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THE BON VIVANT's COMPANION
drank no more for three days, for the effect of a Blue
Blazer, prepared in an artistic manner, is by no means
ephemeral. This noble drink soon became the most popular
winter beverage on the Pacific Coast, but the strain of
constantly preparing it so wearied Professor Thomas that
within a few months he concluded to retire from the practice
of his art for a short period of recuperation. He therefore
resigned his position as First Assistant to the Principal
Bartender of the El Dorado,and betook himself to the Yuba
River gold fields, near Donaville, where he staked out a
claim and busied himself with the prosaic occupation of
digging gold. But after a week he could no longer stand
supinely by and witness the monstrous indignities which the
unskilled bartenders of Donaville perpetrated nightly upon
helpless liquors, and he returned to his life work, tending
bar in the saloon owned by Claycraft & Cheever. During
the daylight hours, however,he continued to work his mine,
and by the following spring had amassed a fortune of some
$16,000 in gold dust. And having by that time educated the
Donaville bartenders in good mixing habits, he cast about
for other cultural benefits that he might confer upon the
booted and bewhiskered miners.
After a careful survey of the field. Professor Thomas de
cided that the principal need of the gold fields was refined
amusement.Itis true that the mining camps fairly swarmed
with drinking places, and dance halls staffed by hussies in
short skirts, but Professor Thomas judged that such enter
tainment as they provided was neither refined nor educa
tional; he was especially pained by the drinking habits of
the hussies and their admirers, who generally took their
liquor straight and thereafter abandoned themselves to dis
graceful antics. To remedy this situation, he organized a
minstrel band, with which he toured the gold country
throughout the summer. Ned Beach and Tom King were
the end men, while the troupe also included Billy Wallace,
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