In olden times
the pillory and the whipping-post were among the gentler forms of
encouragement awaiting the inventor. If a man devised an especially
practical apple-peeler he was in imminent danger of being peeled with it
by an incensed populace. To-day we hail with enthusiasm a scientific or
a mechanical discovery, and stand ready to make a stock company of it.
A MAN is known by the company his mind keeps. To live continually
with noble books, with "high-erected thoughts seated in the heart of
courtesy," teaches the soul good manners.
THE unconventional has ever a morbid attraction for a certain class of
mind. There is always a small coterie of highly intellectual men and
women eager to give welcome to whatever is eccentric, obscure, or
chaotic. Worshipers at the shrine of the Unpopular, they tingle with a
sense of tolerant superiority when they say: "Of course this is not the
kind of thing _you_ would like." Sometimes these impressionable souls
almost seem to make a sort of reputation for their fetish.
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