pon my beard and ear-locks, and you will understand that you will receive fair treatment from me. I want to earn a Mitzvah (good deed) and a little money thereby.'
Then he cautioned me not to leave the station and go out into the street, because in the street were to be found Jews without beards, who would inform on me and give me up to the police. 'The world does not contain a sea of Kazelias,' said he. (Would that it did not contain even that one!)
Then he continued: 'Shake out your money on the table, and we will see how much you have, and I will change it for you.'
'Oh,' said I, 'I want first to find out the rate of exchange.'
When Kazelia heard this, he gave a great spring and shrieked 'Hoi, hoi! On account of Jews like you, the Messhiach (Messiah) can't come, and the Redemption of Israel is delayed. If you go out into the street, you will find a Jew without a beard, who will charge you more, and even take all your money away. I swear to you, as I sh
d Satan offered, I spurred him back from the gate and rode him hard down toward Wallingford. Of course he picked up a stone en route. Two of us held his head while Billings the blacksmith fished out the stone and tapped the shoe nails tight. After that I had time to look around.
As I did so I saw approaching a gentleman who was looking with interest at my mount. He was one of the most striking men I have ever seen, a stranger as I could see, for I knew each family on both sides the Blue Ridge as far up the valley as White Sulphur.
"A grand animal you have there, sir," said he, accosting Me. "I did not know his like existed in this country."
"As well in this as in any country," said I tartly. He smiled at this.
"You know his breeding?"
"Klingwalla out of Bonnie Waters."
"No wonder he's vicious," said the stranger, calmly.
"Ah, you know something of the English strains," said I. He shrugged his shoulders. "As much as that," he commented indifferently.
Ther
The merchants, nobles, and the slaves lucky enough to attend had waited outside Dan Trex's arena for days. They knew the value of entertainment in such a dark world. They wore cowls to protect themselves from the sun as they waited. Entire businesses thrived on the forced mercantile of the captive audience. Food went for thrice its cost to those waiting near the entrance. Water went for five times as much.
The arena was as old as the city, built in the days of the old empire for a king now long forgotten. The octagonal arena was a machine, an engine that built warriors out of the raw material of flesh, blood, and steel. Now, thousands of years later, it still served that purpose.
The machine had built Dan Trex's army, half a million of the most ruthless and well trained soldiers to ever walk the planet. While one hundred and fifty thousand civilians and slaves got drunk, gambled, shat, fucked, and slept on the stone steps; one hundred thousand of his men sat in silence wearing black a
She dearly loved fat, delicious worms and felt they were absolutely necessary to the health of her children. As often as she found a worm she would call "Chuck-chuck-chuck!" to her chickies.
[Illustration: ]
[Illustration: ]
When they were gathered about her, she would distribute choice morsels of her tid-bit. A busy little body was she!
[Illustration: ]
A cat usually napped lazily in the barn door, not even bothering herself to scare the rat who ran here and there as he pleased. And as for the pig who lived in the sty--he did not care what happened so long as he could eat and grow fat.
[Illustration: ]
One day the Little Red Hen found a Seed. It was a Wheat Seed, but the Little Red Hen was so accustomed to bugs and worms that she supposed this to
'to live in love with Onas'--as they called him--'and with the children of Onas, as long as the sun and the moon shall endure.' 'This treaty of peace and friendship was made,' as Bancroft says, 'under the open sky, by the side of the Delaware, with the sun and the river and the forest for witnesses. It was not confirmed by an oath; it was not ratified by signatures and seals; no written record of the conference can be found; and its terms and conditions had no abiding monument, but on the heart. There they were written like the law of God and were never forgotten. The simple sons of the wilderness, returning to their wigwams, kept the history of the covenant by strings of wampum, and, long afterwards, in their cabins, they would count over the shells on a clean piece of bark and recall to their own memory, and repeat to their children or to the stranger, the words of William Penn.' The world laughed at the fantastic agreement; but the world noticed, at the same time, that, whilst the neighboring colo
ng-girl at a public-house in Shadwell. Never beforehad Valentine Jernam looked on so fair a woman. He had never been astudent or admirer of the weaker sex. He had a vague kind of idea thatthere were women, and mermaids, and other dangerous creatures, lurkingsomewhere in this world, for the destruction of honest men; but beyondthis he had very few ideas on the subject.
