Page 101 of 146 THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP - The Works of Edgar Allan Poe V. 4

"There is nothing at all like it," he would say; "we are a
wonderful people, and live in a wonderful age. Parachutes and rail-roads - man-traps and spring-guns! Our steam-boats are upon every sea, and the Nassau balloon packet is about to run regular trips (fare either way only twenty pounds sterling) between London and Timbuctoo. And who shall calculate the immense influence upon social life - upon arts - upon commerce - upon literature - which will be the immediate result of the great principles of electro magnetics! Nor, is this all, let me assure you! There is really no end to the march of invention. The most wonderful - the most ingenious - and let me add, Mr. - Mr. - Thompson, I believe, is your name - let me add, I say, the most _useful_ - the most truly _useful_ mechanical contrivances, are daily springing up like mushrooms, if I may so express myself, or, more figuratively, like - ah - grasshoppers - like grasshoppers, Mr. Thompson - about us and ah - ah - ah - around us!"

Thompson, to be sure, is not my name; but it is needless to say
that I left General Smith with a heightened interest in the man, with an exalted opinion of his conversational powers, and a deep sense of the valuable privileges we enjoy in living in this age of mechanical invention. My curiosity, however, had not been altogether satisfied, and I resolved to prosecute immediate inquiry among my acquaintances touching the Brevet Brigadier General himself, and particularly respecting the tremendous events _quorum pars magna fuit_, during the Bugaboo and Kickapoo campaign.

The first opportunity which presented itself, and which
(_horresco referens_) I did not in the least scruple to seize, occurred at the Church of the Reverend Doctor Drummummupp, where I found myself established, one Sunday, just at sermon time, not only in the pew, but by the side, of that worthy and communicative little friend of mine, Miss Tabitha T. Thus seated, I congratulated myself, and with much reason, upon the very flattering state of affairs. If any person knew anything about Brevet Brigadier General John A. B. C. Smith, that person, it was clear to me, was Miss Tabitha T. We telegraphed a few signals, and then commenced, _soto voce_, a brisk _tête-à-tête_.

"Smith!" said she, in reply to my very earnest inquiry; "Smith!
- why, not General John A. B. C.? Bless me, I thought you _knew_ all about _him!_ This is a wonderfully inventive age! Horrid affair that! - a bloody set of wretches, those Kickapoos! - fought like a hero - prodigies of valor - immortal renown. Smith! - Brevet Brigadier General John A. B. C.! why, you know he's the man" ---

"Man," here broke in Doctor Drummummupp, at the top of his voice,
and with a thump that came near knocking the pulpit about our ears; "man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live; he cometh up and is cut down like a flower!" I started to the extremity of the pew, and perceived by the animated looks of the divine, that the wrath which had nearly proved fatal to the pulpit had been excited by the whispers of the lady and myself. There was no help for it; so I submitted with a good grace, and listened, in all the martyrdom of dignified silence, to the balance of that very capital discourse.

		Always do what you are afraid to do. Ralph Waldo Emerson