Some of them had been distillers for generations past; they were proud of the purity of their product.

Men of all stations in life drank freely and with no sense of shame in their drinking.

Mainly they took their'n straight or in toddies; in those parts, twenty years ago, the high-ball was looked upon with suspicion as a foreign error which had been imported by misguided individuals up North who didn't know any better than to drown good liquor in charged water.

There were decanters on the sideboard; there were jimmy-johns in the cellar; and down at the place on the corner twenty standard varieties of bottled Bourbons and ryes were to be had at an exceedingly moderate price.

Bar-rail instep, which is a fallen arch reversed, was a common complaint among us.
Even elderly ladies who looked with abhorrence upon the drinking habit were not denied their wee bit nippy.