A Maid and a Million Men: the candid confessions of Leona Canwick, censored indiscreetly by James G. Dunton
John Stuart Mill · en
“Tha’s a Devil’s Dream,” Ben informed us. “In- vented by your own true
an reliable frien’, Benny Garlotz, now making his last personal
appearance in this city.... Captain, that stuff’s got everything in it
that can be put in bottles, and two drinks of it makes ya a bona fide
life member of the Anti-Saloon League!... It’s got a kick like a Mack
truck and is guaranteed to make twins turn into quadruplets before yer
eyes. Three drinks of it will make a buck private a General, and four
drinks has been known to make a ninety-year-old woman have a litter o’
pups!... Step up, folks—roll up, tumble up, any way to get yer money
up!... Money back guarantee goes with every bottle! Good for coughs,
colds, burns, chills, fever, fallen arches, floatin’ kidneys, exhaust
troubles of all kinds. One of the finest lubricants your transmission
will ever have! The best oil in God’s world for petcocks, game cocks,
haycocks, and all kinds of diseases, by jeeses, by jeeses!... It’s
stronger’n garlic, onions, dead fish, or a decayed soldier! Used by the
natives in South America to make reptiles eat their tails.... Good for
anything, folks! God’s gift to man! Cures fits an’ kills cockroaches!
Five drinks’ll make a mademoiselle rape her grandfather!... I’ve used it
for years, and to it, ladies and gentlemen, I attribute my virility and
fertility! Babies cry for it! Virgins die for it! Women lie for it!...
And all for the small cost of one small nickel, half a dime, fifth of a
quarter.... Hey, you guys, where the hell ya runnin’ off to?”
“For God’s sake, Ben, you’ll get us all pinched!” I told him, when he
caught up with us.
“All right,” he agreed. “I’m drunk and proud of it! You’re drunk an’
ashamed of it! Captain’s drunk an’ don’t know whether he’s shamed or
not!... Les go home while we can still get there!”
And he linked arms with us and started away. I gave up. What was the use
of fighting a man like that? Besides, Clark was obviously too drunk to
even think about getting married. A fine man to marry—couldn’t even
stay sober on his wedding night! Ben began to sing:
“Sacré nom de nom de nom,
La mademoiselle she wouldn’t come,
He offered her francs, he offered her rum,
But the damned little fool she wouldn’t come!
Her grandmère cried ‘O nom de nom!’
I said ‘She’s pretty but g—— d—— dumb!’
“O sacré nom de nom de nom
de nom de nom de nom de nom,
La mademoiselle’s too dumb to come!
Sacré nom de nom de nom
de nom de nom de nom de nom!”
And we marched away in the general direction of home, to the rhythm of
that inane ditty that Ben picked up in that terrible city. We must have
been a fantastic spectacle!