Much Ado About Nothing, Act IV., Scene 1.
Then follow the orgies behind the scenes. Sometimes it is a wine supper with champagne from the bar of the house flowing so freely that the undressed divinities do not hesitate to empty bottle after bottle over their heads as if they were Roman candles, thereby giving the assemblage a shower of Mumm's Extra Dry; or perhaps they will shampoo the swelled head of one of the gentlemen.
MATERNA.
In the wine-room, which is an adjunct of all these houses, and which is a place that affords seclusion to those who want to be out of the way of meeting friends or attracting the notice of strangers, many extraordinary exploits are to be witnessed. Plenty of drink, however, is necessary to stimulate the fun, and when the girls got an old victim into their clutches they "play" him so nicely that he believes the whole lot of them are in love with him, and every few minutes comes the cry, "Let's have another bottle," and they have it. They sit on his lap or play circus riding on his shoulders, and until the last bottle has come, and the victim has run dry of funds they keep him in good humor; then they show him the door, coldly say "Ta, ta! Baldy," and laugh heartily at his verdant innocence as he staggers away.
THATCHER, PRIMROSE AND WEST.
The man who allows any of these women—these cancan dancers or "chair sweaters"—to entice him to their home is lost. If he has money and they know it they will not take him to their home, but to some lodging-house with the proprietor of which the cancan dancer is acquainted, and whom she knows she can trust. A pitcher of beer and a bit of drugging for the victim's glass does the business. While she is stroking his beard and kissing the end of his nose the drug is flowing gently into the goblet of beer. They drink, and in a short time the soporific has its effect, and the slumbering man is relieved of his valuables and cash. He appeals to the police, and they promise to do something for him, but they don't. He sees the cancan dancer again the next night but she knows nothing about it. The proprietor of the lodging-house is dumb as an oyster. All the victim can do is to balance the account by putting experience on the debit side of the ledger and damphoolishness on the other.
A "BOWERY" ON A "LARK."