B927 <=> B929 [BTG XLII Beelzebub in America, p. 928]

“In short, my boy, the same is being repeated on this continent America as also took place quite recently in the large community called Russia. There the power-possessing responsible beings also prohibited the consumption of the famous ‘Russian vodka’ with the consequence that these beings very soon adapted themselves to consume, instead of this ‘vodka,’ the no less famous ‘Hanja,’ from the effects of which thousands of these unfortunate beings are still dying there daily.

“But in the present case, we must certainly give the contemporary American beings their due. In their skill at concealing their consumption of this famous alcohol from the authorities, they are infinitely more ‘civilized’ than the beings of the community Russia.

“Well then, my boy, to avoid the bustle of the street, I entered a typical New York restaurant, and having taken a seat at one of the tables there, began gazing out of the window at the crowd.

“As it is the common custom there on your planet, when people sit in a restaurant or any other such public place, always and without fail to pay what they call ‘money’ for something for the profit of the proprietor of the establishment, I did the same and also ordered for myself a glass of their famous what is called ‘orangeade.’

“This famous American drink consists of the juice squeezed from oranges or from the famous what is called there ‘grapefruit,’ and the beings of that continent drink it always and everywhere in incredible quantities.

“It must be admitted that this famous orangeade of theirs does occasionally refresh them in hot weather, but, on the other hand, in its action upon what are called the ‘mucous membranes’ of the stomach and intestines this drink of theirs is still another of the many factors there, which, taken together, are gradually bringing about – although slowly yet inexorably certainly – the destruction of that ‘unnecessary’ and ‘negligible’ function called the ‘digestive function of the stomach.’