The sum of his performances
Friday, January 20th, 2012
I confess that I did not fully appreciate — until Mrs. Jones began reading passages aloud to me — how hilarious Moby-Dick could be:
They say that men who have seen the world, thereby become quite at ease in manner, quite self-possessed in company. Not always, though: Ledyard, the great New England traveller, and Mungo Park, the Scotch one; of all men, they possessed the least assurance in the parlor. But perhaps the mere crossing of Siberia in a sledge drawn by dogs as Ledyard did, or the taking a long solitary walk on an empty stomach, in the negro heart of Africa, which was the sum of poor Mungo’s performances — this kind of travel, I say, may not be the very best mode of attaining a high social polish.
