Pioneer days in America produced hardened, sturdy physical types. Strong men embraced strong drink, and America became a hard-liquor country. The early settlers took their liquor "straight" as well as hard, and on the whole carried it well. With the changing tempo of development came the cocktail, and with its widespread and rapidly growing appeal it has largely replaced "straight" drinking. The cocktail era will probably pass, in its turn, and make way for a great people to "find" them-\ selves with respect to their drinking, by learning to drink and enjoy wines and malt liquors. Meantime, however, there is no denying that the cocktail's heyday is here; for the next few years every hour will be the Cocktail Hour, so to speak. Therefore, we must make our bow and render service to the cocktail. Thus the main part of my book will be devoted to the Cocktail, old and new, exotic and local, conventional and radical. Every cocktail that is worthy of the name has been included.

Preceding the Cocktails, I offer what I trust you may want and use with the cocktails, viz: Recipes for Food Bits. For food and drink should be brothers. The wise drinker who would consider health in connection with drinking can adopt no better antidote for the hard side of hard liquor than tasty bits of food, before, during, and after the drink.