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Show oo IN AN ENGLISH VILLAGE LIBRARY "But I believe that occasional Americans Am-ericans are quite educated." The rector'B wife, hesitated. "Yes, JHlioxe must be some education, among I fthom, of course- But tho influence of Atrierlqan Iltoraturo is certainly mst pernicious. Their, authors, are alway trying to. be funny merely comic writers." "But. Hawthorne, Emerson and Longfellow," ventured the Futile Librarian, Li-brarian, "are not -always ' nny!" The rector's wife heaved a sigh, wearily, as of a serious-minded but very patient person annoyed by foolish fool-ish "questions. "I am not familiar with their more obscure writers, but the other day I bought a .book quite famous fa-mous In Amprlca, 'Innocents Abroad' I naturally supposed from tho title it was tho travels of children for Instruction. Instruc-tion. After presenting it to my little daughters I found It to be a most offensive of-fensive book, showing extraordinary Ignorance, very slliy, and sacrilegious "Oh, fancy!" and the Futllo Librarian Libra-rian closed her eyes In heartfelt sympathy. sym-pathy. "Who wrote If" "1 am not absolutely sure," replied the rector's wlfo. Then, frowning in a mental effort, "Could It have been Abraham Lincoln? He was a humorous humor-ous person." "If It's a bad book he did not write It," bald Octavla. .. "I am not so sure. " He was a most contemptible churaclcr.'' "Abraham Lincoln?" "Yes. I "was reading about him quite recently a porfcctly Impartial account written by a Charleston lady during their Civil war. She certainly know, an dshe says repeatedly that he was a most offensive person of the lowest origin; vulgar, boorls"h, silly and ignorant. He bccariic despotic and bloodthirsty. And he was ribald In conversation." From .f. A. Mitchell's "Pandora's Box," |