"Adeler, Max - Frictional Electricity" - читать интересную книгу автора (Adeler Max)

black cat is some kind of kin to the aurora borealis? But George says that's
what they said, for the aurora borealis is caused by the earth a-rolling around
and rubbing the air just as the sparks is caused by stroking the cat's back.
"And George he says that this here frictional electricity is the only kind
that'll cure pain. The steam-engine kind won't do it, and the acid kind won't do
it, but the frictional kind'll do it every time if you only know how to apply
it.
"Well, sir, now I pass to the sorrerful part of my story. There is a girl named
Bella Dougherty that does housework for a man named Muffitt, and a mighty nice
girl she is; or, I used to think her nice. Maybe you know where Mr. Muffitt
lives, on 149th Street, just above Parvin Street, the third house on the left
with white shutters.
"Anyhow, I got to be fond of Bella and often used to set and talk with her in
the evenings in Mr. Muffitt's kitchen, and maybe have two or three other girls
come in sometimes, with a few men; though I never cared, sir, for much flocking
together at such times, for Bella Dougherty she was good enough company for me,
just her and I by ourselves.
"Howsomdever, there was another man that had a kind of fancy for Bella
Dougherty, although in my opinion he isn't fit to wipe her feet on, and his name
is William Jones.
"This yer William Jones used to come intruding around there in Mr. Muffitt's
kitchen when he wasn't wanted and when he seen that me and Bella would rather be
a-setting there by ourselves. And so, sir, one night, just to kill the time till
he'd quit and go, I begun to tell them what George Watkins said to me about the
Huxley Institute and frictional electricity being a sure cure for pain.
"And William Jones, a-winking at Bella Dougherty, as much as to say, sir, that
he'd be having the laugh on me, said he had a pain that minute in his head from
neuralgia and he'd bet me a quarter no frictional electricity would drive it
out. I know now what was the matter with the head of William Jones. Not
neuralgia, nor nothing of the sort, sir. It was vacuum. My mate, George Watkins,
tells me that at the Institute they say that vacuum always produces pain, and
that was the only thing the matter with this William Jones I'm a-telling you
about.
"I never take no dare, not from no man of that kind, anyways, sir, so I bet him
a quarter I'd cure him, and cure him with frictional electricity, too. So he set
down on the chair a-laughing and a-winking at Bella Dougherty, who set over by
the range holding the quarters; and I begun to rub William Jones's eyebrows with
my two thumbs; just gently, but right along just like stroking a cat; keeping it
up, a-rubbing and a-rubbing, until at last I asked him how he felt now; and, you
can imagine my supprise, sir, when I seen that William Jones was fast asleep! I
was skeered at first; but in a minute I seen that I had hypnertized him
unbeknown to myself, and there set William Jones 's if he was froze stiff.
"I wa'n't so very sorry, sir, when I found out how things was a-going, although
if I could have seen what was the consequences of this strange occurrence I'd a
seized my hat and bid Bella Dougherty good-by and started straight for home.
"But, sir, of course I acted like a fool, for I'd read in the papers how a man
who hypnertizes another man can make him believe anything and do anything, and
so I thought I'd have some fun with William Jones and enjoy a lovely, quiet
evening with Bella Dougherty.
"So I says to William Jones: