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The Life and Adventures of Maj. Roger Sherman Potter by F. Colburn (Francis Colburn) Adams
page 53 of 521 (10%)
cautiously opened by a witchlike figure, the hideous face of which
protruded apace, and then shrank quickly back, as if to present me a
commentary of what I might expect within.

"'Rise, strike a light, and let the quality of metal you are made of
be seen!' said my companion, as he stepped inside. The light of a
tallow candle, in the hand of a half-shirtless figure, with bruised
face and upright hair, discovered a cellar about twenty by sixteen
feet, and seven high. The man of the shirt and candle, I took for
the high priest of the locofoco nest number twenty-three, so nimbly
did he mount a little counter at the further end, and set to
arranging his bottles and glasses, thinking, no doubt, that he had
caught a customer of extensive generosity. The atmosphere was thick
and gloomy; nor was it rendered purer by the fourteen stalwart
fellows who lay stretched at full length upon half-emptied whiskey
barrels, and seemed much devoted to shattered garments, disfigured
faces, and collapsed hats. 'Here,' my friend said, 'is your true
working politician, who has no fear of the infernal regions, and
never thinks of heaven.' At a word from him, they rose to their
feet, though not without an effort, and having given their hats an
extra tip, and thrust their hands into places where pockets ought to
have been, and let drop a few words of discontent, like my learned
friend Easley once said Calypso did, they seized tumblers and ranged
up to the counter, forming a most striking panorama of dejected
faces. 'I love and reverence these men,' said my companion, modestly
suggesting that I must do myself the honor of paying for their
medicine, 'since they were extremely useful in absorbing the refuse
liquor made at our distilleries, and keeping up the respectability
of the party to which they belong. Indeed, they are not the base
fabric of the vision you might take them for; they are all pensioned
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