B921 <=> B923 [BTG XLII Beelzebub in America, p. 922]

“So I set off there on the next day.

“As the ‘automobile taxi’ in which I drove to this place happened not to come from one of Mr. Ford’s factories, I arrived too soon, and consequently this ‘Mister’ was not yet there.

“While awaiting him, I began strolling about, but as all the New York what are called ‘brokers’ take their ‘constitutional’ before their famous ‘quick lunch’ just in this part of the street Broadway, the jostling in this crowded place became so great, that, in order to escape it, I decided to go and sit down somewhere in some spot from where I could see the Mister I was awaiting arrive.

“A suitable spot seemed to be a neighboring typical restaurant there, from the windows of which all the passers-by could be seen.

“I must say, by the way, that there, on all that planet of yours, there are not so many restaurants in the places of existence of any other group of your favorites as there are in that New York.

“They particularly abound in the main section, and moreover, the proprietors of these restaurants there are chiefly ‘Armenians,’ ‘Greeks,’ and ‘Russian Jews.’

“Now, my boy, in order that you may rest a little from active mentation, I wish for a while to confine myself entirely to the form of mentation of our dear teacher Mullah Nassr Eddin and to talk about a certain in the highest degree original custom which has prevailed during the last few years in these contemporary New York restaurants.

“Inasmuch as the production, importation, and consumption of what are called ‘alcoholic liquids’ have recently been strictly prohibited to the ordinary beings by the power-possessing beings of this group, and corresponding injunctions have also been given to those beings there upon whom the power-possessing beings rest their hope for their own welfare, it is now supposed to be almost impossible for the ordinary beings there to obtain such liquids. At the same time, in these New York restaurants, various alcoholic liquids called ‘Arrack,’ ‘Doosico,’ ‘Scotch whisky,’ ‘Benedictine,’ ‘Vodka,’ ‘Grand Marnier,’ and many other different liquids, under every possible kind of label, and made exclusively only on what are called ‘old barges’ lying at sea off the shores of that continent, are to be had in any quantity you please.