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Show : ' THE STORY OF ALCOHOL - How It Has Spread Through the World How It Has Been Conquered .... . . , . i klfllP p i Jfo. 22 A 3IEMEYAL IN. , Alr.ohollo beverages were as much llkod in liK'rtieviil times as in tho ancient an-cient days of Greece and Uonie; but it Is difficult to find out as much about j thorn. liuL there is sufficient evidence to prove that tho hardy warriors who Jived in northern Europe were not much more absteminous than tho races rsvho dwelt in warmer lands. The German tribes retained their fondness for beer, which they displayed dis-played when they were first known to the Romans, and they added a taste for the wines that they found in their :vahd;il raids into tho south. The jVikinRR of Denmark and Norway , drank deeply and they took this habit Iwith them wherever they roved. In Ttnssla, France, Great Britain, and practically every country in Europe, ,it is impossible to po back to a time when the people did not know how to get Intoxicated. The Illustration above, a crude drawing from a medieval book, shows a typical inn in northern Europe. The vessel that brought the wine is moored to tho wharf. It had probably come from Spain, Italy or France. On a pole protruding from a window may be seen something that might be taken for a Christmas wreath. It was called a bush, a sign that told all who saw It that there was wine for sale within. Shakspere says in "As You Like It" that "Good wine needs no bush," a familiar fa-miliar line that has perhaps puzzled some people who are unable to see any reason why wine and bush should be coupled In the same sentence. Before the world of trade was so civilized as to enable people In all lands to buy the products of other remote re-mote places, there was little wine consumed con-sumed in the north and little beer in the south. All tho northern peoples seem to-have discovered for them selves how to mako beer and ale. All classes drank them, although the upper up-per classes seem to have preferred wine and mead. But in Beowulf it is related that "At times before the nobles no-bles Hrothgar's daughter to the earls in order the ale cup bore." In another medieval manuscript, a youth when asked what he drank replied, re-plied, "Ale," if I have it; .water, if I have it not." When someone asked him why he did not drink wine, he replied, re-plied, "I am not so rich that I can buy me wine; and wine is not the drink of children or tho weak-minded, but of the elders and the wise." Some vineyards were planted In England and some wide was made from the grapes, but it was probably never a large amount. In Germany Charlemagne is alleged to have been the first to plant a vineyard on the Rhine, where today the land is carefully care-fully terraced so that every inch may bo utilized. But mead seems to have been the most highly regarded of all medieval alcoholic drinks, although its lure was largely confined to the nobility and consequently it could hardly have teen as common as ale and beeri Mead was mado from water and honey which was fermented. It was usually usual-ly drunk from horns of oxen, but some mead-horns have been found which were fashioned from Ivory. The shape was conducive to hard drinking as the horns could not be put down until they were emptied. One receipt for making mead, as given by the Swedish Swed-ish writer, Olaus Magnus, commends ft mixture of one part of honey to four of boiling water, which was well stirred, boiled, and skimmed. Hops were then added, the mixture was put Into casks and brewers' yeast put in. After being strained it was said to be ready for drinking In eight days. |