Prev | Current Page 172 | Next

Leacock, Stephen, 1869-1944

"Moonbeams from the Larger Lunacy"

Our uniforms do not permit of it. This inspires
us with a kind of Rastlosigkeit." Here his eyes glittered.
"It must," I said.
"In fact, with an Unsittlichkeit--an Unverschamtheit--with
an Ein-fur-alle-mal-un-dur-chaus--"
"Exactly," I said, for I saw that he was getting excited,
"but pray tell me, General, to what do I owe the honour
of this visit?"
The General's manner changed at once.
"Highly learned, and high-well-born-professor," he said,
"I come to you as to a fellow author, known and honoured
not merely in England, for that is nothing, but in Germany
herself, and in Turkey, the very home of Culture."
I knew that it was mere flattery. I knew that in this
same way Lord Haldane had been so captivated as to come
out of the Emperor's presence unable to say anything but
"Sittlichkeit" for weeks; that good old John Burns had
been betrayed by a single dinner at Potsdam, and that
the Sultan of Turkey had been told that his Answers to
Ultimatums were the wittiest things written since Kant's
Critique of Pure Reason.


Pages:
160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184