There was no water--
only beer: so I thought I would try a glass, simply as an
experiment. Really, the flavor was very agreeable. And it
occurred to me, on the way home, that all the elements contained in
beer are vegetable. Besides, fermentation is a natural process.
I think the question has never been properly tested before.'
"`But the alcohol!' exclaimed Hollins.
"`I could not distinguish any, either by taste or smell. I know
that chemical analysis is said to show it; but may not the alcohol
be created, somehow, during the analysis?'
"`Abel,' said Hollins, in a fresh burst of candor, `you will never
be a Reformer, until you possess some of the commonest elements of
knowledge.'
"The rest of us were much diverted: it was a pleasant relief to our
monotonous amiability.
"Abel, however, had a stubborn streak in his character. The next
day he sent Perkins Brown to Bridgeport for a dozen bottles of
`Beer.' Perkins, either intentionally or by mistake, (I always
suspected the former,) brought pint-bottles of Scotch ale,
which he placed in the coolest part of the cellar.
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