"Not easy for every one, but yet possible. I have never found much
difficulty."

"There will be less difficulty, I presume," returned Mr. Elliott,
"when this country becomes, as it soon will, a large wine producing
region. When cheap wines take the place of whisky, we will have a
return to temperate habits among the lower classes, and not, I am
satisfied, before. There is, and always has been, a craving in the
human system for some kind of stimulus. After prolonged effort there
is exhaustion and nervous languor that cannot always wait upon the
restorative work of nutrition; indeed, the nutritive organs
themselves often need stimulation before they can act with due
vigor. Isn't that so, Dr. Hillhouse?"

And the clergyman addressed a handsome old man with hair almost as
white as snow who stood listening to the conversation. He held a
glass of wine in his hand.

"You speak with the precision of a trained pathologist," replied the
person addressed, bowing gracefully and with considerable manner as
he spoke. "I could not have said it better, Mr. Elliott."

The clergyman received the compliment with a pleased smile and bowed
his acknowledgments, then remarked:

"You think as I do about the good effects that must follow a large
product of American wines?"

Dr. Hillhouse gave a little shrug.