Wheeling Daily Intelligencer

Lager Beer in Philadelphia. Whoever of our readers has visited that great rendezvous of Lager Beer the Philadelphia Post Office—will read this graphic description with considerable interest. It is from the Philadelphia North American:

Whoever has been absent from Philadelphia for fifteen or twenty years, and returns to-day, will see great changes in many things, but in none will he witness a more striking revolution than in the appearance of the tippling shops, a new class of which has sprung up. A strange name for a new article will greet his eye at every corner; nay, from almost every house, in some quarters, the mysterious words, "Lager Bier" will stare him in the face. If he have the curiosity to peep into one of these houses, he will find a sanded floor, a few bare tables (if it be one of the smaller establishments), and a counter or bar, behind which will be seen a couple of barrels, with enormous brass spigots, and a very German-looking man, in apron and shirt sleeves, with one hand resting upon one of the spigots. A wink or a nod will be sufficient to cause a heavy glass mug to overflow with a red, foaming liquid, and come sliding across the bar towards him. He will taste, but the excessive bitterness of the draught will almost disgust him; yet he will persevere to the end, and, from that time forward, be an admirer of lager!—There is something in it which settles so comfortably down under his ribs, and produces such a mild, cool, calming influence in his whole system, that he will go away rejoiced at his new discovery. But at night he will witness the great feature in this new tipple. He will perchance, have a call at the Post Office, and the sound of music, and the glare of many gas lights, will attract him into the basement, where he will find an immense room filled with an immense crowd of men, sitting at an immense number of tables, with glasses before them, all sipping and drinking, all talking and smoking, and a band playing in one corner, all the while, the most inspiriting German airs. The immense number of attendants, carrying immense numbers of brimming mugs of lager in each hand, suggesting the idea that they must have an immense number of fingers on each hand, and the immense numbers of comers and goers, and drinkers at the bar, will interest and amuse the stranger for some time, while he makes one of the number of those who imbibe and listen to the music. The quiet and order which prevail here will also surprise him, and he will wonder not to find somebody "getting drunk."

We had a conversation the other day with a lady friend in relation to the evils of intemperance; some allusion was made to lager beer, and we suggested the fact that it was less intoxicating than other drinks; she was shocked at the very mention of the Teutonic beverage.

"The horrid stuff! Surely none but low Germans ever drink it; why, its very name is enough! I have always associated the idea of every thing that is low and vulgar with lager beer." We admitted that its name was enough to condemn it amongst respectable people, inasmuch as lager meant vaulted, buried; and therefore the groundlings should most esteem it. But we told her that many besides low Germans drank it, and that a large number of intelligent and quite respectable Americans partake of it occasionally; and that a German gentleman and traveler had told us he had seen more lager beer drank in Philadelphia than in any city of Germany. How much, we thought, is there in a name to commend a mild, wholesome and pleasant beverage, when the lady whom we was talking with was living in independence upon a fortune acquired by her husband in the manufacture of porter, ale and table-beer; good, old fashioned articles, but far more heady and bemuddling than the light hop drink of the Germans!

We do not intend, however, to say a word in favor of drinking of any kind; but we do think that, when it is to be practised, it is better to use the most innocuous beverages; and that, probably, a large quantity of bad brandy, and worse whisky, is kept out of people's stomachs in Philadelphia by the immense quantity of lager which is put into them.