from "The Coup De Grace," Stories and Fables
"Gorgon"
The Gorgon was a maiden bold, who turned to stone the Greeks of old....
"Sauce"
The one infallible sign of civilization and enlightenment. A people with no sauces has one thousand vices; a people with one sauce has only nine hundred and ninety-nine. For every sauce invented a vice is renounced and forgiven.
Frontispiece
From "One Summer's Night'," Stories and Fables
"Rhadomancer"
One who uses a divining-rod in prospecting for precious metals in the pocket of a fool.
"Mammon"
The God of the world's leading religion. His chief temple is the holy city of New York.
An art of converting superstition into coin. There are other arts serving the same high purpose, but the discreet lexicographer does not name them.
"Laughter"
An interior convulsion, producing a distortion of the features and accompanied by inarticulate noises....
"Kiss"
A word invented by the poets as a rhyme for "bliss"...
"Queen"
A woman by whom the realm is ruled when there is a king, and through whom it is ruled when there is not.
"Loquacity"
A disorder which renders the sufferer unable to curb his tongue when you wish to talk.