Year: 1874

What do men find at Mataran's, Pfaff's at
John Duffys that takes them there2 Look
curiOusly i'll at the open door many times in
going by these tavorite resorts, and one will
see nothing that seems very INVITING black
walnut counter, colored glasses aud dark bot
ties, sawdusted floor and stout arm chairs,
walls with fresco borders and theatrical prints.
The charm is one that can't be seen, putting
aside the question of liquor. Oue thing men
have said when asked to name what drew them
there, is the Sociability Of the place. its perfect
freedom and equality, for men are all on
level round bar. There entire frankness of
expression is allowed, and if it runs into gross
ness sometimes, yet it sometimes brings out
the best of q man-the freedom does this,
mind, not the liquor One meets good fellows
there, who are the happiost and most natural
away from the constraints Of society, just as
women are most amiable aud confidential as
they meet in each other rooms with dressing
gowns and hair brushes after they have es-
caped from company below Did the ladies
| find it rksome to be polite and enchanting 1?
| No. but the neglige conclave was none the less
sweet. One cannot tell which delights the


most, the effort of society and being at one $


best, or the luxurious ease Of ones chamber,


but we like them both. Such is the great


charm of drinking saloons to men Of social
|


be only too ready to gainsayit.


If soup and coffee are to counteract the crav.


ing for strong drink they must be the best of


their kind, that is, more than trihe better
! than is commonly served at family tables. Ii


the coffee house is to prove more attractive


than drinking-salOons it will have to be a vast
! Improvement on present models. Decent cheap


eating houses of any sort are a boon to the


virtuous poor in summer no less than IN winter,


though it is impossible to see why they should


be called charities when they pay expenses and


interest beside. 1t would be an injustice not


10 have them, that is ALL But the coffee


house that would draw men away from the


rum-shop must have every charm that the lat


ter can boast save one, and make the place


of that good with something better, not in OuI


educated, refined sense, but better to the half


raw stupid tastes of the felow-men and broth


ers that pious men and happy women would


fain see there.


There is a power in liquor so penetrating


so uplifting for brief time that it is hOpeles:
to combat the desire for it, except by stmula


ting agencies that do its work without its reac
ton. Food that supplies the nerves directly
], will do this, sleep and baths and pleasant ex


ctement will do it, not alone, but taken to
gether Give men some place where they


have a right, the best right to be, where cor


dial cheer presideS, where they may sing, joke
dance. not with the restraint of a moral asylum
upon them, but in the freehold spirits tina
make men laugh and sing in the streets. 1t /
g not rea1ing. rooms that men want, where the.
are not a o we'd to speak above a whisper, ant
the rustling Of paper calls down the libra
rian' s haSty warninr but conversation rooms
r and singing halls and wrestling matches, wher
+ the esprit is enough to keep decent order with
n out so much as placard on the wall. Ever
. soul, whether wealthy or workingman, has
J. right within limits to be happy in it's own way
j. and good people ought to beware how the
e pass upon those limits. Give the free impreS
: siOnable roisterer chance to be rolllcking an
:, free, give the quiet man his corner where h
y can snatch the rest and laugh at his joke
# Give the world amusement Of the most gcnuin
IS sort, fun that is not at all instructing eleva
3, ting, but fun pure and simple, that sends il
1t potent shock through all the nerves, settin
e them to rights when out of sorts, clearing th
is head and freshening body and mind better tha
any elixir handed down from the fall. civ
Of people a chance at this, and at something liA
st broad social fellowship, and see whether ii
st rum-shop can stand against such attraction
in The church should do this work, going o.
Ds with hands filled with the good things of Il
We world, to tempt men away from poison al
a husks. The best woods, the best music, Il
We drama, all the delights of society must
ns popuarlzed, not demOrazed, and put in rea,
q of everybody to thisend. The prohibitory pc
We icy does not work. The counteracting poll
le has not been tried