He told me the name of this big banker that has been hired to take the
taxes off of himself. I remember it was Lemon or Melon or something
else to eat. Mr. Edgerton said I could remember it easy by the fact
that they cut him every day in Wall Street and I said “I don’t see why
they should cut him when he is doing their work for them as well as for
himself.” And Mr. Edgerton thought that was very funny so I see there
was some catch in it so I talked about something else as quick as I
could.
But Mr. Edgerton says I can be very useful to him if I will and he
showed me how. He says that he has been to college and has read a lot
of high-brow things and that has spoiled him some for the job he has
to do. He says he wants to keep close to the heart of the plain people
to know how they feel and think and I can tell him. I had a wonderful
spiel fixed up, about how I was the daughter of an old Virginia family
that had been ruined in the civil war; but when I heard what he said I
decided I had better forget my spiel so I confessed that my Pop was a
gas-house worker in Camden New Jersey and he said that was fine that
was exactly what he wanted. And so I told him the real truth about my
name being Mame and so you can forget what I wrote you in the beginning
of this letter which was wrote yesterday but I will send it to you all
the same because it is wrote and you can see how I have growed under
the influence of Mr. Edgerton.
And he says to me, “What do you think about the international
situation?” And gee I was scared out of my wits I wanted to say, “Ask
me something easy!” But I am going to learn to play my part among
these higher-ups and so I says, “I haven’t thought so much about it of
late.” And he says, “It is changing so fast, you have got to think all
of the time.”
And there I sat racking my wooden brains to think of anything I had
ever heard Pop say. And at last I thought of something and so I looked
real wise and I says, “It seems to me the American people has got so
used to having a good time they take it for granted. So the use of the
international situation is to show them what real troubles is and make
them grateful for their favors.” And Mr. Edgerton looks at me and his
eyes lights up and he says. “That’s it exactly! That’s the text for my
tomorrow morning’s interview!”
And then of course I was very much excited and I says, “You mean the
Spokesman ain’t never said that before?” And he says, “Well, if He has,
it’s been so long ago that He’s forgot it. But that sentiment is right
out of the heart of the plain people it has the true salt of homeliness
that I’m looking for and torture my poor head trying to invent.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account