Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-04-11
MARX TWAIN

have been Warned-as no doubt
have all among you that are mex
perienced-that a dinner to our
ambassador is an occasion which
demands, and even requires, a pecu-
liar caution and deicacy in the
handling of the dangerous weapon
of speech. l have been warned to
avoid all mention Of international
politics and all criticism, however
mild, of countries with which we
are at peace, lest such utterances
embarrass our minister and our
government in their dealings with
foreign States. In a word, | have
been cautioned to talk, but be care
full not to say anything. ] do not
consider this a difficult task.
Now, it has often occurred to
me that the conditions under which
we live at the present day, with the
revelations of geology all about us,
viewing, Epon the one hand, the
majestic cOn6guration of the silu-
nan, 0olitic, old red sandstone
periods, and, upon the other, the
affiliations and qualifications and
ramificstions of the prehistoric
post phocenc, ante penultimate
epochs, we are stricken dumb with
amazed surprise, and can only lift
up our hands and say with that wise
but odious Frenchman: "It was a
slip Of the tongue, sir, and wholly
unintentional = entirely uninten-
tional." 1t would ill-become me,
upon an occasion like this, purpose
ly to speak slightingly of citizen
of a country with which we are at
peace-and especially great and
gracious France, whom God pre-
servel The subject, however, is a
delicate one, and will net pursue it.
But-as | am about to remark
cast your eye abroad, sir, for one
pregnant moment over the vista
which looms before you in the
mighty domain of intellectual pro-
gression and contemplate the awe
compelling theory of the descent
of man. Development, sir! DeVel-
opment! Natural selection! Cor
relation of the eeXes! Spontane-
ous combustion! what CULTS and
whirlwinds of intellectual Gtimu-
lus these magic words fling upon
the burning canvas Of the material
universe of soul! Across the
chasm of the ages we take the Oys-
ter by the hand aud call him
brother; and still further back, we
90, and breathe the germ we cannot
see, and know, in him, our truer
Adawl And, as we stand, dazed,
transfxed, exalted, and gaze down
the long procession of life, mark
ing how steadily, how symmetri-
cally we have assembled, step by
step, TO our sublime estate and dig
nifty of humanity-out of one lowly
form into a little higher, and lit
tie higher forms-adding grace after
grace, and function after function,
with each and every change-degel-
oping from tadpOles into frogs,
frogs into fishes, fishes into birds,
birds into reptiles, reptiles into
Russians l beg a million pardons,
sir, and gentlemen it was a wholly
innocent slip of the tongue, and
duo only to the excitement Of de-
bate, for far be it from me, upon
such an occasion rs this to cast a
seeming slur upon great nation
with which we are at peaee--a great
and noble Christian nation-Whom
God expand!
But, as | was about to remark, |
maintain--and nothing can ever
drive me from that position-that
the contributions Of the nineteenth
century to science and the indus
trial art are-are-but, of course,
they are. There is no need to
dwell upon that. You look at it
yourself. Look at steaml Look at
the steamboat, look at the railway,
look at the steamships Look at
the telegraph, which enables you to
fash your thoughts from world to
world, ignoring intervening seas.
! Look at the telephone, which en-