Then he tries to look more dignified than the two younger men
with him. In the midst of the effort he begins to sing "The
Heart Bowed Down with Weight of Woe," and he tells the bartender
"that is from 'The Bohemian Girl.'"
He sings many other selections, occasionally forgetting his
dignity, and occasionally remembering that he is the head of a
most respectable home--partly paid for.
The wise man on the outside of the bar suggests that the oldish
man will get into trouble. But the bartender says: "No; he will
go home all right. But he won't sing all the way there. About
the time he gets home he'll realize what money he has spent, and
you would not like to be his wife."
The bartender KNOWS that the oldish man--about fifty-one or
fifty-two--has escaped being a drunkard by mere accident, and
that he has not quite escaped yet.
A little hard luck, too much trouble, and he'll lose his balance,
forget that there IS lemonade, and take to whiskey
permanently. ----
At the far end of the bar there is the man who comes in slowly
and passes his hand over his face nervously. The bartender asks
no question, but pushes out a bottle of everyday whiskey and a
small glass of water.
The whiskey goes down. A shiver follows the whiskey and a very
little of the water follows the shiver.
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