Category: Free Content

This is Trollope’s musings on the sermon preached by the odious Mr. Slope in Barchester Cathedral: There is, perhaps, no greater hardship at present inflicted on mankind in civilized and free countries than the necessity of listening to sermons. No one but a preaching clergyman has, in these realms, the power of compelling an audience to sit silent and be tormented. No one but a preaching clergyman can revel in platitudes, truisms, and untruisms, and yet receive, as his undisputed privilege, the same respectful demeanour as though words of impassioned eloquence, or persuasive logic, fell from his lips. Let a...

What does it mean to be an American? Major debates over legislation and proposed constitutional amendments raise the question. Without stretching a point too much, it is easy to see the American identity as the underlying question on the immigration issue, the Equal Rights Amendment, and perhaps even in the debate over abortion. It comes out very clear in discussion of the English Language Amendment sponsored last year by Senator Huddleston of Kentucky and supported by U.S. English, a group headed by former Senator and linguist S.I. Hayakawa. The amendment would make explicit a fact of life obvious to anyone that...

My wife and I went to the Eastons at 6, to eat American chili, drink wine, and watch  to the election returns.  Betsy Easton is absolutely confident of a Trump victory, Gail Fleming refuses to believe that anything so wonderful could happen, Jim and I agree that it is possible, if rumors of a big turn-out among old-fashioned Americans prove true.  I take heart from the wacky conservative websites I have looked at, where people are bragging not only about voting for the first time in years but also claim to have dragged  friends and family to the polls. So far at...