SEARCH
0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Prev | Current Page 272 | Next

Butler, Samuel, 1835-1902

"Erewhon Revisited"

That was enough for my father, so on he
went.
"You are already doing part of what I wish. I was delighted with the two
passages I heard on Sunday, from what you call the Sunchild's Sayings. I
never said a word of either passage; I wish I had; I wish I could say
anything half so good. And I have read a pamphlet by President Gurgoyle,
which I liked extremely; but I never said what he says I did. Again, I
wish I had. Keep to this sort of thing, and I will be as good a
Sunchildist as any of you. But you must bribe some thief to steal that
relic, and break it up to mend the roads with; and--for I believe that
here as elsewhere fires sometimes get lighted through the carelessness of
a workman--set the most careless workman you can find to do a plumbing
job near that picture."
Hanky looked black at this, and George trod lightly on my father's toe,
but he told me that my father's face was innocence itself.
"These are hard sayings," said Dr. Downie.
"I know they are," replied my father, "and I do not like saying them, but
there is no royal road to unlearning, and you have much to unlearn.
Still, you Musical Bank people bear witness to the fact that beyond the
kingdoms of this world there is another, within which the writs of this
world's kingdoms do not run. This is the great service which our church
does for us in England, and hence many of us uphold it, though we have no
sympathy with the party now dominant within it.


Pages:
260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284