Oh! hear my
songs, they are the sweetest. Oh! buy my pictures, they alone are
true art. Oh! read my books, they are the finest.
Oh! _I_ am the greatest cheesemonger, _I_ am the greatest soldier, _I_
am the greatest statesman, _I_ am the greatest poet, _I_ am the
greatest showman, _I_ am the greatest mountebank, _I_am the greatest
editor, and _I_ am the greatest patriot. _We_ are the greatest
nation. _We_ are the only good people. _Ours_ is the only true
religion. Bah! how we all yell!
How we all brag and bounce, and beat the drum and shout; and nobody
believes a word we utter; and the people ask one another, saying:
"How can we tell who is the greatest and the cleverest among all these
shrieking braggarts?"
And they answer:
"There is none great or clever. The great and clever men are not
here; there is no place for them in this pandemonium of charlatans and
quacks. The men you see here are crowing cocks. We suppose the
greatest and the best of _them_ are they who crow the loudest and the
longest; that is the only test of _their_ merits."
Therefore, what is left for us to do, but to crow? And the best and
greatest of us all, is he who crows the loudest and the longest on
this little dunghill that we call our world!
Well, I was going to tell you about our clock.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25