New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-09-03
xcuse my emotion" 4 said huskity.
hose are tears of sUonder and
admiration
yALKER ard met for a farewell din
ner at Antoine's before separating
for our enforced vacations. Walker

mad tryst with a surgeon upstate
49, was to see what the hills of Vermont
Id do for lack of ambition and general
rthlessness So after the fashion of unwil-
exiles from New York we had final fling
tonnes doesn't figure in this story except
starting point, but for the benefit of
al.ld pig fanciers I'll say that it is on a
&c street IN the Forties; and if you walk
and look embarrassed former sergeant
asor in the United States Army will give
q card of membership and unlock the
'er into discreet dining room on the second
back. Antoine serves excellent food at
Moderate price and excellent ales wines
ID liquors at price not so moderate.
Walker and / had some of each The
eors at Antoine's are notable Antoine saws
are pre-prohibition, but as long as steam
s. ps continue to ply the Atlantic between
] ew York and Benedictine he can have his
1sese joke. recommend the Benedictine espe-
". It is like yellow silk, now that |
rch about for a suitable smile. What /
s "A at the time was slick
For my last drink what could leave
Isssanter taste in my mouth | said
Why, last drink" Walter asked Swear
i.'g OFF,"
No. said.
Well, them" said Walker.
Well" I said, "at twelve dollars a bottle I
can't take enough good Scotch to last, and so
] n not taking any"
Nonsense" said Walker. "You don't have
t. take it with you. Get it in Vermont"
See here, my good man." ! cut in. "you
Few Workers are the most provincial people
il the world You think that as New York
inks, so drinks the nation. You're so be-
tszzled by the lights and so stunned by the
laar of traffic that you can't see or think
yond Van Cortlandt Park. Now, out there
Ill the great open spaces'-
THE art of home-brewing has been devel-
efed to high degree of efficiency Walker
froke in.
Don't interrupt / said. "Out there in
tae great open spaces where men are men,
C demon rum is just misty figure in an
cd mythology. Consult your statistics
Where did the prohibition movement begin?
Why, out there where every man has his own
1t of garden and the little woman does her
cwn homework. They don't need liquor in
their healthy, happy lives. It's only you New
Workers going the pace all day and all night
who need alcoholic stimulants for your witch
Jag nerves.
Nevertheless Walker argued, "out there
n the great open spaces some of the space is
used for the cultivation of apples, grapes,
corn and grain. All these flora and fauna,
properly treated, produce liquor. The taste
for liquor doesn't have to be produced; it's
always been there and it always will. Unless
you are thinking of signing the pledge which
] strongly advise you to do, don't regret the
liquor you are leaving behind. / do think
49,
ton, whenever the nation can get it. !.
Which reminds me- that this is one of the times
when we can get it.
Even If you do swear off, and you'd better
give it some serious thought" Walker re-
sumed, 81 suggest you make some inquiries
among the men who are men in Vermont.
Among other ailments you've got Anti
Saloon League complex A little investiga-
ton may help yon get rid of it"
This was agreed upon and the bond was
sealed with a fve-star finale. The following
morning as my train flashed out of the tunnel
into the sunlight, with its nose pointed into
the hills, / thought of the compact and smiled
Walker was wrong--a good fellow but hardly
a right thinker. | recalled my childhood and
recollected that even in those ancient days the
countryside was at work for prohibition
Under the auspices of the Loyal Temperance
Legion we youngsters studied the devastating
effects of alcohol upon the human form, poured
over charts illustrating the irritation of the
delicate lining of the human stomach, the be-
fuddlement and coarsening of the cerebrum
and cerebelum. Cur generation was trained
from birth for the great fight to Dust the
demon finally and forever from every state
and territory, Of course, some of US simply
waited until we were old enough to get it, and
then went and got it; but that, reflected was
not the general result.
Only once in my youth did the liquor forces
get control of my village, and I remember well
the figurative ringing of bells, the laundering
OF cannon that celebrated their defeat two
years later. Never again did the rum seller
set up his establishment in my little bit 81
country. So smiled at Walkers theory. He
was wrong. In America beyond the Hudson
the demons doom had been sealed long before
the days Of volstead
1Eastland!' shouted the conductor and /