THE ALUMNI JOURNAL, 



55 



American. It was neither. The great 

 source of evil in this country, and one 

 which social reformers seem to overlook, 

 is the abominable practice of what is 

 termed "treating." This is decidely 

 English, and should be done away with. 

 Just look at it for a moment. Suppose 

 you desire to take one drink, but in the 

 saloon should happen to meet several 

 friends. Common civility or custom re- 

 quires you to invite them to a drink, each 

 one then invites the other just for appear- 

 ance sake, and you leave with three 

 drinks, whereas you only desired one. 



To illustrate the German custom, let 

 me tell you what befell me in a little 

 German village. It was at the time when 

 the cholera raged in Europe, and having 

 made its appearance in Paris where I was 

 stopping, I crossed into Germany. I 

 struck a small villagenear the Rhine, and 

 put up at a place called the hotel, but 

 from the noise and bustle required to pre- 

 pare my room, I was quite convinced 

 several months must have elapsed since 

 my predecessor had revived his weary 

 frame upon the downy bed. But I should 

 not call this bed downy, tor it was very 

 uppy — one of those old-fashioned kind 

 which required a step ladder to reach the 

 top with. In the morning while peace- 

 fully taking my breakfast, an oflBcer 

 entered and inquired whether a stranger 

 was stopping there. I wondered if it 

 was a crime to be a stranger. In order 

 to stimulate my appetite for breakfast, I 

 was informed the burgomaster desired to 

 see me, and with visons of extradition 

 treaties and international complications 

 before my mind, I appeared before his 

 august personage. The magistrate inter- 

 ested himself in the date and place of my 

 birth, and actually asked me if I ever 

 had the cholera! This seemed so humor- 

 ous that I could not help smiling, as I 

 negatived the proposition. 



I was released upon giving this in- 

 formation, the freedom of the village was 

 at my disposal, and the cholera examina- 

 tion was at an end. In the evening I 

 was introduced to the " 400 " which, by 

 the way, consisted of but eight persons : 

 the burgomaster, the school teacher, the 

 druggist, the doctor, the general mer- 

 chandise man, etc. The rendezvous of 

 these celebrated dignitaries was at my 

 hotel and we all gathered about a large 

 round table preparatory to spending the 

 evening in talking and drinking. I felt 

 I was the guest of honor and of course 

 related about my travels. Forgetting 

 that I was not in America, I was about 

 to say, "What will you have, gentle- 

 men ? " just like a true American, when 

 one of the " 400 " rang the bell. A maid 

 appeared and he ordered a drink, entire- 

 ly ignoring me and the rest. The others 

 then ordered their drinks and I wound up 

 at the finish. During our animated con- 

 versation, if the enthusiasm of the speaker 

 " drove him to drink," he would do so, 

 order another and continue his discourse. 

 During the progress of the evening some 

 drank eight, some six, some four glasses, 

 but under our blessed system each man 

 would be required to drink eight glasses 

 and perhaps more than his system could 

 afford. 



As you see " treating " is not part of 

 the German system. But I wish to speak 

 more especially of the German beer or 

 concert garden. And this is apropos 

 of the discussion which our Mayor has 

 evoked by his opionion regarding the 

 opening of saloons on Sunday. And I 

 wish to emphasize the fact that a strict 

 observance of Sunday law cannot be ob- 

 tained in this city, for a personal canvass 

 last Sunday showed me that although 

 the front curtains are down and the doors 

 locked, a thrifty business was done within. 

 In Germany such places are open and in 



