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JAMAICAN JOLLIFIERS
3. JAMAICAN JOLLIFIERS
Rum, Ru.m, J amaica Rum!
Who in thy praise is dumb?
The strong, the weak, the gay, the glum–
All call thee good, Jamaica Rum!
-Old Song
137
It is recorded in Rupert Hughes-or somewhere-that
the Father of His Country so highly esteemed Jamaica
Rum that he once swapped a perfectly healthy negro slave
for a cask of it. That, somehow, makes one recall a famous
cartoon of the late Homer Davenp,ort's-Roosevelt with
Uncle Sam tapping him on the shoulder and saying, "He's
good enough for me! "
As a matter of fact, George Washington did not stand
alone. Many of our Revolutionary and colonial fathers
knew Jamaica Rum and liked it. The Pilgrim Fathers
knew rum, or came to know it, and when swallowed it
seemed to go down well with the Puritan conscience. For
many years rum was one of the products of New England.
Perhaps Plymouth Rock and Massachusetts Bay were orig-
inally attracted to it by its ancient name.
.
When Englishmen first discovered what could be done
with cane sugar in Barbados, rum was known as "Kill–
Devill," and under that guise it made its first appearance
in English literature. It was said to be a sure cure for
"Blue Devils." Soon it was rechristened with the Devon-
shire name of "Rumbullion,'' meaning "a great tumult,,-
.;/~-;~
probably a case of swapping cause for
e.ffec~.
In
time it be-
;~~:~·.
came the most famous product of Jamaica, its manufacture :·
/It~-~··
in that Island having attained such a degree of
perfection~
...