Minerva's Manoeuvres: The Cheerful Facts of a "Return to Nature"Loomis, Charles Battell
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Minerva's Manoeuvres: The Cheerful Facts of a "Return to Nature"
Loomis, Charles Battell
Country life -- Fiction; Household employees -- Fiction; Humorous stories; Married people -- Fiction; New England -- Fiction
“‘For a time his joy was unbounded, but after a while the
thought came to him of those in this world to whom the money
would mean so much more than it did to him, and he essayed to
put the thousand dollar bill into his side pocket and walked
along the highway, pondering upon the best disposition to make
of it.
“‘And in his abstraction he missed his side pocket altogether
and the thousand dollar bill fluttered through the air and fell
to earth, where it lay in plain sight, if the man had but looked
behind him.
“‘Now after the altruist had gone the space of a mile he put his
hand into his pocket that he might pull out the bill, and
feeling its tangibility, plan its disposition with more
concreteness.
“‘And the bill was gone!
“‘Then the altruist fell to skipping and jumping in great joy.
“For,” said he to himself, “no matter who finds that bill it
must perforce make him happy; therefore I have added a happiness
to some fellow mortal, a happiness that is scarce ever
vouchsafed to one on this world of ours where money is not to be
had for the mere picking up.” And he ran along the highway full
of the joy of others’ lives and stirred to seraphic emotions by
his altruistic temperament.
“‘Now in that same town there lived another altruist, whom
Howells or Tolstoi would have loved with exceeding ardour. His
form of altruism was not so much sharing his joys with others as
taking from them their sorrows. As the former added to the joys
of life, so he subtracted from the sorrows of existence or
converted them into his personal joys, and he always went about
looking for those with long faces that he might foreshorten
them.
“‘And it happened that he, walking along the highway, came upon
the thousand dollar bill.
“‘Now, it was a time of roominess in his pocket, which had
scarce felt the weight of a minor coin for many days. And a
thousand dollars would have brought luxuries to his house for a
twelve month, he being unwedded.
“‘But when he picked up the bill and saw its denomination he
fell into loud lamentation and raised his voice to its highest
pitch, saying,
“‘“Woe is me, for in this town some poor fellow is mourning this
night at the loss of what may have been his all.”
“‘And this second altruist had a voice of penetrating quality,
for in his younger days he had been an auctioneer, and his words
went through the stillness of the night and came to the ears of
the other altruist, walking his happy way to his home.
“‘And at once the first altruist turned about and hastened to
where the voice came out of the night, saying,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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