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

When the “It” returns with the liquor he pours out a portion for each player and at a given signal all drink steadily for several minutes. The “It’s” wife then says, “Now— how about a few rubbers of bridge?” She is immediately elected “team captain” for the rest of the evening. It is the duty of the “team captain” to provide cracked ice and water, to get ready the two spare bedrooms, to hold Wallie Spencer’s hand, to keep Eddie Armstrong from putting his lighted cigaret ends on the piano, and to break up the party as soon as possible. The game generally ends when (1) the liquor is all gone, (2) the “It” (or three guests) have passed “out,” (3) Wallie Spencer starts telling about his war experiences. “Informal” drinking needs, of course, no such elaborate preparations and can be played anywhere and any time there is anything to drink. The person who is caught with the liquor is “It,” and the object of the game is to take all the liquor away from the “It” as soon as possible. In order to avoid being “It,” many players sometimes resort to various low subterfuges, such as sneaking down alone to the club locker-room during a dance, but this practise is generally looked upon with great disfavor— especially by that increasingly large group of citizens who are unselfishly devoting their lives to the cause of a “dry America” by consuming all of the present rapidly diminishing visible supply.