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Leacock, Stephen, 1869-1944

"Moonbeams from the Larger Lunacy"

"That is not to laugh. You err
yourself. That is Furchtbarkeit. I did not say the book
is all humour. That would be false art. Part of it is
humour and part is Furchbarkeit. That passage is specially
designed to frighten Admiral Jellicoe. And he won't read
it! Potztausand, he won't read it!"--repeated the general,
his eyes flashing and his clenched fist striking in the
air--"What sort of combatants are these of the British
Navy who refuse to read our war-books? The Kaiser's
Heligoland speech! They never read a word of it. The
Furchtbarkeit-Proklamation of August,--they never looked
at it. The Reichstags-Rede with the printed picture of
the Kaiser shaking hands with everybody,--they used it
to wrap up sandwiches! What are they, then, Jellicoe and
his men? They sit there in their ships and they read
nothing! How can we get at them if they refuse to read?
How can we frighten them away if they haven't culture
enough to get frightened. Beim Himmel," shouted the
General in great excitement--
But what more he said can never be known.


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