Marguerite Verne
CHAPTER I. NEW YEAR'S EVE. "Every one for his own. The night is starry and cold, my friend, And the New Year blithe and bold, my friend Comes up to take his own."--_Tennyson_. New Year's Eve in the fair city of St. John, that queenly little city which sits upon her rocky throne overlooking the broad expanse of bay at her feet. Reader, we do not wish to weary you with the known, but love for our own dear New Brunswick is surely sufficient apology. It is one of the feelings of human nature to be possessed with a desire to worship the great and titled, to become enamoured with those appendages, which are the symbols of social distinction. Let us consider how we, as a people, are privileged. Is there any
"When one member can summon a servant who is strong enough to take
another member and do him up in a bottle and cast him into the sea, I
have no use for the system. Plain ordinary mortal shades are good enough
for me."
As Munchausen spoke, the boy returned.
"Mr. Adam isn't here to-day, sir," he said, addressing Doctor Johnson.
"And Charon says he's not likely to be here, sir, seeing as how his
account is closed, not having been settled for three months."
"Good," said Thackeray. "I was afraid he was here. I don't want to have
him asked about his Eden experiences in my behalf. That's personality."
"Well, then, there's only one other thing to do," said Darwin.
"Munchausen claims to be able to speak Simian. He might seek out some of
the prehistoric monkeys and put the question to them."
"No, thank you," said Munchausen. "I'm a little rusty in the language,
and, besides, you talk like an idiot. You might as well speak of the
human language as the Simian language. There are French monkeys who
speak monkey French, African monkeys who talk the most barbarous kind of
Zulu monkey patois, and Congo monkey slang, and so on. Let Johnson send
his little Boswell out to drum up information. If there is anything to
be found out he'll get it, and then he can tell it to us. Of course he
may get it all wrong, but it will be entertaining, and we'll never know
CHAPTER I. NEW YEAR'S EVE. "Every one for his own. The night is starry and cold, my friend, And the New Year blithe and bold, my friend Comes up to take his own."--_Tennyson_. New Year's Eve in the fair city of St. John, that queenly little city which sits upon her rocky throne overlooking the broad expanse of bay at her feet. Reader, we do not wish to weary you with the known, but love for our own dear New Brunswick is surely sufficient apology. It is one of the feelings of human nature to be possessed with a desire to worship the great and titled, to become enamoured with those appendages, which are the symbols of social distinction. Let us consider how we, as a people, are privileged. Is there any