The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-01-24

u OOlHCl VI III " "NN N.
him in a vise-like clutch. eXuded the
following:
"They Say that's the answer.
You've hit it.
They Say is what's the matter with
me. I'm getting tired OF being hound
ed. bully-ragged, hectored, Eestered
land bulldozed by They Say.
Not that I care the leavings of all
omelet soufle in the nethermost depths
iof Tartarus what They Say. What
They Say doesn't concern me any more
THAI the boil weevil concerns the blub-
ber-hunting Eskimo or than the sum-
mary dismissal order concerns the
clerk who's got the good eye of a cou-
pie of Senators who stand in. But. ala
the same, They Say annoys and tantal-
lies me like Il bunch of gloating house
flies on a gummy Washington day in
August.
when I say They Say. 1 mean you.
You belong to the Universal Order OF
Garrulous. ~Loquacious and Gabberlf-
erouS They Says, and I'm attacking
to You!
What difference does it make to me,
or to you. or to. anybody else one
eightieth of one degree removed from
q shell fish in mentality or a crusta-
cean in self-respect what They Say?
Hey?
Don't you know that They Say has
caused more trouble ard grief and hui
man misery generally since the begin
ming of the world than strong drink
and jealousy and battle and murder
and the plague and fire and storm
and envy and ~covetousness and sloth
and the devil and all combined? II
you don't know it, why don't you?
They Say, hey? Well. what if they
do? Did you ever know Il member OF
the Order of They Say to possess the
brains Of a young turkey in a rain
storm? Did you ever hear Of one of
the They Says who had enough of the
milk of human kindness and charity in
his system to make a bread poultice
for the wounded fifth rib of a potato
bug? Were you ever personally &C
1uainted with a They Say who wasn't
himself mean enough to swipe the rug
out of a swampoodle baby carriage in
the dead Of winter?
Did you ever meet up with a They
Say, male or female, who did not pos
sess the physiognomical lineaments of
q SoudaneSe Simian?
Aren't you ware Of the fact that
the Order Of They Says has got a
perpetual charter, issued on the first
day of the creation Of the Garden Of
Eden and to endure until the last faint
echo Of the crack Of doom, and that the
They Says are Irresistible, incapable of
being extirpated or depleted?
"And, inasmuch as the They Says
have always Said 1t, and will always
go right on Saying 1t till the last
whistle has blown, what's the use?
"Let 'em Say 1t! They Say? Who
says?
They Say is always anonymous.
collective, vague, nebulous, and inevita-
bly, a liar.
Lucy Soy "A"dJo pDooS'">o
ahe imagination Of a hasheesh-eater
and the pestiferous clackiness Of an
unoiled threshing machine in a hollow
echoing valley.
'They Say is the dum-dum bullet of
human speech.
They Say is the rock thrown in the
Ozark.
They Say is the intangible Malta
cankering the heart Of civilization;
EIle Black Hand that besmircheS the
outer hide Of human sweetness.
"They Say is the hooded cobra Of
human society,"
They Say is the sneak that sinks
up behind its best friend and stabs him
i'm the back.
'"They Say is the hideous. discordant
buzz that foully Stays the reputation
of decent men and destroys the good
name of women.
81 never hear one OF the They Says
giving the verbal Office Of his order
that I don't, in the ear Of the magma
ton, detect the yelping Of graveyard
nyenaS IN the Instance.
They Say works while the rest of
the world sleeps, and They Say is 81
busy that no man may know when he
lis liable to meet the askance and
aslant glances Of his They Say pois-
cned friends.
IF 1 had the commiseration for
human woe Of that Siddartha who
was Buddha, the tenderness Of Lin
coin, the grave stability of Washington,
the chivalry of Chevalier Bayard. the
knightliness of King Arthur, the spir-
ftuality of st. Augustine, the unselfsh-
ness of Damon and Pythias-if I had
all these things wrapped around me
like a nimbus or an aTreOle. dye s'pose
for one sixteenth part Of a second that
I'd be free from the onnery little un-
derhand wallops of the They Says?
whats the answer The answer,
FOR you and alkof the rest Of the They
Says, is to cash in and quit! Withdraw
from the Order of They Says and, If
you've got a knock coming, say it your
self! Don't emit an anonymous knock
in the name of the They Says. but. if
you feel that you've got a knock in
your midrif that has Just naturally got
to be let out, why, just skate to the
centre, shy your hat on the carpet,
take a long breath to give your lungs
free play, and bawl the knock right
out loud, with all of the power and
strength that you can put into it, and