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j;
gin
And just as we were going to press some
one asked us about the origin of cocktails.
So we scurried about and this is what we
learned:
A little more than a hundred years ago the
squire of a little country inn in America lost
his beautiful prize fighting-cock. He loved that
cock as he loved nothing else on earth except
his daughter, and he offered her hand in mar
riage to the man who would bring back his
bird unharmed. Many weeks passed and then
one morning a young army officer rode up to
the inn with the cock under his arm—-not even
a single feather missing from its magnificent
tail.
The squire, overjoyed, called for drinks
that all might toast the tail of the cock, and
the daughter, excited at sight of her future
husband, mixed whisky and vermouh together
by mistake. Everyone liked the concoction
and it was christened "Cocktail." The officer
later introduced it to his fellow officers. It
became famous in the American army and
finally its fame spread all over the world.