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Show A GREAT HELP. "I don't care particularly whether you know how to figgor out the exact weight of the moon, or how long It will take to dip Lake. Tiddycorker dry with a common teaspoon," a bit grimly said the Old Codger, addressing his callow nephew, who was just percolating through the village academy, "nor whether you understand how to glue together a split infinitive, if such a thing ever became necessary, or what the little 'a' in the name of Thomas a Becket really stood for, or what killed the Dead Soa, or whether the ancient Greeks painted their statues, or how Messrs. A, B and C can mathematically hornswoggle Mr. D out of his rightful share of a given grindstone, or what causes the aurora boroalis, or of what interest in-terest Pepy's diary over was to anybody but Pepys, just so's you emerge from the academy with this one groat and unalterable fact fixed in your understanding with hooks of steel: That tho gun is always loaded whether it is or not. If you know and retain that one great truth, and will refrain from wearing fancy socks and rolling up your trousers legs to show 'em, no matter how empty you are of the usual flummydadles taught in tho average school, I'll consider that 'there is hope for you and that the money I have spent on your education hasn't been wholly wasted." Smart Set. |
