|
Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
||||
 |
||||
|
Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
||||
|
|
||||
|
“Pray, what iniquity has turned up now?” said he. “What now? why, those folks have whipped Prue to death!” said Miss Ophelia, going on, with great strength of detail, into the story, and enlarging on its most shocking particulars. “I thought it would come to that, some time,” said St. Clare, going on with his paper. “Thought so!- an’t you going to do anything about it?” said Miss Ophelia. “Haven’t you got any selectmen, or anybody, to interfere and look after such mat- ters?” “It’s commonly supposed that the property interest is a sufficient guard in these cases. If people choose to ruin their own possessions, I don’t know what’s to be done. It seems the poor creature was a thief and a drunkard; and so there won’t be much hope to get up sympathy for her.” “It is perfectly outrageous,- it is horrid, Augustine! It will certainly bring down vengeance upon you.” “My dear cousin, I didn’t do it, and I can’t help it; I would, if I could. If low- minded, brutal people will act like themselves, what am I to do? They have abso- lute control; they are irresponsible despots. There would be no use in interfering; there is no law that amounts to anything practically, for such a case. The best we can do is to shut our eyes and ears, and let it alone. It’s the only resource left us.” “How can you shut your eyes and ears? How can you let such things alone?” |
