Plus Ça Change …

Captain Frederick Marryat in A Diary in America, 1839

“I am sure the Americans can fix nothing, without a drink. If you meet, you drink; if you part, you drink; if you make acquaintance, you drink; … They drink because it is hot; they drink because it is cold. If successfui in elections, they drink and rejoice; if not, they drink and swear; they begin to drink early in the morning; they leave off late at night; they commence it early in life, and they continue it, until they drop down into the grave.”

Charles Poore in the New York Times, January 13,1959

” ‘Well, [said a visitor from abroad,] I’ve been lavishly entertained here. And everywhere I go, from San Francisco to Boston, I meet people with drinks in their hands and offers of hospitality on their lips. They don’t look as if they had a care in the world. They are obviously having a pretty good time. They seem to be feeling no pain. Yet the minute you get into conversation with them they begin to talk about … The Rat Race. It puzzles me, you know.’ ”