DRINK?

Patea Mail, Volume VI, Issue 522, 20 May 1880, Page 2

DRINK?

I.To'vv (loos the average .man do fine drunkenness? 80 many degrees of inebriety have been “ given in evidence,” that it is often a delicate task for magistrates to draw the lino between an innocent tipler and “ five, skillings and costs.” A constable swore on Tuesday that a certain prisoner was “regimentally drunk.” Another witness swore the same prisoner was sober, but excited. A third witness said lie was decidedly drunk. Here were . three degrees, strongly marked, and apparently inconsistent; yet each witness was positive that he was the best judge of the man’s condition. To be regimentally drunk is a novel definition in a police court, but it conveys a definite idea ot unsteadiness. If a soldier be so unsteady as not to be capable of taking guard-duty, he is “ regimentally drunk.” This is not a perfect definition, but it is more precise than those familiar standards known as “ half-seas over,” a little “gone,” rather “fresh” half ■“. tight,”, pretty - well “ screwed,” “ three sheets in the wind ” rather “ fou,” or “ blazing drunk.” To define the stage at which a man ceases to be responsible for his actions is even more difficult than to fix the fact of his being drunk. For there arc fellows who can get drunk, even “ blind drunk,” and yet know with a certain swimming consciousness where they are and what they are doing. But these arc highlyseasoned hogsheads, and not safe to swear by as a rule. Lastly, there is that celebrity of old-standing, The three bottle man in a company, screwed ; Not firm on his legs, but by no means subdued.