82 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 



It is for the sake of being roused ; it is to be stimulated ; 

 it is, in plain language, to have the first exhilarations of 

 drunkenness that laboring men drink, will drink, and have 

 always drank cider, beer, wine, and brandy. The result of 

 affording wine in abundance to such people as ours, will be 

 to prepare them for a stronger drink just as soon as wine, 

 by frequent use, is no longer stimulating enough. Wine 

 will play jackal to brandy for the rich, and to whisky for the 

 poor. We have some facts on hand touching this popular 

 wine-drinking, which, if necessary, we shall employ at 

 another time. Meanwhile, we are glad to see grape-cul- 

 ture spreading for the production of table-grapes ; for the 

 manufacture of wine, in so far as a supply of pure wine is 

 needed for medicinal purposes. Further than that, we are 

 opposed to wine-making. And as to cheating whisky out 

 of its authority over " the dear people " by the blandish- 

 ments of hock and champagne, or redeeming our barley 

 and cornfields from the abominable persecutions of the 

 brew-tub and the still, by the conservative energy or evan- 

 gelizations of grape juice, we shall believe it when we see 

 it ; and we shall just as soon expect to see fire putting out 

 fire and frost melting ice, as one degree of alcoholic stimu- 

 lus curinof a hiofher one. 



To PRESERVE Garden Sticks. — It is desirable wh^n 

 one has prepared good sticks for supporting carnations, 

 roses, dahlias, etc., to preserve them from year to year. The 

 following preparation will make them last a man's lifetime : 

 When they are freshly made, allow them to become tho- 

 roughly dry ; then soak them in linseed oil for some time, say 

 two or three days. When taken out let them stand to dry 

 till the oil is perfectly soaked in ; then paint with two coats 

 of verdigris paint. No wet can then penetrate. 



