Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 104, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 April 1915 — ICELAND GOES “DRY.” [ARTICLE]

ICELAND GOES “DRY.”

Times Have Changed for It Was Once the “Wettest” Island in the World. Within a few months Russia has “gone dry,” and now- Iceland follows her example.' Nay, not content with prohibiting the liquor traffic, Iceland has ordered all the liquor now within her boundaries to be promptly exported. It may be merely a coincidence. that Iceland enjoys the benefits of woman suffrage; the cable details are meagre, as yet. it is a pity that the first Lord -Dufi'erin could not have lived to read this bit of news. It woul% have done more than anything else to convince him that this,is a world of change. It was in 1856 that he visaed Iceland bore admiring testimony to the social customs which made essential a vast capacity and a strong head. A social visit, he informed an appreciative world in his "betters From High Latitudes,” necessitated the “cracking of a bottle” with the host, and to refuse it was as unpardonable an offense as to refuse to shake hands.“A beaker was "considered the fittest token a <>d\ could present to her true lov<\” It was the duty of the ladies of the house to keep the guest supplied. Breakfast involved a libation, repeated immediately afterward. One of his companions “put up" for the night at a farmhouse. His hostess escorted him to his room and put a brandy bottle under the Pillow; and by that time he was well enough acquainted with the customs of tiie country to understand that it, was expected to bo empty by morning, or lie would have affronted his kindly entertainers. Lord Dufferin relates how he dined at the governor's house, ‘‘through dinner is too modern a term to apply to the entertainment.” He had come heroically prepared, he says, to do liis part and gratify his hosts, even if it necessitated his going u nder the table instead of sitting at it; but “at the rate we were going, it seemed probable that this consummation would take place before the second course.” He*tried to pretend that he had not observed the refilling of his glass, so as to give his friends a chance to get a little ahead; but they merely sat thirsty and disconsolate until he gave up the deception. It would not have been etiquette lor them to distance him. Yet he was able to make a speech, and he made three, one in French, one in English and one in Latin, in response to toasts given in those languages. He has preserved~his Latin speech, which could only have been given under special inspiration. It contained six able manipulations of'language as “Haustem longum, haustum fortem, et haustum omnes sintul, (a long pull, a strong pull and ft pull all together,) and “Unum tact uni naturae totum orbem facit consanguineum,” (one touch of nature makes the whole world kin.)

Times have changed Lord Dufferin’s day. Manners have softened. Recent visitors have seen no such ground and lofty drinking as up the chief joy of the inhabitants then. And now Iceland has reformed altogether; so great is her distaste for the beverages of joy that she cannot imitate West Virginia’s example land give the dealers a chance to dispose of their stock. She pitches the Rum Devil off the island, neck and crop. At the rate he is going he will soon have nowhere in this broad world a rest for the sole of his foot.—Baltimore Sun.