1930 The Art of Drinking What and How by Dexter Mason

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THE ART OF DRINKING

You may think it odd that I should preface

this collection of recipes with a foreword on the art

of drinking. On the surface it may appear like a

strident phrase in an otherwse

con fuoco

baccha–

nalian symphony, but in reality the true motive is

atavistic; a recurrence in me of certain characteris–

tics of my remote ancestors; a recurrence of more

primitive and robust types. I have suddenly dis–

covered that drink is good. I have discovered also

that my discovery is nothing unusual; that the

revelation which so suddenly astonished me is in

reality no revelation at all, but rather something that

I had failed to appreciate .

until recently.

A short time ago a relative of mine-one

of my robust ancestors-willed me his c e 11 a r.

Hitherto I had always been somewhat of a recluse;

shunned by the drinking set as it were. Since com–

ing into this bacbuc fortune, my popularity has burst

all bounds. My house has become the centrifugal

from which shoals of animated companions stagger

away in all directions. Where heretofore the intru–

sion of some neighbor bent on the promotion of

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