The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume 12: In MotleyBierce, Ambrose
General
The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume 12: In Motley
Bierce, Ambrose
American literature
With many amiable and alluring qualities, among which is, or used to
be, a personal modesty amounting to bashfulness, the man has not a
friend in the world. Nor does he merit one, for, either congenitally
or by induced perversity, he is inaccessible to the conception of an
unselfish attachment or a disinterested motive. Silent and smiling,
he moves among men, the loneliest man. Nobody but God loves him and
he knows it; and God’s love he values only in so far as he fancies
that it may promote his amusing ambition to darken the door of the
White House. As to that, I think that he would be about the kind of
President that the country—daft with democracy and sick with sin—is
beginning to deserve.
MORTALITY IN THE FOOT-HILLS[*]
A little bit of romance has just transpired to relieve the monotony of
our metropolitan life. Old Sam Choggins, whom the editor of this paper
has so often publicly thrashed, has returned from Mud Springs with a
young wife. He is said to be very fond of her, and the way he came to
get her was this:
Some time ago we courted her, but finding she was “on the make” we
threw off on her after shooting her brother. She vowed revenge and
promised to marry any man who would horse-whip us. This Sam agreed to
undertake, and she married him on that promise.
We shall call on Sam to-morrow with our new shotgun and present our
congratulations in the usual form.—_Hangtown “Gibbet.”_
• • • • •
The purposeless old party with a boiled shirt who has for some days
been loafing about the town peddling hymn-books at a merely nominal
price (a clear proof that he stole them) has been disposed of in a
cheap and satisfactory manner. His lode petered out about six o’clock
yesterday afternoon, our evening edition being delayed until that time
by request. The cause of his death, as nearly as could be ascertained
by a single physician—Dr. Duffer being too drunk to attend—was Whisky
Sam, who, it will be remembered, delivered a lecture some weeks ago,
entitled “Dan’l in the Lions’ Den; and How They’d a-Et Him If He’d Ever
Been Thar”—in which he overthrew revealed religion.
His course yesterday proves that he can act, as well as talk.—_Devil
Gully “Expositor.”_
• • • • •
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