Perfect Behavior: A Guide for Ladies and Gentlemen in All Social Crises

FORMAL AND INFORMAL DRINKING “Drinking” has, of course, always been a popular sport among the members of the better classes of society, but never has the enthusiasm for this pastime been so great in America as since the advent of “prohibition.” Gentlemen and ladies who never before cared much for “drinking” have now given up almost all other amusements in favor of this fascinating sport; young men and debutantes have become, in the last few years, fully as expert in the game as their parents. In many cities “drinking” has become more popular than “bridge” or dancing and it is predicted that, with a few more years of “prohibition,” “drinking” will supersede golf and baseball as the great American pastime. The effect of this has been to change radically many of the fundamental rules of the sport, and the influence on the etiquette of the game has been no less marked. What was considered “good form” in this pastime among our forefathers now decidedly démodé, and the correct drinker of 1910 is as obsolete and out of date in the present decade as the “frock-coat.” The game today is divided into (a) formal and (b) informal drinking. “Formal drinking” is usually played after dinner and is more and more coming to take the place of charades, sleight-of-hand performances, magic lantern shows, “dumb crambo,” et cetera, as the parlor amusement par excellence. “Formal drinking” can be played by from one to fifteen people in a house of ordinary dimensions; for a larger number it is generally better to provide a garage, a large yard, and special police, fire and plate glass insurance. The game is played with glasses, ice, and a dozen bottles of either whisky or gin.