Night came again at last, and with it other somnambulists similar to the
first, only that they were riding on their own beasts. Some somnambulists
ride their own animals, while others are content to bestride the steeds of
strangers.
The man on the anonymous mule halted at last at the mouth of a deep canon.
He did so at the request of other somnambulists. Mechanically he got down
from the back of the mule and stood under a stunted mountain pine.
After awhile he began to ascend the tree by means of his neck. When he had
reached the lower branch of the tree he made a few gestures with his feet
by a lateral movement of the legs. He made several ineffectual efforts to
kick some pieces out of the horizon, and then, after he had gently
oscilliated a few times, he assumed a pendent and perpendicular position
at right angles with the limb of the tree.
The other somnambulists then took the mule safely back to his corral, and
the tragedy of a night was over.
The London _Post_ very truly says that where somnambulism can be proved it
is a good defense in a criminal action. It was so held in this case.
Various methods are suggested for rousing the somnambulist, such as
tickling the feet, for instance; but in all my own experience, I never
knew of a more radical or permanent cure than the one so imperfectly given
above. It might do in some cases to tickle the feet of a somnambulist
discovered in the act of riding away on an anonymous mule, but how could
you successfully tickle the soles of his feet while he is standing on
them? In such cases, the only true way would be to suspend the
somnambulist in such a way as to give free access to the feet from below,
and, at the same time, give him a good, wide horizon to kick at.
Modern Architecture.
It may be premature, perhaps, but I desire to suggest to anyone who may be
contemplating the erection of a summer residence for me, as a slight
testimonial of his high regard for my sterling worth and symmetrical
escutcheon--a testimonial more suggestive of earnest admiration and warm
personal friendship than of great intrinsic value, etc., etc., etc., that
I hope he will not construct it on the modern plan of mental hallucination
and morbid delirium tremens peculiar to recent architecture.
Of course, a man ought not to look a gift house in the gable end, but if
my friends don't know me any better than to build me a summer cottage and
throw in odd windows that nobody else wanted, and then daub it up with
colors they have bought at auction and applied to the house after dark
with a shotgun, I think it is time that we had a better understanding.
[Illustration: THE ARCHITECT.]
Such a structure does not come within either of the three classes of
renaissance. It is neither Florentine, Roman, or Venetian. Any man can
originate such a style if he will only drink the right kind of whiskey
long enough and then describe the feelings to an amanuensis.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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