On an adjoining
page there were other and far more specific instructions as to how to be
prosperous and happy, by backing Speedfoot at 10 to 1 in the first race,
or Flashaway at 5 to 2 in the third. Sometimes the Reverend Bland
inveighed convincingly against the evils of betting. Yet a cynic might
guess that the tipsters' recipes for being prosperous and happy (and
therefore, by a logical inversion, good) were perhaps as well based and
practical as the reverend moralist's. His correspondence, surest
indication of editorial following, grew to be almost as large as
Banneker's. Severance nicknamed him "the Oracle of Boobs," and for short
he became known as the "Booblewarbler," for there were times when he
burst into verse, strongly reminiscent of the older hymnals. This he
resented hotly and genuinely, for he was quite sincere; as sincere as
Sheffer, in his belief in himself. But he despised Sheffer and feared
Severance, not for what the latter represented, but for the cynical
honesty of his attitude. In retort for Severance's stab, he dubbed the
pair Mephistopheles and Falstaff, which was above his usual
felicitousness of characterization. Sheffer (who read Shakespeare to
improve his mind, and for ideas!) was rather flattered.
Even the platitudinous Bland had his practical inspirations; if they had
not been practical, they would not have been Bland's.
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