Other people were taking very little notice of the singer. The regularpatrons of the 'Jolly Tar' were accustomed to her beauty and hersinging, and thought very little about her. The girl was very quiet,very modest. She came and went under the care of the old blind pianist,whom she called her grandfather, and she seemed to shrink alike fromobservation or admiration.
She began to sing again presently.
She stood by the piano, facing the audience, calm as a statue, with herlarge black eyes looking straight before her. The old man listened toher eagerly, as he played, and nodded fond approval every now and then,as the full, rich
ewitnessing something very like the suicide of civilizationitself. There are people in both camps who believe thatarmed and economic conflict between revolutionary andnon-revolutionary Europe, or if you like between Capitalismand Communism, is inevitable. These people, in both camps,are doing their best to make it inevitable. Sturdy pessimists,in Moscow no less than in London and Paris, they go so faras to say "the sooner the better," and by all means in theirpower try to precipitate a conflict. Now the main effort inRussia to-day, the struggle which absorbs the chief attentionof all but the few Communist Churchills and CommunistMillerands who, blind to all else, demand an immediatepitched battle over the prostrate body of civilization, isdirected to finding a way for Russia herself out of thecrisis, the severity of which can hardly be realized by peoplewho have not visited the country again and again, and tobringing her as quickly as possible into a state in which shecan export her raw ma
ve for a second or two and then smiled reassuringly. "It will be all right in time, quite right. You are suffering from shock; but you needn't worry. No worry. That's the great thing. A day or so will put you all right, Herr--let's see, what's your name?"
But I didn't bite. "Is it Lassen? The nurse said so."
"Don't you know it yourself?" he asked very kindly.
"No." That was true at any rate. "How did you find it out?"
"From the card in your trousers' pocket. You are the only survivor from the Burgen and had a very narrow escape. Even most of your clothes were blown off you. Doesn't anything I say suggest anything to you?"
I lay as if pondering this solemnly. "It's all so--so strange," I muttered, putting my hand to my head. "So--so----" and I left it at that; and he went away, after giving me one more item of valuable information--that my belt which contained my money had also been saved.
I played that lost memory for all it was worth and with gorgeous succes
nationwide portrayal of "the important" as composed primarily of the doings and undoings of entertainers, athletes, politicians, and criminals.
He would not, I think, have been unduly dismayed by all that. Of course, he would have been dismayed , but not unduly. Such things are implicit in the freedom of the press, and if enough people want them, they'll have them. (Jefferson would surely have wondered why so many people wanted such things, but that's not to the point just now.) Jefferson did, naturally, see "the press" giving news and information, but, more than that, he also saw in it the very practice of informed discretion. In his time, after all, Common Sense and The Federalist Papers were simply parts of "the press." And "every man able to read" would have been, for Jefferson, every man able to read, weigh, and consider things like Common Sense and The Federalist Papers. He would have recognized at once our editorial pages and our journals of enquiry and opini
or her father. A little thought on the matter decided him to rectify the deficiencies, in so far as it lay in his power. He visited a large establishment making a specialty of "furnishing homes complete," and ordered a new kitchen outfit, including a modern range, a mission style outfit for a dining-room, dainty summer furniture for the five chambers to be occupied by his three nieces, the Major and himself, and a variety of lawn benches, chairs, etc.
"Look after the details," he said to the dealer. "Don't neglect anything that is pretty or useful."
"I won't, sir," replied the man, who knew his customer was "the great John Merrick," who could furnish a city "complete," if he wished to, and not count the cost.
Everything was to be shipped in haste to the Junction, and Uncle John wrote McNutt to have it delivered promptly to the farm and put in order.
