A quip from Robert Ingersoll on Whiskey

[Jono]

http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/lewis/lewing11.htm#WANDT

"I send you some of the most wonderful whiskey that ever drove the skeleton from a feast or painted landscapes in the brain of man. It is the mingled souls of wheat and corn. In it you will find the sunshine and the shadow that chased each other over the billowy fields; the breath of June; the carol of the lark; the dews of night; the wealth of summer and autumn's rich content, all golden with imprisoned light. Drink it and you will hear the voices of men and maidens singing the "Harvest Home," mingled with the laughter of children. Drink it and you will feel within your blood the star-lit dawns, the dreamy, tawny dusks of many perfect days. For forty years this liquid joy has been within the happy staves of oak, longing to touch the lips of men."

(fyi - R.G. Ingersoll was the 19th centuries leading orator and proponent of Free Thought. His collected works were held in the highest regard in my house...I can still see my dad sitting with a volume in his hands with his pipe giving off those lovely smells. I was reading some of his stuff online and wondered if he ever spoke about whiskey...the above find was great.)

A totally opposite sentiment:

http://www.theoddwhiskycoy.com.au/mainpages/contact.html

"Robert G Ingersoll's opinion of whisky:

" I am aware that there is a prejudice against any man engaged in the manufacture of alcohol. I believe, from the time it issues from the coiled and poisoned worm in the distillery until it enters into the hell of death, dishonour, and crime, that it dishonours everybody who touches it - from its source to where it ends. I do not believe anybody can contemplate the subject without becoming prejudiced against the liquor crime. All we have to do is to think of the wrecks on either side of the stream, of the suicides, of the insanity, of the ignorance, of the destitution produced by the devilish thing. And when you think of the jails, of the almshouses, of the asylums, of the prisons, of the scaffolds upon either bank, I do not wonder that every thoughtful man is prejudiced against the damned stuff called alcohol."

I guess it depended on the audience! The first, a note to a friend....the second..probably from an oration. It may also reflect the growing temperance movement....it is not clear when either was written.,..I assume the latter was later.

[Jono]

http://books.google.com/books?id=nBF0eMuW1CYC&pg=PA272&lpg=PA272&dq=ingersoll+on+temperance&source=bl&ots=BXw7CPvjO_&sig=ccHDmLEi4dcnpERajrA4RYR9y7w&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result

Q & A re Temperance:

"......As life becomes more valuable people will learn to take better care of it. The is something more to be desired than temperance and that is Liberty. I do not believe in putting out the sun because weeds grow. I should rather have some weeds than go without wheat and corn...."

Contrast that with Martin Luther:

"Whoever first brewed beer has prepared a pest for Germany. I have prayed to God that He would destroy the whole brewing industry. I have often pronounced a curse on the brewer. All Germany could live on the barley that is spoiled and turned into a curse by the brewer."

Tangentally related:

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9B03EEDF103EE233A25751C1A9669D946997D6CF

Sold Tea as Whiskey