In
a word, One thing at a time!
The foregoing disquisition may seem uncalled for by such rigid
moralists as have made up their minds not to regard detective, or
riddle stories, as any part of respectable literature at all. With
that sect, I announce at the outset that I am entirely out of
sympathy. It is not needed to compare "The Gold Bug" with
"Paradise Lost"; nobody denies the superior literary stature of the
latter, although, as the Oxford Senior Wrangler objected, "What
does it prove?" But I appeal to Emerson, who, in his poem of "The
Mountain and the Squirrel," states the nub of the argument, with
incomparable felicity, as follows:--you will recall that the two
protagonists had a difference, originating in the fact that the
former called the latter "Little Prig." Bun made a very sprightly
retort, summing up to this effect:--
"Talents differ; all is well and wisely put;
If I cannot carry forests on my back,
Neither can you crack a nut."
Andes and Paradises Lost are expedient and perhaps necessary in
their proper atmosphere and function; but Squirrels and Gold Bugs
are indispensable in our daily walk.
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