Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-02-19

" I, Il,
whatever you may be wishing yourself
to be-"
may note that 1 had never az anv
period Of my life, wished to be giant, and
that | was fully convinced of the futility
OF wishes of that kind. Further, / may
state that am of but limited height
think, five feet two inches only, accord.
ing to my latest measurement-and that,
II not absolutely satisfied with my di
mensions, am at any rate resigned to
them, But, necessarily, / had never,
even in my widest dreams, contemplated
exhibition of myself in the character of =
giant.
The giant was pleasantspoken young
man; but he was much oppressed with a
sense of his superior proportions, by no
means inclined to vaunt himself on that
score. Indeed, 1t was obvious that his
size was q matter of keen distress to him.
l had not been prepared for giant of
this meek kind. To tell the truth, had
not considered giants much as q subject
of study. Such information as | pos
sessed concerning them-if it can be
called information-was derived, think,
from early perusal of nursery literature
must have said as much TO my new
friend, for presently, remember, he was
discoursing with some energy on the in.
justice that, time out of mind, had been
done to persons of his size. had by
chance, and halfjocosely, mentioned the
well-known work called "Jack the Giant
Killer" My new friend denounced it
seriously as most pernicious volume.
He affirmed that it had done great deal
of mischief. He then asked me if be-
lieved it to be faithful record of actual
events.
| was scarcely prepared with an
answer. l said after some DELAY. that II
seemed to me that many of the circum-
stance mentioned in the boook were of
an incredible kind; that, supposing some
truth to be contained in the story, it was
yet much intermixed with fiction, and
that exaggeration and extravagance were
certainly apparent throughout it,
1t has been the misfortune of us
giants that we have always been written
about by dwarfs," he said. at has
suited them to deal with us with a view
to their own greater glorification. They
have misrepresented us, | must say,
most shamefully. Unfortunately, we
have usually been inclined to silence.
We have rarely been authors we are
seldom great takers l never yet knew
or heard of giant who had ever printed
or published anything. Suppose some
of us had said our say or written our
opinion on the subject of dwarfs, don't
you think they would have looked very
small? A set of upstarts! They think
of nothing but their own aggrandize.
ment; while their disregard of truth is
really scandalous. This Jack the Giant
Killer must have been dwarf. Only a
dwarf could have been so boastful, so
self-satisfied, and, Imust say it, so false
and treacherous."
The giant was now speaking in very
excited manner. 1t seemed as though
much pent-up thought, regarding the in
luries borne by his kind, was at length
finding expression.
"Why should he have troubled him.
self about the giants?" he resumed.
Did they ever do him any harm? He
calls them cannibals! / warrant they
never wanted to eat such little whip
per-snapper as he wasl And mark his
treachery and cunning, and his base in.
gratitude! How did he get the better,
for instance, of Cormoran, said to be
eighteen feet high and three yards
round?-a gross exaggeraion, of course.
There never was giant of that size or
anything like it; search all the caravans
IN Europe, and you wouldn't find such a
one. How did he get the better of Cor
moran, was asking? Why, he dug a
pit and Cormoran fell into it, and then
Jack took what | should call me ad.
vantage of him: hit him-when he was
down-a blow on the head with q pick
ak, and killed him. Then there
was that Welsh giant-how was he
treated? A kind, hospitable, trust.
full soul, who brought out, for
the breakfast of himself and his
shameless guest, two great bowls
of hasty pudding-clearly the Welsh
giant at any rate was no cannibal. Then
another giant, one with three heads, if /
remember rightly-a piece of wild ex-
travagance, of course, for whoever saw a
giant or anybody else with three heads?
but this other giant Jack overcomes by
basely pretending to be his cousin, for.
sooth. Cheating the poor creature out of
his coat of darkness, Jack, being invisi-
BILE himself, cuts oft the legs of his bene-
factor! Was there ever conduct more
Infamous, or cowardly, or inhuman? Was
there ever more wretched little mon
ster than this Jack? And yet the story
of the miserable imp's exploits, as they
are called frauds and crimes | should
rather SAYS put into the hands of chill
dren; is work highly esteemed, as am
informed, in most respectable nurseries.
Can parents wonder that their offspring
should oftentlmes grow up deceitful and
presumptuous, cruel and ungrateful? d?
What we want, sir, is the story of Jack
rewritten by giant. Take my word,
sir, that would be book of genuine
worth. | don't say that it would be brill
liant. We giants do not pretend to be
brilliant The firehy glistens-not the
elephant. We are plain. simple, straight
forward, truthful folk; there's nothing
low or mean about US. We are strongly
opposed to smallness of every kind. But
we've been peaceful, patient, long
ing; too much so and too long, / fear.
We've let things take their course and
said nothing, when we ought to have
said something's good deal, indeed |;
and so we've somehow come to be per-
secuted race-despised and underrated.
The dwarfs have had it all their own
way, and now they crow over us and
treat US contemptuously. The fact is,
we've not thought enough of ourselves,
and have allowed people to overlook us :,
It's all wrong, sir, take my word for it
though / don't pretend to be the man
who can put it right"
His face was flushed as he concluded
and his forehead was moist. He paused
for breath as it seemed, and then he was
moved to surprise at his own animation,
at the length of his speech. He looked
at me apOlogetically.
81 did not intend to speak so warmly"
he said. but your air of sympathy
tempted me to express myself more fully
than is usual with me. And own |
lose patience when think of the errors
that have so long prevailed on the sub
iect of giants-the injustice we have suf.
fered at all hands. Perhaps" he added,
with smile, as with his fttefinger-it
was about the size of one OF those can
dies of which four make pound-he
tapped lightly his tumbler, which was
now empty perhaps this extra glass
of grog has made me too loquacious. l
beg you will pardon me if such has been
the case, or if my violence of speech has
given you any offense."
His glass was again empty. l insisted
upon 1t being filled. He made many