In addition to the "bar" at which you settle your hotel account, the
Ocean House has another, exclusively devoted to drinking.
It is a snug, shady affair, partially subterranean, and reached by a
stairway, trodden only by the worshippers of Bacchus.
Beyond this limited circle its locality is scarcely known.
In this underground region the talk of gentlemen, who have waxed warm
over their cups, may be carried on ever so rudely, without danger of its
reaching the delicate ears of those fair sylphs skimming through the
corridors above.
This is as it should be; befitting a genteel establishment, such as the
Ocean House undoubtedly is; adapted also to the ascetic atmosphere of
New England.