The Complete Works of Brann, the Iconoclast — Volume 01Brann, William Cowper
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The Complete Works of Brann, the Iconoclast — Volume 01
Brann, William Cowper
Brann, William Cowper, 1855-1898; Essays; Reformers
Woman does not "operate" as do the professional he-
hypnotists. Instead of giving you a bright button or brand-
new dime to look at, she puts her dimples in evidence--
maelstroms of love in a sea of beauty. She dazzles you for
a moment with the dreamy splendor of her eyes, then
studies the toe of a boot that would raise a Kansas corn-
crop for Trilby or supply Cinderella with bunions. She looks
down to blush and she looks up to sigh--catches you "a-
comin' an' goin' "--and you're gone! You realize that the
linchpin is slipping out of your logic, but you let 'er slip.
You suspect that your judgment has taken unto itself wings,
and that you couldn't tell whether you're a red-licker
Democrat or a hard-cider Prohibitionist; but you don't care.
You simply bid farewell to every fear and give the
"operator" your undivided attention. She plays with a
skilled hand on all your senses, until the last one of them
"passes in music out of sight" and leaves you a mental
bankrupt. She makes you drunken with the music of her
voice and maddens you with the low, sweet melody of her
skirts. She permits you, quite accidentally, of course,
to catch a glimpse of an ankle turned for an angel, and, as
she bends forward to chastise you with her fan, your
vagrant gaze rests for a fleeting moment on alabaster
hemispheres rising in a billowy sea of lace, like Aphrodite
cradled in old ocean's foam. You are now far advanced in
the hypnotic trance, and very fond of it as far as you've got.
Her every posture is a living picture, her slightest
movement a sensuous symphony, her breath upon your
cheek a perfumed air to waft you to the dreamy but
dangerous land of the lotus-eaters. You drift nearer, and
ever nearer, like a moth revolving in narrowing circles
around an incandescent light, until you find yourself alone
with her in some cozy nook, the world forgetting if not by
your creditors forgot. Being naturally industrious, you seek
employment, and she gives you her hand to hold. Of
course, she could hold it herself, but the occupation
pleases you, and she doesn't mind. Besides, you make
more rapid progress into the realm of irresponsibility by
taking care of it for her occasionally. You conceive that
what is worth doing at all is worth doing well, and freeze to
that little fragment of pulsing snow like a farmer to his
Waterbury in a camp-meeting crowd. She rewards your
devotion to duty by a gentle pressure, and a magnetic thrill
starts at your finger tips and goes through your system like
an applejack toddy, until it makes your toes tingle, then
starts on its return trip, gathering volume as it travels, until
it becomes a tidal wave that envelops all your world. You
are now uncertain whether you have hit the lottery for the
capital prize or been nominated for justice of the peace.
You have lost your identity, and should you chance to meet
yourself in the middle of the road would need an
introduction. The larger the supply of brains you sat into
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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