I found that the nation had at first tried universal suffrage pure and
simple, but had thrown that form aside because the result was not
satisfactory. It had seemed to deliver all power into the hands of the
ignorant and non-tax-paying classes; and of a necessity the responsible
offices were filled from these classes also.
That last--and saddest evidence of intellectual poverty, the Pun.
Mrs. Murphy jumped to the conclusion that it would only cost two or
three dollars to embalm her dead husband, and so she telegraphed "Yes."
It was at the "wake" that the bill for embalming arrived and was
presented to the widow. She uttered a wild, sad wail, that pierced every
heart, and said: "Sivinty-foive dollars for stoofhn' Dan, blister their
sowls! Did thim divils suppose I was goin' to stairt a Museim, that I'd
be dalin' in such expinsive curiassities!"
I kind of dodged, and the boot-jack broke the looking-glass. I could
have waited to see what became of the other missiles if I had wanted to,
but I took no interest in such things.