"■\¥hat makes we New Yorkers sore is to

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think tbey should try and wish a law like
that on Us. Isn't this supposed to be a
government of the people, for the people
and by the people?"

"People!" I said. "Who and the heU
voted for Prohibition, if it wasnt the
people?"

"The people of where?" he says. "A
lot of small-time hicks that couldn't buy
a drink if they wanted it."

"Including the hicks," I says, "that's
in the New York State legislature."

"But not the people of New York
City," he said. "And you can't teU me
it's fair to spring a thing like this with-
out warning on men that's got their for-
tunes tied up in liquor that they can't
never get rid of now, only at a sacrifice."

"You're right," I said. "They ought
to give them some warning. Instead of
that they was never even a hint of what
was coming off till Maine went dry sev-
enty years ago."

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26 THE BIG TOWN

"Maine?" he said. "What the heU is
Maine?"

"I don't know," I said. "Only they
was a ship or a boat or something named
after it once, and the Spaniards sunk it
and we sued them for libel or something."

* * You 're a smart Aleck, ' ' he said. * ' But
speaking about war, where was you?"

"In the shipyards at South Bend paint-
ing a duck boat," I says. "And where
was you?"

"I'd of been in there in a few more
weeks," he says. "They wasn't no slack-
ers in the Big Town."

"No," said I, "and America will never
forget New York for coming in on our
side."

By this time the gals was both giving
me dirty looks, and we'd eat all we could
get, so we paid our checks and went back
in our car and I felt kind of apologetic,
so I dug down in the old grip and got out
a bottle of bourbon that a South Bend pal

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of mine, George Hull, had give me the day
before; and Griffin and I went in the
wash-room with it and before the eve-
ning was over we was pretty near ready
to forget national boundaries and kiss.
