tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post115280791719930108..comments2024-03-28T04:26:30.557-05:00Comments on Boston 1775: Abortion case in 1742 ConnecticutUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-1153360273831274322006-07-19T20:51:00.000-05:002006-07-19T20:51:00.000-05:00As an excuse, all I can do is quote Oliver Wendell...As an excuse, all I can do is quote Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr's <I>Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table</I>:<BR/><BR/>A jaunty-looking person, who had come in with the young fellow they call John,—evidently a stranger,—said there was one more wise man's saying that he had heard; it was about our place, but he didn't know who said it. . . .<BR/><BR/>"Boston State-House is the hub of the solar system. You couldn't pry that out of a Boston man, if you had the tire of all creation straightened out for a crowbar."<BR/><BR/>Sir,—said I,—I am gratified with your remark. It expresses with pleasing vivacity that which I have sometimes heard uttered with malignant dulness. The satire of the remark is essentially true of Boston,—and of all other considerable—and inconsiderable—places with which I have had the privilege of being acquainted. Cockneys think London is the only place in the world. Frenchmen—you remember the line about Paris, the Court, the World, etc.—I recollect well, by the way, a sign in that city which ran thus: "Hôtel de l'Univers et des États Unis"; and as Paris is the universe to a Frenchman, of course the United States are outside of it.—"See Naples and then die."—It is quite as bad with smaller places. I have been about, lecturing, you know, and have found the following propositions to hold true of all of them.<BR/><BR/>1. The axis of the earth sticks out visibly through the centre of each and every town or city.<BR/><BR/>2. If more than fifty years have passed since its foundation, it is affectionately styled by the inhabitants the "good old town of ----(whatever its name may happen to be.)"<BR/><BR/>3. Every collection of its inhabitants that comes together to listen to a stranger is invariably declared to be a "remarkably intelligent audience."<BR/><BR/>4. The climate of the place is particularly favorable to longevity.<BR/><BR/>5. It contains several persons of vast talent little known to the world. (One or two of them, you may perhaps chance to remember, sent short pieces to the "Pactolian" some time since, which were "respectfully declined.")<BR/><BR/>Boston is just like other places of its size;—only perhaps, considering its excellent fish-market, paid fire-department, superior monthly publications, and <B>correct habit of spelling the English language</B>, it has some right to look down on the mob of cities. <BR/><BR/>[Oh, the irony.]J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-1153286737637365752006-07-19T00:25:00.000-05:002006-07-19T00:25:00.000-05:00No, Missouri Southern, MISSOURI! I so love Boston...No, Missouri Southern, MISSOURI! I so love Boston, but the world ends where the T stops for you people doesn't it?<BR/><BR/>Anyway, I just discovered your blog today and I can see it is going to be one of my daily reads. Wonderful work you are doing.<BR/><BR/>--Larry CebulaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-1153242471027961982006-07-18T12:07:00.000-05:002006-07-18T12:07:00.000-05:00Thanks, Prof. Cebula, for the correction on Missis...Thanks, Prof. Cebula, for the correction on Mississippi Southern versus Mississippi State. From this distance, it's too easy to miss that distinction. I've corrected the essay to reflect it.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.com