Drink it

The mingled souls of wheat and corn

The past couple of weeks have been hectic due to a Letters Live show we put on at the Royal Albert Hall in aid of the Women’s Prize Trust. Thanks to those of you who came and filled that magnificent venue, and apologies for the lack of updates to this newsletter. Normal service will now resume.

---

In 1887, American lawyer and famed orator Robert G. Ingersoll sent to his future son-in-law, Walston, a bottle of the finest whiskey and a letter, reprinted below, in which he poetically sang its praises. The alcohol was enjoyed, but not as much as the letter, which was so loved that it soon circulated amongst family, friends, and strangers, and was eventually printed in American newspaper The Nation where it was read and adored by an even wider audience.

But not everyone was charmed. Ingersoll’s letter was also spotted by a resoundingly unimpressed Rev. Dr. J. M. Buckley, editor of The Christian Advocate, who responded with a letter of his own.

---

89 Fifth Avenue
New York
Walston H. Brown, Esq.

April 16, 1887

My dear Friend, 

I send you some of the most wonderful whiskey that ever drove the skeleton from a feast or painted landscapes in the brain of man. It is the mingled souls of wheat and corn. In it you will find the sunshine and the shadows that chased each other over the billowy fields; the breath of June; the carol of the lark; the dews of night; the wealth of summer and autumn’s rich content, all golden with imprisoned light. 

Drink it—and you will hear the voices of men and maidens singing the “Harvest Home,” mingled with the laughter of children. 

Drink it—and you will feel within your blood the star-lit dawns, the dreamy, tawny dusks of many perfect days. 

For forty years this liquid joy has been within the happy staves of oak, longing to touch the lips of men.

Yours always,
R. G. Ingersoll

---

My dear Bob, 

I return to you some of the most wonderful whiskey that ever brought a skeleton into the closet or painted scenes of lust and bloodshed in the brain of man. It is the ghost of wheat and corn, crazed by the loss of their natural bodies. In it you will find a transient sunshine chased by a shadow as cold as an Arctic midnight, in which the breath of June grows icy, and the carol of the lark gives place to the foreboding cry of the raven. 

Drink it—and you will have woe, sorrow, babbling and wounds without cause. Your eyes shall behold strange women and your heart shall utter perverse things.

Drink it—and you shall hear the voices of demons shrieking, women wailing, children mourning the loss of a father who yet lives.

Drink it—and long serpents will hiss in your ears, coil themselves about your neck and seize you with their fangs. “At last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder.”

For forty years this liquid death has been confined with staves of oak, harmless there as pure water. I send it to your mouth to steal away your brains, and yet I call myself your friend.

Buckley

---

Photo from Getty.