72 / 226
THE GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION
religiously donated by a series of gentlemen who, at the time of our
first trip to the Islands, were either in various sanatoria for alcoholic
treatment, had been invalided back to the states as incurable dipso–
maniacs, or were dead from probably spirituous causes.
A few years back a chap named Walter E. Antrim showed up from
somewhere down in the South Seas, came to the Manila Hotel and
got him a job as dishwasher-so sing they, speak they, tell they, the
tale-it being Uncle Sam's largest and finest hostelry, and the pride
of the Philippines, naturally.
So, as the old silent movies used to say, time passed, but didn't pass
Monk by. When we got there first in 1926, he greeted our Cruise Staff
at the end of a mile or so of new concrete pier, and we met him then
-the
Manager
of the Manila Hotel.
Now Monk knew how to live life in his own way, and he lived it:
high, wide, and handsome, making friends as he went along. Monk
would roll you, flip you, cut cards with you, for anything from a steam
yacht to a thousand dollars gold and never turn a hair.... The last
we heard he had espoused himself to a handsome titian-haired crea–
ture, and vanished from Manila. Why or where?-we just don't
know.... Anyway we have Monk's letter before us dated March
4th, 1927, passing along several Manila liquids, and calling attention
especially to the
Lintik
Cocktail. Quote:
"· .. the
Lintik
is the smoothest drink which I've run into lately....
Lintik,
as you may know, being Tagalog for 'Lightning' (Tagalog being
the language of a tribe of that name down in eastern Mindanao, the big
island below Manila).
"The main drawback to this concoction is that it must be aged for two
;-reeks, then chilled in an ice bucket without ever coming in contact with
ice. · · · But the final result is well worth that little bother... · Will
be
seeing you next trip out, and we'll test a few in my laboratory, with Wong
to do the mixing!"
,
Good dry gin, 3 bottles
Water,2Yz cups
Lemons, juice 15; peel
IO
Angostura,
2
full tbsp
Sugar,
lY4
lbs
. 72.