Short and Expressive — 225
Some years since there was a great gathering of people at Augusta, Maine, to take into consideration the subject of building a dam across the Kennebec River at that point. The meeting was followed by a dinner at the Mansion House, and the Liquor Law being a thing not yet thought of, the bottle circulated freely, and many of the guests were getting “jolly mellow,” when Frank ——, a wag of an editor, was called on for a toast. Frank immediately staggered to his feet, and grasping the back of his chair with one hand, and holding aloft with the other a tumbler of “Old Jamaica,” responded somewhat emphatically: “Gentlemen, d—n the Kennebec!—and improve its navigation,” and sat down amid a roar of applause. The dam was built.