A few days ago, in two entries, Gregg Camfield wrote that "Mark Twain's"
providing the stranger he met at Warwick Castle with four drinks showed
that Hank Morgan was really an "alcoholic bum." Surely you jest, Gregg. You
couldn't seriously argue that one bibulous evening with a listener who was
interested in a story (maybe like some at ALA or MLA) makes that person an
alcoholic.
        The incident, in fact, makes me think of the Whittier Birthday
 Dinner speech, when the narrator, after he shares a meal of bacon, beans, and
a hot whiskey, wants to hear the "melancholy miner's" reasons for disliking
"littery" folks. He says, "I supplicated. Three hot whiskeys did the rest.
And the melancholy miner began."  Ergo. likker as lubricator. Does that
make the miner an alcoholic? Go to!
        All the best,
                Howard Baetzhold
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