That's what our folks ought to
have done with 'em at first, pitched 'em clean out of the state, and
let 'em go down to Nova Scotia, or some such outlandish place, for
they ain't fit to live in no christian country at all.
"'Fightin' is no way to make converts; THE TRUE WAY IS TO WIN 'EM.
You may stop a man's mouth, Sam,' says he, 'by a-crammin' a book down
his throat, but you won't convince him. It's a fine thing to write
a book all covered over with Latin, and Greek, and Hebrew, like a
bridle that's real jam, all spangled with brass nails, but who knows
whether it's right or wrong? Why, not one in ten thousand. If I had
my religion to choose, and warn't able to judge for myself, I'll tell
you what I'd do: I'd just ask myself WHO LEADS THE BEST LIVES? Now,'
says he, 'Sam, I won't say who do, because it would look like vanity
to say it was the folks who hold to our platform, but I'll tell you
who don't. IT AIN'T THEM THAT MAKES THE GREATEST PROFESSIONS ALWAYS;
and mind what I tell you, Sam, when you go a-tradin' with your clocks
away down east to Nova Scotia, and them wild provinces, keep a bright
look out on them as cant too much, FOR A LONG FACE is plaguy apt to
COVER A LONG CONSCIENCE--that's a fact.'"
No. XXV
Taming a Shrew.
The road from Amherst to Parrsboro' is tedious and uninteresting.
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