Long Time Between Drinks (1862)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   "Long time between drinks" is one of the most famous of American drinking
phrases.  Allegedly, this occurred in a conversation between the governors of
North and South Carolina.  As usual, no one has a citation.
   Below is a citation from a UNC-Chapel Hill Clipping File.  I looked at
that clipping when I visited Chapel Hill about nine years ago.  Don't ask me to
look for my notes. I think the story traces it to the 1830s or 1840s, IIRC.
   The 2002 CHARLOTTE OBSERVER article, below, that dates the phrase to the
Reconstruction is clearly wrong.
   Could the phrase date to 1813, as the last two cites below imply?
   The first citation I found (I'll check APS Online again later) is 1862.
We don't have much stuff from the 1820s and 1830s, but we have stuff from the
1840s, such as the BROOKLYN EAGLE, and from the 1850s, such as the NEW YORK
TIMES.  Ancestry has been adding 1830s and 1840s dates.
    I have my doubts about 1813.    Our first cite is 1862.  That's a "long
time between citations."



(MAKING OF AMERICA--MICHIGAN)
Author: Bagby, George William
Title: Editor's Table
Publication Info.: Southern literary messenger; devoted to every department
of literature and the fine arts. / Volume 34, Issue 12, Dec 1862, pp.687-698
Collection: Making of America Journal Articles
<A HREF="http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moajrnl;cc=moajrnl;g=moagrp;xc=1;xg=1;sid=364128506df14e5b6efc499dad47a158;q1=long%20time%20between%20drinks;rgn=full%20text;idno=acf2679.0034.012;view=image;seq=0693">Editor's Table, George William Bagby, pp.687-698</A>
<A HREF="http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moajrnl;cc=moajrnl;g=moagrp;xc=1;xg=1;sid=364128506df14e5b6efc499dad47a158;q1=long%20time%20between%20drinks;rgn=full%20text;idno=acf2679.0034.012;view=image;seq=0698">Page 692</A>  - 1 term matching "long time between drinks"
  "'It said that it was' what?" inquired Gen. Polk.
   _A d--d long time between drinks!_


(MAKING OF AMERICA--MICHIGAN)
Author: Marcy, Randolph Barnes, 1812-1887.
Title: Border reminiscences.
Publication date: 1872.
Collection: Making of America Books
<A HREF="http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moa;cc=moa;g=moagrp;xc=1;xg=1;sid=364128506df14e5b6efc499dad47a158;q1=long%20time%20between%20drinks;rgn=full%20text;idno=AEL8464.0001.001;view=image;seq=00000009">Page VII - Table of Contents</A>  - 1 term matching "long time between drinks"
<A HREF="http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moa;cc=moa;g=moagrp;xc=1;xg=1;sid=364128506df14e5b6efc499dad47a158;q1=long%20time%20between%20drinks;rgn=full%20text;idno=AEL8464.0001.001;view=image;seq=00000013">Page XI</A>  - 1 term matching "long time between drinks"
<A HREF="http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moa;cc=moa;g=moagrp;xc=1;xg=1;sid=364128506df14e5b6efc499dad47a158;q1=long%20time%20between%20drinks;rgn=full%20text;idno=AEL8464.0001.001;view=image;seq=00000092">Page 90</A>  - 1 term matching "long time between drinks"


(ANCESTRY.COM)
   28 June 1895, THE LANDMARK (Statesville, NC), pg. 2, col. 4:
   ...but, in the language of the ancient and honorable Governor of North
Carolina, "It was a long time between drinks," and your readers were thirsty for
the news.


(WRIGHT AMERICAN FICTION)
Morford, Henry, (1823-1881): Red-tape and Pigeon-hole Generals (1864) 1 match
in 1 of 324 pages
<A HREF="http://www.letrs.indiana.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?type=simple;c=wright2;cc=wright2;sid=ccabe7b113c0f6a50273b718aef5088b;rgn=div1;q1=long%20time%20between%20drinks;cite1restrict=title;cite2restrict=title;cite3restrict=title;firstpubl1=1850;firstpubl2=1875;submit=Submit%20search;view=text;idno=Wright2-0076;node=Wright2-0076%3A6">CHAPTER IV.</A>
ion. / "By the way, the recollection of that effort to swallow makes my
throat dry, and it's a long time between drinks." / Another round at the bottle,
and Tom resumed. / "Well, work I


(GOOGLE)
http://aff.weatherbug.com/aff/default.asp?zcode=Z3702
    Posted on Wed, Mar. 06, 2002    The Charlotte Observer
Let's make a deal
(...)
There's a lovely story about a meeting of the governors of the two states
during Reconstruction, and it turns on this question: What did the governor of
South Carolina say to the governor of North Carolina? Gov. James Orr reputedly
said to Jonathan Worth, "The governor of South Carolina feels constrained to
say to the governor of North Carolina, that in these military cabinet counsels,
there is a mighty long time between drinks."


(GOOGLE)
http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/ref/s75/s75Sa.html
North Carolina Collection--Subject Clippings
SUBJECT: Sayings - "It's a long time between drinks"
CALL NO.: CR917 N87
REEL NO.: 38
VOL. NO.: 150
PAGE(S): 330-340 SUBJECT


(GOOGLE)
http://www.cmstory.org/history/hornets/another.htm
In the time of Jackson's birth the boundary line was not known; it was but
vaguely traced through this section of the Waxhaws. Not until May 5, 1813, was
the line actually run. It was on the occasion of the surveying of this line
that the Governor of North Carolina reportedly observed as he mopped his
perspiring brow that "it's been a long time between drinks."


(GOOGLE)
http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/NCPOLK/2001-08/0998017189>
> > In the time of Jackson's birth the boundary line was not known; it was
> butvaguely traced through this section of the Waxhaws. Not until May 5, 1813, was
> the line actually run. It was on the occasion of the surveying of this line
> that the Governor of North Carolina reportedly observed as he mopped his
> perspiring brow that "it's been a long time between drinks."