"As soon as things are in shape," he wrote, "wire me to that effect and I'll come down. But don't let any grass grow under your feet.
pon my beard and ear-locks, and you will understand that you will receive fair treatment from me. I want to earn a Mitzvah (good deed) and a little money thereby.'
Then he cautioned me not to leave the station and go out into the street, because in the street were to be found Jews without beards, who would inform on me and give me up to the police. 'The world does not contain a sea of Kazelias,' said he. (Would that it did not contain even that one!)
Then he continued: 'Shake out your money on the table, and we will see how much you have, and I will change it for you.'
'Oh,' said I, 'I want first to find out the rate of exchange.'
When Kazelia heard this, he gave a great spring and shrieked 'Hoi, hoi! On account of Jews like you, the Messhiach (Messiah) can't come, and the Redemption of Israel is delayed. If you go out into the street, you will find a Jew without a beard, who will charge you more, and even take all your money away. I swear to you, as I sh
d Satan offered, I spurred him back from the gate and rode him hard down toward Wallingford. Of course he picked up a stone en route. Two of us held his head while Billings the blacksmith fished out the stone and tapped the shoe nails tight. After that I had time to look around.
As I did so I saw approaching a gentleman who was looking with interest at my mount. He was one of the most striking men I have ever seen, a stranger as I could see, for I knew each family on both sides the Blue Ridge as far up the valley as White Sulphur.
"A grand animal you have there, sir," said he, accosting Me. "I did not know his like existed in this country."
"As well in this as in any country," said I tartly. He smiled at this.
"You know his breeding?"
"Klingwalla out of Bonnie Waters."
"No wonder he's vicious," said the stranger, calmly.
"Ah, you know something of the English strains," said I. He shrugged his shoulders. "As much as that," he commented indifferently.
Ther
The merchants, nobles, and the slaves lucky enough to attend had waited outside Dan Trex's arena for days. They knew the value of entertainment in such a dark world. They wore cowls to protect themselves from the sun as they waited. Entire businesses thrived on the forced mercantile of the captive audience. Food went for thrice its cost to those waiting near the entrance. Water went for five times as much.
The arena was as old as the city, built in the days of the old empire for a king now long forgotten. The octagonal arena was a machine, an engine that built warriors out of the raw material of flesh, blood, and steel. Now, thousands of years later, it still served that purpose.
The machine had built Dan Trex's army, half a million of the most ruthless and well trained soldiers to ever walk the planet. While one hundred and fifty thousand civilians and slaves got drunk, gambled, shat, fucked, and slept on the stone steps; one hundred thousand of his men sat in silence wearing black a
She dearly loved fat, delicious worms and felt they were absolutely necessary to the health of her children. As often as she found a worm she would call "Chuck-chuck-chuck!" to her chickies.
[Illustration: ]
[Illustration: ]
When they were gathered about her, she would distribute choice morsels of her tid-bit. A busy little body was she!
[Illustration: ]
A cat usually napped lazily in the barn door, not even bothering herself to scare the rat who ran here and there as he pleased. And as for the pig who lived in the sty--he did not care what happened so long as he could eat and grow fat.
[Illustration: ]
One day the Little Red Hen found a Seed. It was a Wheat Seed, but the Little Red Hen was so accustomed to bugs and worms that she supposed this to
'to live in love with Onas'--as they called him--'and with the children of Onas, as long as the sun and the moon shall endure.' 'This treaty of peace and friendship was made,' as Bancroft says, 'under the open sky, by the side of the Delaware, with the sun and the river and the forest for witnesses. It was not confirmed by an oath; it was not ratified by signatures and seals; no written record of the conference can be found; and its terms and conditions had no abiding monument, but on the heart. There they were written like the law of God and were never forgotten. The simple sons of the wilderness, returning to their wigwams, kept the history of the covenant by strings of wampum, and, long afterwards, in their cabins, they would count over the shells on a clean piece of bark and recall to their own memory, and repeat to their children or to the stranger, the words of William Penn.' The world laughed at the fantastic agreement; but the world noticed, at the same time, that, whilst the neighboring colo
ng-girl at a public-house in Shadwell. Never beforehad Valentine Jernam looked on so fair a woman. He had never been astudent or admirer of the weaker sex. He had a vague kind of idea thatthere were women, and mermaids, and other dangerous creatures, lurkingsomewhere in this world, for the destruction of honest men; but beyondthis he had very few ideas on the subject.
