The People at Play (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1909 edition. Excerpt: ...Nellie?" What made him a villain, " no fellow can find out." He is a villain out of a clear sky, without motive or provocation, a " bold bad man" by nature, who has done all in his power to cultivate the gift. Hence a huge and horrid unpopularity, which he persistently augments till even the tiniest, tenderest gallery-god thirsts for his gore. The audience becomes so enraged that it hisses every time he comes on. Some cherish an abiding hatred; meeting him on the street next day, they openly insult him. In Texas, villains have been shot at. And as a final proof of villainy, the fiend glories in his shame, taking obloquy as a sort of laurel-crown, a tribute to his art. Art it is, gadzooks To be called " liar," " scoundrel," " puppy," " toad," yet never reply in more ferocious terms than "A time--will--come Ha Ha "--this, methinks, argues that self-command which is the soul of virtuosity. Splendid, too, is the villain's talent for dropping flat when only half poked at by the hero; for never recognizing a detective disguised in a Piccadilly collar; for falling back foiled, although armed to the teeth, when the " comic relief" comes at him with bare knuckles, and for purloining wills and looting safes only at moments when witnesses swarm at his elbow. Moreover, if " genius is patience," this demon possesses a really dazzling brand of genius. "Foiled again"--and again and again--he pursues the evil tenor of his way. And now the hero. Whereas the villain is completely and exhaustively villainous, the hero is completely and exhaustively heroic. You know it by his grand-opera stride, his righteously erect carriage, and the ring in his voice. Also by the creditable sentiments he exclaims while posing like any Olympian. " What tell a falsehood? Let me...