Christian Science by Mark Twain
page 71 of 224 (31%)
page 71 of 224 (31%)
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crutches who came out carrying them on their shoulders."
It is awkward, because at the first glance it seems to say that the cripples went in leaning on crutches which went out carrying the cripples on their shoulders. It would have cost her no trouble to put her "who" after her "cripples." I blame her a little; I think her proof-reader should have been shot. We may let her capital C pass, but it is another awkwardness, for she is talking about a building, not about a religious society. "Marriage and Parentage "[Chapter-heading. Page 30]. You imagine that she is going to begin a talk about her marriage and finish with some account of her father and mother. And so you will be deceived. "Marriage" was right, but "Parentage" was not the best word for the rest of the record. It refers to the birth of her own child. After a certain period of time "my babe was born." Marriage and Motherhood-Marriage and Maternity-Marriage and Product-Marriage and Dividend--either of these would have fitted the facts and made the matter clear. "Without my knowledge he was appointed a guardian." Page 32. She is speaking of her child. She means that a guardian for her child was appointed, but that isn't what she says. "If spiritual conclusions are separated from their premises, the nexus is lost, and the argument with its rightful conclusions, becomes correspondingly obscure." Page 34. We shall never know why she put the word "correspondingly" in there. Any fine, large word would have answered just as well: psychosuperintangibly |
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