Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1892 — Drinking Healths. [ARTICLE]

Drinking Healths.

The custom of “drinking healths” had a most curious origin. In the days when the Danes lorded it in England they had a very common habit of stabbing Englishmen in the throat when drinking. To avoid this villainy a man when drinking would request'some of the sitters-by to be his pledge or surety while taking hi* draught. Hence the custom.