Barriovero, a conventionalist, according to Grandmontagne--yes, and how
keen the scent of this American for such matters!--attended the opening
of a radical club in the Calle del Príncipe with a party of friends. We
were all drinking champagne. Like other revolutionists and parvenus
generally, Lerroux is a victim of the superstition of champagne.
"Aha, suppose those workingmen should see us drinking champagne!"
suggested some one.
"What of it?" asked another.
"I only wish for my part," Barriovero interrupted with a show of
sentiment, "that the workingman could learn to drink champagne."
"Learn to drink it?" I burst out, "I see no difficulty about that. He
could drink champagne as well as anything else."
"Not at all," said Barriovero the conventionalist, very gravely. "He has
the superstition of the peasant; he thinks he must leave enough wine to
cover the bottom of the glass."
I doubt whether this observation will attract the attention of any
future Plutarch, although it might very well do so, as it expresses most
I clearly the distinction which exists in the minds of our
revolutionists between the workingman and the young gentleman.