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Show FAIRLY BEATEN. <br><br> Farce has other serious drawbacks than having one's name wrongly spelled in the dispatch. Prominent among them is an endless succession of bores. They are visitors who have no claim to attention, and call to gratify merely their curiosity. It is not surprising that amiable tempers grow waspish, and courteous manners take on a rough edge, under such provocation. <br><br> Goethe was one evening interrupted, while absorbed in literary work, by a caller from America. When the caller was asked by a servant if he had any [unreadable] business, he replied, "Only to see the poet." <br><br> Goethe was vexed at the interruption, and showed it plainly. Coming hastily into the room without a word of greeting, he seated himself abruptly on a [unreadable] as if saying, "If you only wish [unreadable line]. The visitor [unreadable]. He proved himself master of the occasion. In perfect silence, like Goethe's, he rose, took a lamp from the table, and walked slowly around the poet, looking at him from every point of view. <br><br> Goethe was conquered by this coolness. He burst into a hearty laugh, and began to converse in his pleasantest style. The visitor proved to be an agreeable companion, and Goethe was amused at his Yankee impudence. <br><br> It is no justification for interrupting a busy man that his fame is such as to excite curiosity to see him. To rob him of his time is about the same as to rob him of his dollars. With him time is money. |