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“Sorry, Sir; none in the house.”
“Why not?
Are these intoxicating drinks prohibited by law?”
“Oh, no, they sell them at the druggists' shops.”
“ Then please to get me some from the druggist's shop.”
“Excuse me, Sir, it is too late.
The druggist's shop is closed.”
The fact is so. I ask my host why he does not keep such things as soda-water and seizer-water for sale.
“ We have no customers for them.
Guess it's people who drink brandy that ask for soda-water!”
Should a tipsy stranger be taken in the street (as sometimes happens) he is seized like a stray donkey, run into a pound, and kept apart till he has slept away his dram.
An officer then enquires where he got his drink.
On telling, he is set free, and the person who sold the liquor is arrested, tried, and punished for the man's offence.
The vendor, not the buyer, is responsible for this breach of moral order.
It is just the same, whether the person supplying the liquor sells it or gives it; so that a man who entertains his friends at dinner has to stand
1875.
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