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96
The Inventions of the Idiot
·
John Kendrick Bangs
90
"Nevertheless,
I'd
rather
be
myself
than
any
one
else
at
this
board,"
rejoined
the
Idiot.
"Unappreciated
though
I
be,
I
am
at
least
happy.
Consciousness
of
failure
need
not
necessarily
destroy
one's
happiness.
If
I
do
the
best
I
can
with
the
tools
I
have
I
needn't
weep
because
I
fail,
and
with
his
consciousness
of
failure
the
unappreciated
genius
always
has
the
consolation
of
knowing
that
it
is
not
he
but
the
world
that
is
wrong.
If
I
am
a
philanthropist
and
offer
a
thousand
dollars
to
a
charity,
and
the
charity
declines
to
accept
it
because
I
happen
to
have
made
it
out
of
my
interest
in
'A
Widows'
and
Orphans'
Speculation
Company,
Large
Losses
a
Surety,'
it
is
the
charity
that
loses,
not
I.
So
with
my
plans.
Social
expansion
is
not
taken
up
by
society--who
dies,
I
or
society?
Capitalists
decline
to
consider
my
proposition
for
a
General
Poetry
Trust
and
Supply
Company.
Who
loses
a
fine
chance,
I
or
the
capitalists?
I
may
be
a
little
discouraged
for
the
time
being,
but
what
of
that?
Invention
isn't
the
only
occupation
in
the
world
for
me.
I
can
give
up
Philanthropy
and
take
up
Misanthropy
in
a
moment
if
I
want
to--and
with
Dreamaline
I
can
rule
the
world."
"Ah--just
what
is
this
Dreamaline?"
asked
Mr.
Whitechoker,
interested.
"That,
sir,
is
the
question
which
I
am
now
trying
to
answer
for
myself,"
returned
the
Idiot.
"If
I
could
answer
it,
as
I
have
said,
I
could
rule
the
world--everybody
could
rule
the
world;
that
is
to
say,
his
own
world.
It
is
based
on
an
old
idea
which
has
been
found
by
some
to
be
practicable,
but
it
has
never
been
developed
to
the
point
which
I
hope
to
attain."
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