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Literary Lapses
·
Stephen Leacock
84
There
was
one
incident
in
Smith's
career
which
he
did,
perhaps,
share
with
regret.
He
had
scarcely
reached
manhood
when
he
met
the
most
beautiful
girl
in
the
world.
She
was
different
from
all
other
women.
She
had
a
deeper
nature
than
other
people.
Smith
realized
it
at
once.
She
could
feel
and
understand
things
that
ordinary
people
couldn't.
She
could
understand
him.
She
had
a
great
sense
of
humour
and
an
exquisite
appreciation
of
a
joke.
He
told
her
the
six
that
he
knew
one
night
and
she
thought
them
great.
Her
mere
presence
made
Smith
feel
as
if
he
had
swallowed
a
sunset:
the
first
time
that
his
finger
brushed
against
hers,
he
felt
a
thrill
all
through
him.
He
presently
found
that
if
he
took
a
firm
hold
of
her
hand
with
his,
he
could
get
a
fine
thrill,
and
if
he
sat
beside
her
on
a
sofa,
with
his
head
against
her
ear
and
his
arm
about
once
and
a
half
round
her,
he
could
get
what
you
might
call
a
first-class,
A-1
thrill.
Smith
became
filled
with
the
idea
that
he
would
like
to
have
her
always
near
him.
He
suggested
an
arrangement
to
her,
by
which
she
should
come
and
live
in
the
same
house
with
him
and
take
personal
charge
of
his
clothes
and
his
meals.
She
was
to
receive
in
return
her
board
and
washing,
about
seventy-five
cents
a
week
in
ready
money,
and
Smith
was
to
be
her
slave.
After
Smith
had
been
this
woman's
slave
for
some
time,
baby
fingers
stole
across
his
life,
then
another
set
of
them,
and
then
more
and
more
till
the
house
was
full
of
them.
The
woman's
mother
began
to
steal
across
his
life
too,
and
every
time
she
came
Smith
had
hydrophobia
frightfully.
Strangely
enough
there
was
no
little
prattler
that
was
taken
from
his
life
and
became
a
saddened,
hallowed
memory
to
him.
Oh,
no!
The
little
Smiths
were
not
that
kind
of
prattler.
The
whole
nine
grew
up
into
tall,
lank
boys
with
massive
mouths
and
great
sweeping
ears
like
their
father's,
and
no
talent
for
anything.
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