1911 Beverages de luxe

BY

T he Troubles

FANNING O'REILLY Associate Editor " The Steward " New York

J.

of Absinthe

People on this side of the Atlantic Océan find it hard to understand the crnsade tliat bas been waged in Europe against the manufacture and sale of Ab- sinthe, most likely because, in the United States, the article is only consuined in a moderate way, by rea- son of its tonic and rejuvenating effect on Systems

that are run down, tired, or that need a wholesome stimulant. The opposition which arose against the beverage in France and Switzerland within the past five years is generally regarded as being résultant from the old trouble of abuse as against rational use. The countries mentioned have in the past been among the largest distillers of the tonic, and, strange to say, it is mainly within their confines that there is any protest of conséquence against the article, which, beyond doubt, has been "more sinned against than sinning," on account of much that has been writ- ten against it in prose and poetry. The pace was set in this respect by Marie Corelli's highly sensational and wierd romance entitled "Worinwood." Since that unsavory pièce of literature, with its fantastic and wildly imaginative pictures of the mental and physical conditions generally following the use, and, of course, the abuse, of Absinthe, first saw the light, ail kinds of writers have toyed with it, and with about the same degree of iividity and unction that a playwright takes up the subjects of love or matrimony, whereby to bring forward some newly dis- covered phase of an old subject. Ail this sort of thing has sure enough hurt the manufacture, sale and consumption of as hon- cst and well-meaning a product as was ever distilled. It sur- vives much abuse, although many an ink-slinger has proclaimed its epitaph. It is no purpose of this writer to either eulogize or to condemn, but simply to freshen the mind of the reader concerning an article in the wine and spirit trade that may be truthfully said to have had a chequered history, and presented as much opportunity for the use of printers' ink as almost any- thing on, at least, the list of modem beverages. I say modem, because I believe the first reliable data we have concerning Ab- sinthe goes back no further than to the time of the campaigns following the death of Napoléon 1., when French soldiers came across the wormwood herb in Algiers ( 1832-47 ) , and there and then discovered its tonic and aromatic effects, when they much needed something to restore their shattered health. As to the history of the herb wormwood of itself, one