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DEAR GENERAL,--I mean the pay-platform; I shan't retire from the
gratis-platform until after I am dead and courtesy requires me to keep
still and not disturb the others.
What shall I talk about? My idea is this: to instruct the audience about
Robert Fulton, and.... Tell me--was that his real name, or was it his
nom de plume? However, never mind, it is not important--I can skip it,
and the house will think I knew all about it, but forgot. Could you find
out for me if he was one of the Signers of the Declaration, and which
one? But if it is any trouble, let it alone, I can skip it. Was he out
with Paul Jones? Will you ask Horace Porter? And ask him if he brought
both of them home. These will be very interesting facts, if they can be
established. But never mind, don't trouble Porter, I can establish them
anyway. The way I look at it, they are historical gems--gems of the very
first water.
Well, that is my idea, as I have said: first, excite the audience with
a spoonful of information about Fulton, then quiet down with a barrel
of illustration drawn by memory from my books--and if you don't say
anything the house will think they never heard of it before, because
people don't really read your books, they only say they do, to keep
you from feeling bad. Next, excite the house with another spoonful
of Fultonian fact, then tranquilize them again with another barrel of
illustration. And so on and so on, all through the evening; and if you
are discreet and don't tell them the illustrations don't illustrate
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