Free A Cool Million by Nathanael West

hundred per centum American place.
    Although in 1928 it would have been
exceedingly difficult for him to have obtained the necessary girls, by 1934
things were different. Many respectable families of genuine native stock had
been reduced to extreme poverty and had thrown their female children on the
open market.
    He engaged Mr. Asa Goldstein to redecorate the house and that worthy designed a Pennsylvania
Dutch, Old South, Log Cabin Pioneer, Victorian New York, Western Cattle Days,
California Monterey, Indian, and Modern Girl series of interiors. In general
the results were as follows:
    Lena Haubengrauber from Perkiomen Creek, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Her rooms were filled with painted
pine furniture and decorated with slip ware, spatter ware, chalk ware and “Gaudy
Dutch.” Her simple farm dress was fashioned of bright gingham.
    Alice Sweethorne from Paducah, Kentucky. Besides many fine
pieces of old Sheraton from Savannah, in her suite there was a wonderful iron
grille from Charleston whose beauty of workmanship made every visitor gasp with
pleasure. She wore a ball gown of the Civil War period.
    Mary Judkins from Jugtown Hill,
Arkansas. Her walls were lined with oak puncheons chinked with mud. Her
mattress was stuffed with field corn and covered by a buffalo rope. There was
real dirt on her floors. She was dressed in homespun, butternut stained, and
wore a pair of men’s hoots.
    Patricia Van Riis
from Gramercy Park, Manhattan, New York City. Her suite was done in the
style known as Biedermeier . The windows were draped
with thirty yards of white velvet apiece and the chandelier in her sitting room
had over eight hundred crystal pendants attached to it. She was dressed like an
early “Gibson Girl. ”.
    Powder River Rose from Carson’s
Store, Wyoming. Her apartment was the replica of a ranch bunkhouse. Strewn
around it in well-calculated confusion were such miscellaneous articles as
spurs, saddle blankets, straw, guitars, quirts, pearl-handled revolvers,
hayforks and playing cards. She wore goatskin chaps, a silk blouse and a
five-gallon hat with a rattlesnake band.
    Dolores O’Riely from Alta Vista, California. In order to
save money, Wu Fong had moved her into the suite that had been occupied by Conchita , the Spanish girl. He merely substituted a Mission
chair for the horsehide one with the steer-horn arms and called it “Monterey.” Asa Goldstein was very angry when he found out, but Wu Fong
refused to do anything more about it, because he felt that she was bound to be
a losing proposition. The style, he said was not obviously enough American even
in its most authentic forms.
    Princess Roan Fawn
from Two Forks, Oklahoma Indian Reservation, Oklahoma. Her walls were
papered with birch bark to make it look like a wigwam and she did business on
the floor. Except for a necklace of wolf’s teeth, she was naked under her bull’s-eye
blanket.
    Miss Cobina Wiggs from Woodstock,
Connecticut. She lived in one large room that was a combination of a
locker in an athletic club and the office of a mechanical draughtsman. Strewn
around were parts of an aeroplane , T-squares, callipers , golf clubs, books, gin bottles, hunting horns
and paintings by modern masters. She had broad shoulders, no hips and very long
legs. Her costume was an aviator’s jumper complete with helmet attached. It was
made of silver cloth and fitted very tightly.
    Betty Prail from Ottsville, Vermont. Her furnishings and
costume have already been described, and it should suffice to say here that
they remained untouched.
    These were not the only vital
changes Wu Fong made in his establishment. He was as painstaking as a great
artist, and in order to be as consistent as one he did away with the French
cuisine and wines traditional to his business. Instead, he substituted an
American kitchen and cellar.
    When a client visited Lena Haubengrauber , it was possible for him to eat roast
groundhog and drink Sam Thompson rye. While with Alice Sweethorne ,
he was