE MOST POPULAR
 VOLUME IN LONDON
Gives Receipts for All the Drinks Once So Popular
 In America
By GEORGE T. BYE

|
 London, May 5.-tReclprocal News serv- | ice. )-Hav:ng seen number of American men (you tell them by their graceful shoes) going around London with blue handbooks, I determined I must have one. l The newest street guide, I thought with | keys to all the historical places. The | very next time l saw one of the little books in action Git was in the Savoy Ho- | tel lobby where the man was profoundly
 turning the pages), stepped up to him ! and asked him where he had made his purchase.
 Mighty useful aren't thew" he cheerily responded, slapping his knee | with it. Then he asked me if knew where the American Express Company's office was in Haymarket, and if l re-
 membered the theater, Haymarket the | atre. next door. "Well. next door to the | theatre you'll see the books in the wins dow That's how l ran across mine. Now | find that nearly every American carries one around with him. I wouldn't be with out it-as long as I'm here. Guess I'll take it home as souvenir. Will you I step in with me and have a little some | thing?"
 | There is nothing self-contaned about 1 me, so l smiled my thanks to the courte- ous stranger, fullS unconscious of the object of his invitation. Imagine my sut l prise when he pushed ball-bearing door
  | liquor was being served It was a so- called American bar" I did not hang back. I am no witless prude about those things.
 | My friend faced about. When I come 1 in here with a new oldtimer, I always | like to chant the old hymn first" And softly. but With remarkable play of ex- pression on his face, he broke out with a bit of vulgar doggerel that I seemed | to have heard long ago.
 wish I was in Happyland Where rivers of beer abound, With sloe-gin rickies hanging on the trees
 And highballs rolling on the ground, What?
 Here he punched me in the ribs. I was at loss what to say. Some an- swer seemed solicited. "Whatever I'm supposed to say, l say cheerfully de- pend upon it." I assured him com panionably. He was a bit impatinet. Yes he said, you're supposed to re. tpeat What, highballs rolling on the What, highballs rolling on the ground?" Then, with the utmost good | humop his face breaking into the merriest and most significant of smiles, he first gave the gutter songs answer | in speaking voice, ending with the | sweetest notes of his very capable ! baritone:
 My goodness, yes!
 Highballs r-r-r-rolling on the ground. | The blue book, with which he had been gesturing. he now opened and | asked: What will it be?" He thumbed l over the pages and I was startlingly l edified to read the titue of the broch- ure, Receipts for American Drinks" So that was the quest of my fellow i icountryman. This was their common tourist manual. Regrettable indeed that they could not find full satisfae- tion at home in their superior habita- tions' and ways of working and living! They must come over here for the
 medieval fluid drugging of the white l light" dark agesl
 l tore the volume from the strangers s
 hands. The page was open al Bosom Caresses." Fill tumbler," I read stern ly, with clipped ice; put in a tea spoonful of raspberry syrup and new
 laid egg; add liquor glass full of
 brandy and a little milk; shake well.
 and strain off into a pony tumbler." paused and looked up. Do they do that sort of thing here?"
 "Oh, for sure" almost shouted my friend in confirmation. All you have to do is to choose your drink and pass the book over the bar. These bar maids make 'em according to printed
 directions. But maybe there's some =
 thing else. There's plenty of stuff in
 here with more of . wallop than a Bosom Caresser.'"
 He politely took the book back. I had already seen in it illustrations of
 mixers, ice shavers and other appara- tus described as being Of an American mature. Here's good one," he quick l ly fluttered the alphabetical pages. l "Oh, yes, here it is. The Chest Pro- l tector,' but no, that's very much like
 the Bosom Caresser' excepting that it has nutmeg on top. A 'Coaxer-no-
 ah, Corpse Reviver'-or Flash of lLighting'-both pretty good. Or a l 'Fisherman's Prayer'--or a Leave-It to
 Me'-or 'Maiden's Blush. I'm sorry they can't do Mint Julep.' It doesn't l come out right at all. I've locke ed
 around in Paris, too, so you can just
 as well bid good-by to Mint Juleps for all time.
 Pink Carter Old Chum's Re-
 viver,' Pick kMe-Up.' 'Pousse LAmour, 1 'Pousse Cafe'-theyre all good Here's | the Stars and Stripes know 1t? This lis what it says: Take a thin. long l1iquor glass, put in equal quantities of
 red noyeau. maraschino, yellow char treuse. green curacoa and brandy in the order given, and you will see stripes in the glass. When you have
 drunk the compound look up in the | sky and you will see stars Ho. ho!
 Pretty good reading that.
 "Or a Stone Fence or Thunder any of them sound enticing. The girls make all the usual Hzzes and sours and l cocktails. too. Only a few things miss- ling, a 'Swissesse' and 'Sazarak' and New Orleans Fizz' and that good old Ojen Cocktail Ingredients of them
 died with prohibition. Well. what's it
 going to be?"
 l You appreciate my position. I had listened too long to pretend to be ab- stemious. There seems to be no juris- diction of constitutional amendments l over citizens here. actually or morally. The best people do it. had innocent l ly blundered into a situation from which I could remove myself unal- l coholically only with some guilt-the guilt of rule. austere puritanical- ness. You can see how I argued it out, pro and con, with myself.
 I'm afraid you won't find me much
 up on these things I finally ventured.
 face no doubt fiery. IT know none l of these beverages you have mentioned.
 but it seems to me there is palata-
 ble one having to do with district in
 New York and multiplied by two--is l there not?" | Multiplied by two" he puzzled.
 You mean a double some thing ?-ah. a