{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/the-fountain-refilled",
 "title": "The Fountain Refilled",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Ambrose Bierce",
 "poet_slug": "ambrose-bierce",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Shapes of Clay",
 "book_slug": "shapes-of-clay",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 44,
 "container": "Shapes of Clay",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1903,
  "venue": "Shapes of Clay (1903)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier"
  ]
 },
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  "file": "shapes-of-clay.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4793",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12658",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12977",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15599",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof04bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof05bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof08bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/blackbeetlesinam00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/literarycalifor05mighgoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/cali07webb"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
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  "last_checked": "2026-08-20",
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  [
   {
    "text": "Of Hans Pietro Shanahan",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(Who was a most ingenious man)",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The Muse of History records",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That he’d get drunk as twenty lords.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He’d get so truly drunk that men",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Stood by to marvel at him when",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His slow advance along the street",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was but a vain cycloidal feat.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And when ’twas fated that he fall",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With a wide geographic sprawl,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They signified assent by sounds",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Heard (faintly) at its utmost bounds.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And yet this Mr. Shanahan",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(Who was a most ingenious man)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Cast not on wine his thirsty eyes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When it was red or otherwise.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "All malt, or spirituous tope",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He loathed as cats dissent from soap;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And cider, if it touched his lip,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Evoked a groan at every sip.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But still, as heretofore explained,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He not infrequently was grained.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(I’m not of those who call it “corned”⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Coarse speech I’ve always duly scorned.)",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Though truth to say, and that’s but right,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Strong drink (it hath an adder’s bite!)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was what had put him in the mud,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The only kind he used was blood!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Alas, that an immortal soul",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Addicted to the flowing bowl",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The emptied flagon should again",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Replenish from a neighbor’s vein!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But, Mr. Shanahan was so",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Constructed, and his taste that low.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not more deplorable was he",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In kind of thirst than in degree;",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For sometimes fifty souls would pay",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The debt of nature in a day",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To free him from the shame and pain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of dread Sobriety’s misreign.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "His native land, proud of its sense",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of his unique inabstinence,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Abated something of its pride",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At thought of his unfilled inside;",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And some the boldness had to say",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Twere well if he were called away",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To slake his thirst forevermore",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In oceans of celestial gore.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But Hans Pietro Shanahan",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(Who was a most ingenious man)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Knew that his thirst was mortal; so",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Remained unsainted here below⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Unsainted and unsaintly, for",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He neither went to glory nor",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To abdicate his power deigned",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where, under Providence, he reigned,",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But kept his Boss’s power accurst",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To serve his wild uncommon thirst.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which now had grown so truly great",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It was a drain upon the State.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Soon, soon there came a time, alas!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When he turned down an empty glass⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All practicable means were vain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His special wassail to obtain.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "In vain poor Decimation tried",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To furnish forth the needful tide;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And Civil War as vainly shed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Its niggard offering of red.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Poor Shanahan! his thirst increased",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Until he wished himself deceased,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Invoked the firearm and the knife,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But could not die to save his life!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He was so dry his own veins made",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No answer to the seeking blade;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So weak that when he would have passed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Away he could not breathe his last.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "’Twas then, when almost in despair,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(Unlaced his shoon, unkempt his hair)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He saw as in a dream a way",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To wet afresh his mortal clay.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Yes, Hans Pietro Shanahan",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(Who was a most ingenious man)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Saw freedom, and with joy and pride",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Thalassa! (or Thalatta!)” cried.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Straight to the aldermen went he,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With many a “pull” and many a fee,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And many a most corrupt “combine”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(The Press for twenty cents a line",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Held out and fought him⁠—O, God, bless",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Forevermore the holy Press!)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till he had franchises complete",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For trolley lines on every street!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The cars were builded and, they say,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Were run on rails laid every way⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rhomboidal roads, and circular,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And oval⁠—everywhere a car⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Square, dodecagonal (in great",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Esteem the shape called Figure 8)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And many other kinds of form",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As different as paths of a storm.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "No other group of men’s abodes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "E’er had so odd electric roads,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That winding in and winding out,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Began and ended all about.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "No city had, unless in Mars,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That city’s fatal gift of cars.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They ran by day, they flew by night,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And O, the sorry, sorry sight!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And Hans Pietro Shanahan",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(Who was a most ingenious man)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Incessantly, the Muse records,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lay drunk as twenty thousand lords!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}