DEDICATION[ix] ]
To all surviving saloon passengers of the good ship Lithia, who have rounded the Horn and passed through perilous Beering Straits, and suffered shipwreck, shock, and sudden thirst: to those intrepid souls who have clung to the slippery hull of the Water Wagon when it seemed the gallant craft could not live another hour; who, lashed to the sprinkler, have ridden out many a choking dust-storm; who have heard the cafe Lorelei sing, and still hung on, deaf to her seductive song: and—
[x] ]To the memory of countless thousands lost at sea, swept into the seething drink without a word of warning, cut off in the blossoms of their resolutions, and sent to their slate accounts with all their imperfections on their heads—
This little volume is affectionately dedicated.
[xi] ]
EDITORS’ NOTE
The Log of the Water Wagon was compiled from memoranda found in a floating milk-bottle with a patent stopper, flung overboard just before the good ship “Lithia” foundered in a fearful simoom off White Rock Point. The notes, pencilled in a trembling hand, on the backs of blank temperance pledges, I O U’s, and wine-lists, were barely [xii] ]legible, testifying to the fearful condition of the unknown writer’s tongue, manifestly incapable of moistening the pencil.
With the notes were enclosed a Water Wagon folder, showing itinerary, rules and regulations, points of interest touched at, etc., a fragment of a clipping from the New York Sun, and sundry moral reflections upon life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The editors have preserved, as far as possible, the spirit and literary style of the Log-keeper, whose identity is an interesting conjecture. His fate, and that of his fellow passengers, is shrouded in mystery.