Other people were taking very little notice of the singer. The regularpatrons of the 'Jolly Tar' were accustomed to her beauty and hersinging, and thought very little about her. The girl was very quiet,very modest. She came and went under the care of the old blind pianist,whom she called her grandfather, and she seemed to shrink alike fromobservation or admiration.
She began to sing again presently.
She stood by the piano, facing the audience, calm as a statue, with herlarge black eyes looking straight before her. The old man listened toher eagerly, as he played, and nodded fond approval every now and then,as the full, rich
ewitnessing something very like the suicide of civilizationitself. There are people in both camps who believe thatarmed and economic conflict between revolutionary andnon-revolutionary Europe, or if you like between Capitalismand Communism, is inevitable. These people, in both camps,are doing their best to make it inevitable. Sturdy pessimists,in Moscow no less than in London and Paris, they go so faras to say "the sooner the better," and by all means in theirpower try to precipitate a conflict. Now the main effort inRussia to-day, the struggle which absorbs the chief attentionof all but the few Communist Churchills and CommunistMillerands who, blind to all else, demand an immediatepitched battle over the prostrate body of civilization, isdirected to finding a way for Russia herself out of thecrisis, the severity of which can hardly be realized by peoplewho have not visited the country again and again, and tobringing her as quickly as possible into a state in which shecan export her raw ma
ve for a second or two and then smiled reassuringly. "It will be all right in time, quite right. You are suffering from shock; but you needn't worry. No worry. That's the great thing. A day or so will put you all right, Herr--let's see, what's your name?"
But I didn't bite. "Is it Lassen? The nurse said so."
"Don't you know it yourself?" he asked very kindly.
"No." That was true at any rate. "How did you find it out?"
"From the card in your trousers' pocket. You are the only survivor from the Burgen and had a very narrow escape. Even most of your clothes were blown off you. Doesn't anything I say suggest anything to you?"
I lay as if pondering this solemnly. "It's all so--so strange," I muttered, putting my hand to my head. "So--so----" and I left it at that; and he went away, after giving me one more item of valuable information--that my belt which contained my money had also been saved.
I played that lost memory for all it was worth and with gorgeous succes
nationwide portrayal of "the important" as composed primarily of the doings and undoings of entertainers, athletes, politicians, and criminals.
He would not, I think, have been unduly dismayed by all that. Of course, he would have been dismayed , but not unduly. Such things are implicit in the freedom of the press, and if enough people want them, they'll have them. (Jefferson would surely have wondered why so many people wanted such things, but that's not to the point just now.) Jefferson did, naturally, see "the press" giving news and information, but, more than that, he also saw in it the very practice of informed discretion. In his time, after all, Common Sense and The Federalist Papers were simply parts of "the press." And "every man able to read" would have been, for Jefferson, every man able to read, weigh, and consider things like Common Sense and The Federalist Papers. He would have recognized at once our editorial pages and our journals of enquiry and opini
or her father. A little thought on the matter decided him to rectify the deficiencies, in so far as it lay in his power. He visited a large establishment making a specialty of "furnishing homes complete," and ordered a new kitchen outfit, including a modern range, a mission style outfit for a dining-room, dainty summer furniture for the five chambers to be occupied by his three nieces, the Major and himself, and a variety of lawn benches, chairs, etc.
"Look after the details," he said to the dealer. "Don't neglect anything that is pretty or useful."
"I won't, sir," replied the man, who knew his customer was "the great John Merrick," who could furnish a city "complete," if he wished to, and not count the cost.
Everything was to be shipped in haste to the Junction, and Uncle John wrote McNutt to have it delivered promptly to the farm and put in order.
"As soon as things are in shape," he wrote, "wire me to that effect and I'll come down. But don't let any grass grow under your feet.