...
The drug stores did a thriving business in the sale of spiritus
frumenti--for "snake bite" and "stomach trouble," which seemed to be
prevalent and epidemic throughout the community.
* * * * *
Saturday was market day for the farmers who lived in the adjoining
countryside ... and the livery stables where they put up their horses
were also resorts for gambling and the selling of "bootleg" booze....
These farmers were a wild lot ... something like European peasants in
their smacking of the soil and the country to which they belonged, but
with a verve and dash of their own distinctly American.
There were three or four cheap restaurants that catered solely to their
trade ... "a square meal for a quarter" ... and a square meal they
served ... multitudes of fried stuff ... beefsteak, potatoes, boiled
ham, cabbage, heaps of white bread constantly replenished as it was
voraciously devoured ... always plenty of hot, steaming coffee. Where
these restaurants profited I could never see ... unless by a little
bootlegging on the side.
It was to one of them that I repaired when I left my malodorous job. The
same one where I had spent my first night in town.
* * * * *
Langworth sent for me one day.
"I have heard wild tales about you, Johnnie. I don't usually listen to
gossip, but these tales are so recurrent and persistent .
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