1903 The Flowing Bowl by Edward Spencer

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THE FLOWING BOWL

which have been macerated for a week or so the pounded leaves and flowering tops of wormwood, together with angelica root, sweet-flag root, star- anise, and other aromatics. The liquor is then distilled, and the result is the decoctions sacred to the " little green fairy," who has accomplished even more manslaughter than the Mahdi, the Khalifa, and the Peculiar People, put together. Ofall the liqueurs absinthe is the most pernicious ; and with many other sins it occupies some time in taking possession of its victim. Like Mr. Chevalier's hero, you " have to know it fust," and after that the rest is easy. Like golf, " scorching," and gambling, once you " get" absinthe, it gets you, and never leaves youwhilst you last; and there is a weird, almost tragic, look about the milky liquid, when diluted with water, as to suggest smoke, and brimstone, and flames, with a demon rising from their midst. But it is only "the little green fairy" ; who is, however, as deadly and determined as any demon. The best absinthe is made in the canton of Neuchatel, Switzerland, and is not made entirely from Wormwood proper, but from a mixture of plants related to it—such as Southernwood (" Old Man "), and another which takes its name from the invulnerable Achilles. But the merry Swiss boy knows a trick worth two of drinking absinthe; so the French get the most of it, whilst some goes to America, and some to the foreign quarters of our great metropolis. The French soldiers learnt to appreciate it, from drinking it as a febrifuge, during the Algerian campaign, 1832-47, and it afterwards became,