The Maine Liquor Law Still Stands In Maine, And Is The Law Of The
Land Throughout New England; But It Is Not Actually Put In Force In
The Other States.
By this law no man may retail wine, spirits, or,
in truth, beer, except with a special license, which is given only
to those who are presumed to sell them as medicines.
A man may
have what he likes in his own cellar for his own use - such, at
least, is the actual working of the law - but may not obtain it at
hotels and public houses. This law, like all sumptuary laws, must
fail. And it is fast failing even in Maine. But it did appear to
me, from such information as I could collect, that the passing of
it had done much to hinder and repress a habit of hard drinking
which was becoming terribly common, not only in the towns of Maine,
but among the farmers and hired laborers in the country.
But, if the men and women of Portland may not drink, they may eat;
and it is a place, I should say, in which good living on that side
of the question is very rife. It has an air of supreme plenty, as
though the agonies of an empty stomach were never known there. The
faces of the people tell of three regular meals of meat a day, and
of digestive powers in proportion. O happy Portlanders, if they
only knew their own good fortune!
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