About the time when it was fashionable in France to cut off
men’s heads, as we lop away superfluous sprouts from our
apple-trees, the public attention was excited by a certain
monkey that had been taught to act the part of a patriot to
great perfection. If you pointed at him, says the historian,
and called him an aristocrat or a monarchist, he would fly at
you with great rage and violence; but, if you would do him
the justice to call him a good patriot, he manifested every
mark and joy of satisfaction. But, tho the whole French nation
gazed at this animal as a miracle, he was, after all, no very
strange sight. There are, in all countries, a great many monkeys
who wish to be thought patriots, and a great many others
who believe them such. But, because we are often deceived by
appearances, let us not believe that the reality does not
exist.--DANIEL WEBSTER.
(2496)
* * * * *
At a recent horse-race one of the horses attracted a great deal
of attention before the start by his remarkable appearance, and
many spectators thought he would surely win. He was so full of
life, and so eager to begin the race, that he broke through the
barrier and ran several hundred feet before the jockey could
stop him. The animal was full of confidence and life, but he
finished fifteenth in a race of sixteen.
This horse furnished a pretty good illustration of the human
bluffer, the man who struts and brags, who makes great
pretensions, lots of noise, but never gets anywhere. The silent,
unpretentious man, who keeps pegging away, distances him in the
great life race.--_Success Magazine._
(2497)
See ENVY GRATIFIED.