- I think, Sir,--said the divinity-student,--you must intend that
for one of the sayings of the Seven Wise Men of Boston you were
speaking of the other day.
I thank you, my young friend,--was my reply,--but I must say
something better than that, before I could pretend to fill out the
number.
- The schoolmistress wanted to know how many of these sayings there
were on record, and what, and by whom said.
- Why, let us see,--there is that one of Benjamin Franklin, "the
great Bostonian," after whom this lad was named. To be sure, he
said a great many wise things,--and I don't feel sure he didn't
borrow this,--he speaks as if it were old. But then he applied it
so neatly! -
"He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you
another than he whom you yourself have obliged."
Then there is that glorious Epicurean paradox, uttered by my
friend, the Historian, in one of his flashing moments:-
"Give us the luxuries of life, and we will dispense with its
necessaries."
To these must certainly be added that other saying of one of the
wittiest of men:-
"Good Americans, when they die, go to Paris." -
The divinity-student looked grave at this, but said nothing.
The schoolmistress spoke out, and said she didn't think the wit
meant any irreverence. It was only another way of saying, Paris is
a heavenly place after New York or Boston.
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