A Hellish Babel.
A saloon called “The Senate” contained tables almost touching each other, at which customers, male and female, were packed like herrings in a barrel.
The uproar was something indescribable. Some were shouting, some were screaming, some were reciting obscene verses. Five or six indecent choruses were being sung at the same time. Language of incredible foulness was roared from one to another, shrieks of drunken laughter and the crash of broken glass were incessant.
To overhear one’s neighbor, one had to bend his ear right to his mouth. The solitary waiter, sweating like a runaway horse, was in evil humor. Woe to the man who stood in his way.
Everything was paid for in advance, and all drinks cost 15 centimes (71/2cents).
The decorations of this dive are its most remarkable characteristic—for the paintings on the walls, which were singularly well executed, were filthy and obscene beyond description. Human beings, male and female, were represented, life size, engaged in performances and operations which are never mentioned even among savages.
ADIEU—ALA FRANCAISE.
ADIEU—ALA FRANCAISE.
ADIEU—ALA FRANCAISE.