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Show THE EXAGGERATED EGO. j Cases Quaint and Curious of Persons Who Have It. When a gentleman residing in the mountains of eastern Kentucky lets his mind dwell upon the cussedness of his neighbor until he decides that i ihe man is too mean to live and, souatting behind j a stump, awaits the neighbors passing and inflicts I capital punishment upon him by placing a bullet j from a "forty-five" somewhere among his vitals, j the . executioner must be held blameless. He has j the- exaggerated ego. i ; When a jealous husband ruminates upon his imasined wrongs until he decides to strangle his wife with the cord that holds back the portieres in the parlor, and accocmplishes his purpose, he is not a criminal, but, temporarily, a maniac. He has the exaggerated ego. - When an anarchist decides that the head of a i government is unworthy to rule, and that he is appointed by Providence to put him out of business busi-ness with an infernal machine, and so exnlodes ten pound of dynamite under his carriage, distributing distribut-ing the head of the government over the immediate imme-diate A-icinity, he is blameless. He has the exaggerated exag-gerated ego. When a man is in love with a maid who is in in love with another man and decides that the other oth-er man should be held by the beard while a knife is jabbed under the fifth rib. to the end that he shall cease to incumber the earth, and, procuring a reliable and trustworthy knife, releases his rival's spirit from the clay carcass wherein it has abided, he is without fault. He has the exaggerated ceo. When a man is convinced that the country is going to the bow-wows because the economic theories theo-ries of the party in power are at fault, and decides that he must guard the liberty of the man sitting upon the keg of nails nearest the stove in the nearest near-est crossroads department store, he is not guilty of making his wife take in washing to support him. He has the exaggerated ego. When a man appropriates unto himself the bottom bot-tom steu of the car and, spreading his arms like-the like-the wings of the eagle in full flight, prevents other passengers from getting off in the middle of tire block, and then, after waiting until the car has come to a full stop, steps down into the street in f a leisurely manner, without- looking, over .his shoulder shoul-der to see it anyone is preparing ..to smite liinf With an ax handle or other deadly arid effective weapon, he is not a car:step hog. He has the exaggerated ego. " When the bank cashier needs a few millions, finding life irksome on a salary of $5,000 a year, and decides to buck the stock market with your savings and those of your neighbors, and coming out at the small end of the financial horn, decamps for Africa., he is not a bad man. He has the exaggerated ex-aggerated ego. WTien a man operates a life insurance company for the purpose of fitting his family out with individual in-dividual yachts and palaces, rather than with a view to making the dividend accumulations of fact eoual the dividend accumulations that glitter in the imagination of the agent, he is not a thief. He has the exaggerated ego. When a man persuades you that he has a gold mine in Santo Domingo or Alaska too large for personal use, and is anxious to divide it with a few friends and casual acquaintances for whom he has always cherished a kindly feeling, and you join with 2,000 others in investing your surplus cash, and it subsequently develops that the promoter never nev-er contemplated digging in earth for gold, but was satisfied to inveigle the innocent into digging it from their pockets, that man is not fellow to the horse thief and second cousin to the pickpocket. He has the exaggerated ego. It is at once wicked and futile to try to proceed legally against persons whom do you financial or physical violence while suffering from the exaggerated exag-gerated ego. The only practical plan of operating Nowadays, when a man must needs paddle his own canoe -or drift down stream, is to apply the David Harum Golden Rule, "do unto others as they would do unto you. and do it fust." being careful to j'et together a considerable quantity of cash in the do?ng. or prior thereto. Then march into court witha large posse of picked alienists and explain that you have the exaggerated ego. Louisville Courier-Journal. |